Builds The "Red Rocket" Troopy

[robmobile73]

Well, my parts got here after the sunset today, figured I might as well take the front diff out and throw a front Aussie locker in it. This is something I have been wanting to do ever since I first took the troopy to Uwharrie, then Moab, then Windrock, etc etc. I'm always at an obstacle thinking "man if I had a diff lock right now I wouldn't have to worry about panel damage or use the skinny pedal to get thru something"... solid axle in combonation with like 8 leaves doesn't allow for much flex. Manufacturers usually go for rear lockers and I see a lot more people put in rear lockers first I've wanted front for multiple reasons, especially since I knew I was going the auto locker route. I didn't really want to constantly have an auto locker clunking around, thus with free wheel hubs it'll only be active when my hubs are locked. here's just a bunch of words hob gobbled together off the Aussie Lokka website:

"A front fitment will actually yield the greatest improvement in off road ability. This is because, most vehicles require the increase in traction (that a locker gives) when hill climbing. Under hill climbing conditions, due to the angle of the vehicle, the rear wheels are carrying a much greater weight (weight transfer) and the front wheels are therefore carrying a lessor weight and tend to break traction more easily.
Once one front wheel starts to spin, the other front wheel stops turning and the front differential ceases to provide traction. At this point all power load is transferred onto the rear wheels as if it were a 2×4 and due to this increased load, the rear wheels are encouraged to spin and the vehicle stops.
If you can solve the problem of the front wheels losing traction, you have solved the traction problem.
Another advantage is that on road there are no changes to normal driving characteristics – assuming it has Free Wheel Hubs or a Disconnect Mechanism"

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Man this thing is heavy!!!

I'm also working on rigging together a new intake, I've been worried about my duct tape intake collapsing or disintegrating metal air ducting into my turbo for a while now.

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I think perhaps you are going on the correct route with putting one in the front first, given that you're going to school in Boone and drive the troopy on snow covered roadways. You are much more likely to break the rear end free turning on a slippery road with a locker in the back.

Pay attention to your side play try to do it for recommendation when you put that locker in. I have a Spartan locker in the front of my bj-73. It doesn't unlock easily and steering is a bit stiff when the hubs are locked. It's stiff to the point where it's dangerous to drive on paved roads with front hubs locked in two wheel drive. You got to put some muscle on the steering wheel sometimes to break it free. This was never an issue with my samurai that had the lock right version of The "lunch box type" locker. Make sure you test this after you get it in before you run it off the road trying to go around a turn on a hard road with the front hubs locked. .................... If all is well it will still differentiate properly and you will have a lot better directional control on slippery roads and terrain then someone with an air locker or E locker in the front end.

Since you have locking hubs your front end probably does not have the wear that mine did with the original Toyota drive hubs. If you do have slack in your front drive line you can adjust a little bit of it out while you have it apart if it's not noticeable and annoying I wouldn't mess with it. If you watch a video on YouTube on how to set up a ring and pinion gear several times you can figure out how to do this even without a dial indicator you can sort of do it by feel. Albeit it's much better to have a $30 magnet Mount dial indicator to do this. Personally I can feel the difference between 10 and 20 thousandths " with my fingers.

 

[theglobb]

Got everything wrapped up and went for a beach ride instantly, man that diff lock is a total game changer! I'm amazed at the difference of how much better the troopy drives... and that's just on sand. Can't wait to see what it does in Uwharrie and Moab this summer

Knuckle After I was finished

Inside the diff with the aussie locker in.

Brake Pads were also pretty low, got them replaced with brand new ones that are 10x thicker than what was left on these

Finally but also very important is I wrapped up fabing together a new intake with hoses and exhaust pipe (on the inside for support). Much better than my air ducting intake

I think perhaps you are going on the correct route with putting one in the front first, given that you're going to school in Boone and drive the troopy on snow covered roadways. You are much more likely to break the rear end free turning on a slippery road with a locker in the back.

Pay attention to your side play try to do it for recommendation when you put that locker in. I have a Spartan locker in the front of my bj-73. It doesn't unlock easily and steering is a bit stiff when the hubs are locked. It's stiff to the point where it's dangerous to drive on paved roads with front hubs locked in two wheel drive. You got to put some muscle on the steering wheel sometimes to break it free. This was never an issue with my samurai that had the lock right version of The "lunch box type" locker. Make sure you test this after you get it in before you run it off the road trying to go around a turn on a hard road with the front hubs locked. .................... If all is well it will still differentiate properly and you will have a lot better directional control on slippery roads and terrain then someone with an air locker or E locker in the front end.

Since you have locking hubs your front end probably does not have the wear that mine did with the original Toyota drive hubs. If you do have slack in your front drive line you can adjust a little bit of it out while you have it apart if it's not noticeable and annoying I wouldn't mess with it. If you watch a video on YouTube on how to set up a ring and pinion gear several times you can figure out how to do this even without a dial indicator you can sort of do it by feel. Albeit it's much better to have a $30 magnet Mount dial indicator to do this. Personally I can feel the difference between 10 and 20 thousandths " with my fingers.

Yep, didn't really want to have to deal with a aussie in the rear in the snow, my locker seems fine along with my steering, guess I got it right. Cool to hear it rachet and unlock when you go into a turn, neat little device.

 

[Broski]

Looks good

Did you use a centering tool ? and what seals did you go with ?

 

[theglobb]

I was at Autozone getting oil to change into our 40 when this guy speaking broken English with a thick island accent was ecstatic to talk to me about my car parked out front. After talking for 5 or so minutes he asked if I could help him diagnose issues with his old Land Rover he had just imported over that morning from his home island of Cape Verde. So I followed him home, and started getting to work. No start... put a new battery in, cracked the injector lines, cranked it until diesel started coming out. Then cranked it over again and boom, started right up. He drove it around, then I drove it around. Doesn't really have brakes, and is slower than my troopy with what I think is a 2.2 liter diesel (could be wrong). He thanked me and I was on me way. These old cars have led me to meet many cool people but this is defineltey one of the more memorable stories. Zelito from Cape Verde.

I also replaced my 88c thermostat with a 82c to just do anything to maybe help with my water temp issues, which isn't an issue until it's 90-100 degrees outside in combination with 4,000+ feet in altitude... I was able to tell a difference on my aftermarket and OEM temp gauge, the troopy just runs at 180f pretty consistently now instead of 195f, maybe that'll buy me a few more minutes of uphill time before my engine gets a bit toasty.

Finally, we got our 40 braking and running pretty nice since we first got it 3 years ago. Took it for its first-ever beach run and it did pretty fine, just got a bit hot but nothing extreme.

Looks good

Did you use a centering tool ? and what seals did you go with ?

Yes, I used the centering tool. I ended up going with the marlin crawler seals because I had already ordered them before you had informed me on any possible shortcomings they may have. I'm interested to see how long they last, maybe in the next 300 offroad miles I do I'll have to replace them, not really looking forward to that just curious to see how they will perform. Time will tell.

 

[Broski]

That's a really cool 40

Good Cruiser Karma helping Zelito out with his Land Rover !!

 

[Gun Runner 5]

@theglobb …. “So I followed him home, and started getting to work”.
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Fortunately you are still young and therefore did not have an adverse reaction to the smell of gear oil.
Thats actually a fairly nice looking Series lll - 88.

 

[RobertoL]

hmmmmmm... never seen this much gear oil dumped out all at once from a fully assembled birf. I pulled up to my friend's house, parked in his driveway and 30 minutes later I look under my car and see this pretty sizeable puddle of it. It hasn't done this anywhere else, before or after this has happened, weird. My inner wheel well is now filled with grease now too, I've never seen any of our cruisers leaking this bad when every single one has needed a knuckle rebuild when purchased. What scares me is how quickly this went from having a bit of a leak to actually pissing out as well as the fact that I did the knuckle job in November of 2020, it's only been like a year and a half, weird.

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I've looked at these before, just major stuff like cooling system parts always scare me a bit when coming from china or ebay in general. I'll take a look at the dextero's. My dad and I are thinking about getting some tire recappers like you are running for our 40, will rarely go over 50mph.

Yes, this is the eternal battle going on in my head right now haha. I want to go the pricey route just for peace of mind but my funds are a bit short for spending up to a grand on something I could get for a third of the price. I'm also saving up for a trip to Montana with my friends in the troopy and with gas prices more than doubling since last time, I'm gonna need every bit of money I can get.

Thanks for the info good to know. I'll look into the spindle bushing along with the condition of the shaft seal. Really hoping I can just put in a heavy duty marlin crawler seal in and see if that holds for a while, aswell as recentering the axle.

I had the same problem. Check the shaft itself, mine was worn where the seal goes and had to replace it to fix the problem

 

[theglobb]

Turbo is going out, it has lasted me much MUCH longer than I thought it would have. I can hear the blades grinding against the housing. Probably the best use of $50 I have ever gotten, I've been pushing 20lbs of boost pretty regularly while the factory wastegate is set for 7lbs. I have a rebuild kit with upgraded bearings and seals that hopefully will last a while. Time to rebuild it at some point soooooon

 

[robmobile73]

Turbo is going out, it has lasted me much MUCH longer than I thought it would have. I can hear the blades grinding against the housing. Probably the best use of $50 I have ever gotten, I've been pushing 20lbs of boost pretty regularly while the factory wastegate is set for 7lbs. I have a rebuild kit with upgraded bearings and seals that hopefully will last a while. Time to rebuild it at some point soooooon

Get it before you lose too much of the blades. You will loose boost with worn blades. New CHRA is cheaper than a complete new Turbo, but much more than a rebuild kit. If you already bought the rebuild kit keep going for it and see what happens and post it up.

 

[FJBen]

Rebuild kits are pretty cheap. I'd start with that.

If you want to push the budget because you have money to blow you can get my identical turbo new, authentic Holset for $500. That should be a complete bolt on to your setup with the Saab TD04. Just for future reference.

 

[theglobb]

Got the turbo rebuilt, lots of play in the shaft and now there is 0. Interested to see how long it lasts or if I put something together incorrectly, guess time will tell.

Rebuild kits are pretty cheap. I'd start with that.

If you want to push the budget because you have money to blow you can get my identical turbo new, authentic Holset for $500. That should be a complete bolt on to your setup with the Saab TD04. Just for future reference.

Good to know!! Very good to know in fact as I was thinking for a somewhat less sketchy upgrade I could do in combination with upgrading the exhaust manifold from a square log to it having some smooth bends. At the moment I have absolutely no money to spend. Saving up for the Montana trip in the troopy, will be leaving on July 14th staying in Missoula for a week with the PO of the troopy and then heading south to wheel in Moab. Gas has gone up so much since last year so I'm trying to save every penny I can. I'll probably be going with the somewhat questionable ebay 3B radiator due to this reason and see if it fails me or not.

Here's a picture of the rough route to anyone who may want to meet up this year or give us a place to stay, so many people in the cruiser community welcomed us with open arms last year, cant wait to see what happens this trip.

 

[reddog90]

Are you going to SAS?

 

[Rigster]

Got the turbo rebuilt, lots of play in the shaft and now there is 0. Interested to see how long it lasts or if I put something together incorrectly, guess time will tell.

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Good to know!! Very good to know in fact as I was thinking for a somewhat less sketchy upgrade I could do in combination with upgrading the exhaust manifold from a square log to it having some smooth bends. At the moment I have absolutely no money to spend. Saving up for the Montana trip in the troopy, will be leaving on July 14th staying in Missoula for a week with the PO of the troopy and then heading south to wheel in Moab. Gas has gone up so much since last year so I'm trying to save every penny I can. I'll probably be going with the somewhat questionable ebay 3B radiator due to this reason and see if it fails me or not.

Here's a picture of the rough route to anyone who may want to meet up this year or give us a place to stay, so many people in the cruiser community welcomed us with open arms last year, cant wait to see what happens this trip.
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Awwwwe.... so close! Just a wee bit farther (lol - a days travel) and you can stay here in Armstrong, BC! I wish you all the best and safe travels on your trip. Make some wonderful memories!

 

[theglobb]

God damnit… here I am on the side of the road. Driving along just fine with the newly rebuilt turbo and out of nowhere it felt like my tranny popped out of gear (but it didn’t) and then a really loud knocking started to come from my engine. Shut it off checked the turbo thinking sowmthing may have failed but it seems fine. I’m guessing my bottom end is royally screwed in some way. Can someone confirm or deny this. Here’s a video of what it sounds like roughly

 

[theglobb]

Temps weren’t out of wack, I was pushing like 10psi of boost when it happened, 850f EGT, and water temp was like 195f. Did I drop a precup, spin a bearing? Any suggestions or ideas are appreciated

 

[cruiserdan]

Was the crossover hose popped off the throttle body or did you do that? What about oil pressure now?

 

[theglobb]

Was the crossover hose popped off the throttle body or did you do that? What about oil pressure now?

The Venturi hose is attached still, that’s the first thing that came to my mind when it first happened. I’ve never had a functional oil pressure light. (I don’t even have a gauge) just the dummy light

 

[gilmorneau]

“Like transmission popped out” means loss of drive?

Clutch, maybe? How’s the pedal?

Turbo being the newest part makes it suspect

Couldn’t tell a lot from the video about the sound. On my phone it just sounds like a 3B.

 

[cruiserdan]

No, the big hose from the turbo. It's not attached in your video.

So as far as oil pressure is concerned you have no idea where it has been registering?

 

[cruiserdan]

Will the vehicle move now under power? If it doesn't it may be something inside the clutch or transmission. Broken input shaft?