2.8 trooper

2.8trooper

just registered this evening and thought i would put up my old trooper only got it but have always had a jeep havent seen any others on here they are getting scarce now.i remember when these and land rovers and old landcruisers were all you would see on the roads.






am in wicklow as you can see from the pics.trooper is in good order no rot and pulling strong 2.8td bought it with the wheels and tyres will prob ate balljoints but they muck it up fairly good.
any more owners of these on here i can see them having abit of following before long more lads have come up to me in petrol stations etc saying they use to own or drive one and reckon they are a great yoke.

look forward to seeing all the other 4x4 antics on here

Slidey

Welcome to boards 2.8!

Thats a clean example you have there.

They are a great workhorse but sadly rot is starting to get a lot of them. I still have one comin to me once a year. Bright red and I think there is only 70k miles on it.

No rust on it but the handbrake/caliper set up on the back always needs fiddling with.

2.8trooper

cheers slidey i looked at 4 when buying this one and all of them had rust somewere just this one had only superficial bubbles on the back doors all the chassis and towbar area are clean,ye the rear calipers are a bit tempermental i have 2 recon ones ready to fit but im goin to try and clean up 2 old ones i got of a scrapper for spares.
snowed yest in roundwood so went up the gap for a spin and didnt hit 4wd until the last bit of the hill am well happy with it,sure there a bit agricultural and bouncy being leaf spring but it slows me down,this one has later model leather seats which are electrically heated
also previous owner fitted a 3.1 intercooler not sure if it makes a blind bit of difference though.

Bitten & Hisses

These are great jeeps. We have a 1990 one at home. It's had a reasonably tough life but is still fairly straight. One of the sills has rotted and the tailgate doors are gone at the bottom, but otherwise it's only surface rust. She'd need a full respray ideally to put it right, or even a replacement body if such a thing were available. Lights and bumper bits are cheap from Milner's but body panels are impossible to get. Mechanical bits are plentiful, especially when you consider that the Frontera shares so many components. I have to say the 2.8 engine is the quickest I have ever seen to start.

2.8trooper

they do fire up fairly quick alright first flick off the key no matter how long left idle,we pulled one out of a field lieing up for six years a fresh battery and primed the pump and up she flew,was a tad smokey though!

cj plant agri

i have had my fair share of jeeps down trough the years in the early days it was the 2.8 then the 3.1 and then the landcruisers when the 3.0 trooper came in i switched to tayota.


the 2.8 was the better jeep in the isuzus ,and yes there was always a bit of fiddling to be done on the back end brakes. i still have a 91 trooper 2.8 and a 96 3.1 commercial, and a 96 3.1 with rear seats. and a 97 3.1 commercial, all in test the one with seats gets a nct the rest are doe. never have to spend money on them only tires, if tayota made half as good a jeep they would be the king of the road!

2.8trooper

any photos of the 2.8 cj?

any more 2.8s out there still going stick them up here see how many are left

also looking for arches for mine if anyone knows were they can still be got?

cj plant agri

2.8trooper wrote: »

any photos of the 2.8 cj?

any more 2.8s out there still going stick them up here see how many are left

also looking for arches for mine if anyone knows were they can still be got?

none yet will take some though, she is maroon over silver lwb, the 3.1 is blue and the 97 is black


great jeeps

any info on the recall on the 3.0 troopers i heard harris is taking them on an isuzu scrappage but thats all i heard i dont know the details

Slidey

If you have a 3.0l trooper running or not they will give you 7.5k off a Dmax.

Think this leaves the dmax at something like 16k + VAT

Quite a few of them moving from what I can see in the garage

101sean

You could give Milners a buzz in the UK, they only list bumpers on their website but if anyone knows where panels can be had, they will.

http://www.milneroffroad.com/default.asp

2.8trooper

cheers sean will try milners i know they could be got in the day just dont seem to be available now.
im going to a scrap yard or holding yard in wexford somewere tomorrow which is holding the 3.0l for isuzu see if i can scavange some bits.
isnt the 16k figure all in vat included a couple of guys i know have made the purchase good value if you have the cash to pay outright or you are one of the lucky ones who will be approved for finance.
in burtons they are crashing real clean 3.0l into each other for fun:rolleyes:

Bitten & Hisses

Guys, if anyone has a cheap 3.0 with a banjaxed engine, I'd be very interested.

DirtyDiesels

Slidey wrote: »

If you have a 3.0l trooper running or not they will give you 7.5k off a Dmax.

Think this leaves the dmax at something like 16k + VAT

Quite a few of them moving from what I can see in the garage

Lads - rang harris on monday and heres the deal,

13000 for a new Dmax when you trade in a 3.0 trooper.

there allowing 15,000 between the scfrappage scheme and the 3.0 warranty on a trade in... leaving the dmax costing you 13,000...
3.0 are worth money now!!!!

2.8trooper

found another one today and dragged her back body is scrap but mechanically should be good





be awhile before you see an old 2.8 towing another one if anybody needs any grey interior trim before i let the scrap man take the shell let me know

2.8trooper

picked up another super straight lwb with a wrecked engine the other day a 60k miler engine out of red swb and in the blue lwb and its back running again.no pics cant get them off my i phone

any more out there still alive????

746watts

welcome 2.8trooper.
I had one of those beauties a 91 reg. Unfortunately rot got the back end up as far as where it arches over the back axle.
Never had any trouble with it otherwise.
When diesel was on sale for €1.42 a litre, mine ran on a 50% mix of new veggie oil (69c/litre) no problem.
I still have the bull bar from it leaning gracefully against the side of the turf shed.
Ahhhh memories, pity they stopped making them.
Mine was sold on for field use only.... I'm sure the back end has a few lumps of steel welded to keep it together.

2.8trooper

thanks 746 rear chassis aera does seem to be there downfall even thought the body bolts off the chassis they all seem to be scrapped because of it.would be nice to see a few more on the road did your one every give front hub trouble the 3 i have all seem to have banjoed front drives(auto hubs) is worth converting to manual or staying auto?

746watts

2.8trooper wrote: »

did your one every give front hub trouble the 3 i have all seem to have banjoed front drives(auto hubs) is worth converting to manual or staying auto?

my left front drive used to pop out when 4wd was selected (manual box), so I stripped it down and found the circlip wasn't gripping enough in the housing. So out came the hacksaw blade to deepen the grove a little, works a bit better but popped out under a higher pressure. Didn't strip it again after that. 3wd had to do.

101sean

Convert to manual if there's a kit available, free wheel hubs are a waste of time. Saves very little fuel and are something else to go wrong.

Slidey

I remember doing these vaguely but cannot for the life of me remember what we used to do with them.

They did give a fair bit of trouble though, especially if you disturbed them to do something else like a ball joint or a cv boot

2.8trooper

thanks 101 milners do a manual hub for 65 a side,mine gives a loud clicking like the front drive is only partially engageing under load like up hill in 4wd or turning while towing in 4wd,never a problem in 2wd so dont know if its both front hubs or one of them with a problem.i will need an outer cv boot soon to so may be the time to do them all??

101sean

That'd be the time to do it. Thought there would be a kit for a plain drive flange, obviously not. Just leave the manual ones locked.

2.8trooper

a pic of the blue one i picked up recently super straight body and chassis but with a siezed engine now transplanted with engine from the red swb gone to the scrap yard in the sky.

101sean

Excellent example of an evironmentally freindly vehicle, recycled way beyond the life of any so called eco hybrid. Good work

2.8trooper

it sure will a bit of tidying and the blue one should be good for another 200k and now we know were they have weak spots and with the rust preventitive treatment on the market today no reason why it wont still be trucking on in 10 years time,come on the old 2.8s lol!!! any more out there more pics needed i seem to be hogging this thread:)

2.8trooper

i forgot about this thread for a while,well she is still going strong new discs and calipers on the rear and i now have a reasonable handbrake,a full service and a rad flush and off i went to the uk for some deliveries,450 miles on one tank of deisel 724kms i was well happy with that for a 29yr old jeep,pulled well on motorways and in no way embarresed herself.
i never did get around to sorting the front hubs and i have a question for all in the know,i have a scrap 99 frontera that keeps my other topped up with parts,and was looking at the front hubs on it although this was shift on the fly 4wd would the hubs be transferable to the old trooper or is it a totally different set up???
just wondering before i do go and get the manual hubs from milners

JohnBoy

dunno about the hubs, but afaik the shift on the fly is simply vacuum actuated, so the whole axle might swap.

Then a vacuum solenoid, a switch and some plumbing and you'd be grand.

dunno if the whole axle will physically swap in or not though

101sean

Glad to see you're still doing your bit for the environment

Fronteras were a rebadged Isuzu Mu so there may be some commonality, no harm in doing a bit of dismantling and having a look.

There was a very nice clean 91 Trooper in our vintage run last weekend, owner drove it instead of his old tractor due to the weather :rolleyes:

2.8trooper

ah sean no pics
its a frontera b 99 model i bought for 200€ the pump was knackerd will get millons off bits off to keep my swb truckin that opel charge squillions for.
will take a few pics and see what the hubs are like they never gave a problem on my swb so this one i would say rarely ever got 4wd use so there should be no wear on them,with my luck though i reckon the halfshaft splines will be different.
sean pics of vintage trooper asap pretty please

oflynno

i like them there troopers

drove a few for farmers i worked for and wouldnt mind having one in the arsenal

i had a frontera 2.3 for a few years,the brother bought one and popped the 2.8 into it,great job,only for the bistirds that changed the rules for commercial taxing seated vehicles,dreams shattered

2.8trooper

wll all my trooper is now gone to a good friend to keep him motoring through the recession he has gone from a 08 pajero lwb to my trusty 91 trooper until things pick up a bit for him in the meantime i have been given a lend of a 98 landcruiser until i emmigrate powerful machine but not nearly as sure footed as the trooper,my trooper ownership days are not over yet as i have purchased a bighorn seated one in my new home country new zealand,again a 92 2.8tdi so looking forward to joining my partner there in the coming weeks and getting back behind the wheel of these utterly reliable old workhorses.

will pop in from time to time to see how things are going on here and i will post pics of my new wagon in new zealand
bye all

Slidey

Safe trip lad

101sean

Yea, safe trip to NZ.

I loved it there the short time I spent visiting my sister in Auckland, hope to get back next year and see more of the country. Proper 4x4 territory, keep in touch and send pictures!

2.8trooper

just found a pic of the wagon we bought in nz



its as clean as, the missus is drivin it around now until i get there could be a bit of a chore to get it back off her,took a while to find a manual one but got one in the end with 60k on the clock.not to fond off the bling alloys but will see when i get there

_Conrad_

Hello 2.8 trooper. Great to see your lovely one again, some machine that. I've seen it before on retro-rides.org. Really love those old things myself and used to do as you're doing there dragging them out of ditches trying to keep them going, saldy i havnt had one in about 2 years and i miss them, had a few over the years but sadly i only know where one of them is now it's in portugal on a farm (at least i hope it's out there and still going), was a lhd petrol one, dutch import but re registered here in the late 90s, got sold to an english guy who bought some sort of far out there.
Thirsty old beast it was. Had some great diesel ones too though, it's a real pity people don't appreciate these, they're mighty old workhorses, it's also a pity so many irish people are terrified of rust and that it costs so much here to get welding done if you can't have a go yourself, as rust is the only thing that'll kill one of those.

2.8trooper

hi conrad yes remember you on rr i cant praise these old trucks highly enough so simple to work on very little electrics to go wrong.and they look the business as well no doubt mine will still be plodding along this time 5 years as the chassis is sound and its had a good bit of rust preventitive treatment so it keeps goin.
would like to see more on here so keep the pictures coming

_Conrad_

2.8trooper wrote: »

hi conrad yes remember you on rr i cant praise these old trucks highly enough so simple to work on very little electrics to go wrong.and they look the business as well no doubt mine will still be plodding along this time 5 years as the chassis is sound and its had a good bit of rust preventitive treatment so it keeps goin.
would like to see more on here so keep the pictures coming

well when i get another one i'll be sure to put some up. It's safe to say i love them as well, i've nearly come to blows with somone over them before ha ha ha. Bit extreme but if you'd to listen to the eejit i had to...
I used to love seeing people's reactions to my old ones outdoing their new shiny machines.
Can safely say i had the hub problems too, and the rust, but it's a small price to pay for an over all unreal jeep.

2.8trooper

havent been in a while lots of goings on i see in the auld sod,have a quick question i replaced the timing belt on mine today(pity it wasnt gears like my old one) purely to save some money and try to get to know the engine better,i downloaded the manual and stuck to the guide,locked the pump sprocket and cam sprocket with m8 bolts with the pionter on crank at the pin in the crank pulley,put the belt on with new tensioner and idler but the belt was a little loose on the idler side not much,so i tightend up the tensioner as much as i could let of the m8s and rotated 45o anticlockwise and tensioned again all looked good,went back to check the marks lined up and the cam sprocket locked ok pionter was ok but the sprocket on the diesel pump needed another little turn to get the bolt in???
now what have i done could the belt have slipped on one sprocket alone? or am i worrying to much havent put it back together and started yet threw my hat at it for the evening will go again in the morning,if anybody knows if its an issue would be glad to hear from you.

Slidey

Not sure if I get yer post 100% but when putting on a timing belt (which I haven't done in aaaaaaaggggeeesss) I always start at the crank and work my way anti-clockwise bring the slack with me as I go.

That way the tensioner will take up all the slack and wont be inclined to pull the pulleys out of line once the locking pins are out.

2.8trooper

right i get you,i worked anti clockwise as described in the guide but when putting the belt on the top sprockets ie cam and pump there was some slack which i thought the tensioner would take up i must have pulled the pump sprocket out a tooth when i tensioned the belt the last time.will take it off again in the morning and try it that way,i presume lining up crank and locking cam pulley and removing belt and then lock pump pulley will be ok? the belt seems a little tight anyway but it is correct same as one that came off it.

101sean

Done a couple recently and as Slidey says, you have to be careful everything still lines up when you tension it. On a Land Rover you put belt on cam and pump sprocket one tooth out and when you tension it, it pulls the dots into line.

Often the best way is to walk away when it all goes wrong, go back in the morning and it usually fall in to place!

DirtyDiesels

just wondering where did you download the manual from. id be intereted in downloading it muyself

2.8trooper

http://www.bmhor.org/isuzu4j.html
hi dirty diesel you should be able to find it at the link above i just printed it all and put it in a folder,if the link doesnt work go to itocuk and forum and engines its one of the stickys there.

2.8trooper

think i sussed it got the belt kit off milner in uk and in 1991 the trooper has listed two belts square and round tooth i got a round tooth and whats on looks square all be it with some wear!!! so when i got belt on as best i could it rolled the pump sprocket back when tensioned,right so off to get a done over for a square tooth belt here,thats goona hurt.......

dodgeram

Hello 2.8trooper. im a new member. i too would be a fan of the 2.8. My first spin in one was a 1989 trooper commercial when i was only 12. My uncle bought it of harris. So he took me and dad for a spin. that was it. I was sold. So i bought that actual trooper in 1999 with 96k miles. It was used more as a car than a van. He had a shop so it got no abuse. I had 2 trouble free years motoring. Then in 2001 i sold it to my dad. I got a 3.1 trooper. He still has it to this day and he treated it to a full respray in 2009. (some spots of rust appearing again).I was going to get the big wheels and BFGs but he wanted it original. just like it came out of the factory. (i tried):D. There is now 197000 miles and ticking over like a watch. In the big freeze at -10 it started first turn. UNBELIEVABLE. My Dmax didnt start on that same day. diesel froze in the filter. a hair dryer and jump leads to the 2.8 got it going. thanks to john gormally he cant get the commercial tax now. Hope the greens dont call to his door. He has a short fuse:mad: Carlsburg dont do jeeps but if they did it would be a 2.8 trooper.The 3.1 was good but not as tough as 2.8. As for the 3.0. Heard enough to keep clear.

dodgeram

Your welcome slidey. It only took half an hour to type.:P one finger job.

Slidey

dodgeram wrote: »

Your welcome slidey. It only took half an hour to type.:P one finger job.

You'll be batterin away on the keyboard with 2 fingers in no time if you hang around here!

101sean

Hi dodgeram and welcome.

Sounds like you've experience of plenty of 4x4s in your time so you'll fit in, is the name anything to do with a past, present or future yank tank?

dodgeram

Your right slidey. Startin to introduce the second finger now and then

dodgeram

Thanks for the welcome 101sean. Plenty of experience driving them. But i envy you guys who can do the overhaulin of them. As for the dodge ram, nearly bought one (1998 3500 cummins dually) back in 2006. Couldnt sell the patrol GR at the time. so for the moment its gonna be a future yank tank. I heard john gormally is getting one to go out and canvess in it:D....

2.8trooper

good on ye dodgeram yes they are a pretty hard jeep to kill,especially here as the dryer climate keeps the rot at bay,everyone i have chatted to here in nz speaks fondly of the 2.8 they are good old girls.while i did the belt i adjusted the steering box begone floaty steering,replaced a weak engine mount no clattery starting and stopping.and a full filter service.i spied an irmsher one in a scrap yard the other day with the proper arches on it will have to make a call.