I dunno how Isuzu rebuilds are, but mitsu auto shop re-man’s are notoriously unreliable, to the point where we always advise folks to just get their own OEM rebuilt properly at an alternator shop the first time and save the hassle.
Yeah, I think that’s pretty typical, but I’ve never had luck finding a local shop for the rebuild. @Brian any advice on a local shop for getting my alternator rebuilt?
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I got a referral from an old school friend to Copper state electric on 35th Ave and Indian school, so once I pull the alternator I’ll drag it down there to get checked out, and possibly rewound for more amps. I think it’s wound for 60 amps, and I’d like to get it wound for 80+ if I can.
Yeah I don’t know anyone who rebuilds alternators. Last time I replaced one, the FLAPS (I like that) unit was something like $100 and the OEM was $600+. Montero guys pointed me to Denso on Amazon. Made in Japan (not China) and was $190.
I also went to AGM batteries. Never doing messy lead acid again.
Have you searched Planet? They might have advice.
Do you have the fancy ion sensing ignition? Might be FPR?
https://www.planetisuzoo.com/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=88676
I stopped by Auto Air and Electric to thank Mike and the guys for taking care of you a couple days after you had them do the AC. Made Mike’s day to hear it!
Called him today to get a quote on doing my best 3 joints because I don’t wanna. Mike apologized because he said the book quoted 5+ hours each side. $1500.
Looks like I’m doing ball joints in the heat pretty soon.
I pulled the alternator tonight and I’m pretty sure I have not replaced it, though I know I did pull it once before, but I think I had to when doing the timing belt or something.
No, and it’s not like it takes a lot of cranks to catch, the cranks are slow like you’d expect from a dying battery.
Found a local shop for a rebuild, copper state electric off Indian school and 35th ave. But…
Also found a local isuzu guy who LS swapped his trooper and is going to sell me the known good denso off his old motor for $50. Not gonna pass that up. Might still get the one I pulled tonight rebuilt as a spare. Or might look into getting it wound to be a weldernator.
Tomorrow morning I’ll start the work to pull the starter.
Well, my press is still available, and all my ball joint tools. Let me know.
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50 bucks? Great score!
I’m with @Brian on the AGM batteries. I have one in every rig. Well two in the diesel. My abuse is cold more than heat, but still… Combined with a c-tek charger I have gotten (so far) 12 years out of my optima yellow top. I have it isolated via separator from an Exide AGM. 100 series has a massive Canadian Tire (made by exide) AGM, and Pajevo has Exide branded AGM, usu maintained by another c-tek, since it sits a lot.
Never any water-adding, corroded terminals, rusty battery trays.
Yeah if the battery was bad I was planning on it, I just put an Optima yellow top in my wife’s van a few months ago when it’s battery died. The trooper does tend to sit more, I need to figure out how to keep it on a maintainer when it’s in the driveway. I don’t keep cars in the garage unless they are being worked on.
I still suspect the battery may not be 100% but it gets to 13 volts on the maintainer so it’s hard to say it’s got a major problem. It produced 700 amps for the load test, so I’m just gonna swap to my other starter and see if that handles the problem. Don’t want to spend $250 on a battery when I just bought a new one for $150 in October.
Thank you, my friend. When the time comes, and it should be coming soon, I will hit you up to borrow those tools. I am already itching to go camping and don’t trust my front end to hold together off-road. Have to do this to go camping, imo.
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Boring post with no pictures, sorry.
I’ve replaced front CV Boots, alternator, and swapped out my known good starter. Charging and starting problems solved. Ganked a few ball joint bolts, ordered replacements from McMaster, and of course the one time I actually want the overnight shipping, they say it for delivery for 3 days until they finally show up. New drive shaft bolts as well since I had rounded the heads on most of mine.
Now onto the rear. The rear diff has leaked since I bought the car but recently it has become much worse, no longer to be ignored. So tomorrow I pull the axle shafts and get the third member assembly out, clean it up, apply fresh RTV and slam it back together! Right? It will be that easy? Right? Won’t it? Guys? 
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YAY!
OH. COME. ON.
I have never touched one, myself. It still weirds me out to think oil doesn’t just stay in the middle/diff. Black magic!
Absolutely. You got this!
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Came out pretty darn easy. Got it all cleaned up and got the diff back in with fresh rtv.
Next up is pulling the breather and making sure it breathes, then wheel seals.
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They come out easy but man alive it’s a heavy chunk eh?
Gettin stuff done. Good man. Looks like progress to me!
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Yeah I was worried I was gonna drop it and break my sternum lol.
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And right back together, right? Just like that?
Yeah actually! Only thing that gave me trouble was putting the parking brake back together.
Putting oil in the diff this morning and with any luck everything is all good to go!
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That’s awesome, man. I love it when things go well.
Gets me pumped to get into my own driveline this weekend. #getsome
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Well, i got it all together just in time. Wife and I had a chance to get out for some time away from the kids and we left Friday morning to go wheeling and camping. We did the back way to crown king, a local trail that starts at lake Pleasant, north of Phoenix, and goes 34 miles into the Bradshaw mountains, climbing consistently. It’s an interesting trail that goes through state park, national forest, and private property at various places. It’s a somewhat difficult trail. Most stock 4x4s can do it with some careful thought and judicious driving. When people ask me about it my standard warning is that if getting body damage will make it less fun, then don’t go.
Since my wife and I were alone, no other cars with us, we took the easy way around all the obstacles. It was a ton of fun, but also revealed some short comings on my rig.
- My sway bar end links need replaced.
- I need quick disconnects for my sway bar end links.
- Despite being brand new, I am not impressed with my kyb shocks. I’m going to start saving pennies to get either some bilsteins on the low end, or fox or king shocks on the high end. No crazy bypass or remote reservoir shocks, but some rebound and compression adjustable shocks would be very nice.
And the big one :
4. My first real test of a trail I knew well, since the manual trans conversion… I miss having an auto. Things that were easy with balding street tires (and auto trans) were now a challenge on mud terrains with a 5 speed manual.
So… To remedy number 4…
A. Put an automatic trans back in… Not putting the same one or even same type back in, mine was leaking from everywhere, and they are notoriously unreliable in the trooper.
B. Engine swap and include the auto, but add the tcase from removed auto trans.
C. For $500 dollars and a lot of work, swap out my low range gears in my transfer case from 2:1 to 3:1 and hope it is what I need.
C sounds like my best bet…
What think ye gearhead?
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Ooh! Ooh! I can help here! 
On KYBs
These are fine struts. For street cars. And extremely budget conscious repairs. You’re definitely going to want something mo betta for Stormy. While you’re shopping ze Bilshteins und ze Königs (Kings), you might also consider Old Man Emu (OME). A quick google suggests you can get them for about $115/ea. 3yr/35,000mi warranty. Made in Australia. And I’ve been thoroughly impressed with mine for at least that many years and miles.
On Manuals
The one and only time I’ve done the Crown King road was in a stick shift truck. Fortunately, I had a German driving instructor riding shotgun and giving me advice. Something he told me has served me well on every trail since:
As you’re sizing up the obstacle and selecting your line, you also need to determine your ideal (engine) speed through the obstacle. Where the slushboxes can compensate with throttle, you don’t want to have to shift gears mid-obstacle. Better to be in 4L in 1st gear at 3000rpm, steadily powering up and/or through than running out of power just short of the end in 2nd and having to stop/start mid-obstacle.
On Crawler Gears
If you can swing it, do it. My first Pajero had a set of Mark’s Adapters from Australia. It’s a $1,500 kit that requires a couple hundred bucks in tcase modification to install. The PO and I joked that he sold me a slick tcase and threw in the truck for free. (Which is how I sold it.)
Once upon a time, I followed a double-locked XJ all over the place at Horseshoe Dam and made extensive use of the crawler gears. Check out how beefy the XJ was compared to ol’ Rocinante.
The climb he’s headed toward in this picture was steeper than it looks, with an off-camber dogleg halfway up. He threw in the lockers and practically idled up. I left Roci in 2nd gear and took it tractor-stylee, climbing the hill nearly as confidently as he did until I got cross-axled six feet from the top, lifted a wheel, and lost traction. It was a particularly scary downshift to 1st, and Rocinante was scratching like a pissed off cat at redline for those last few feet.
I believe I had a 2.7:1 ratio in Rocinante. I left it in 4L while we explored that island and was shifting gears like I was driving on the street in 2H. Top speed 4L in 5th was like 20mph. And going back down that hill in 1st was an absolute joy. I didn’t touch any pedals, just pointed it where I wanted to go and let the engine hold speed down.
So, yeah, if I didn’t have a bunch of maintenance and repair work to do on Fezzik these days, I’d pop for the crawler gears before I’d do bumpers or winches or any of that. They completely change the game. So much confidence.
Hope this helps!
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x2 on OME for a solid inexpensive option. I’ve run them on the Discovery for over a decade because they’re super comfy.
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