Savannah Trooper

Starting a project or modification? Then post it's progress here and show us some pic's.
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Philip A.
Stropper
Posts: 6
Joined: Sun Jun 30, 2013 4:19 pm
Location: East Africa

Savannah Trooper

Post by Philip A. »

A couple of months ago I got a Trooper at bargain price, because the owner - being allergic to spanners and grease - did not want to go to the trouble and expenses to fix a number of things, and a possible engine rebuild. Knowing what most local mechanics are capable (or rather in-capable...) of, I can understand him. So I went home with this:

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That's a good starting point. 1995, 3.1, still tight despite a few bushes and bearings in need of attention.

Since my cars operate somewhere between Very-Far-Away and The Center Of Nowhere, there are many things that needed to be added and/or modified to put it up to bush specs.

I quickly replaced the road-biased 245/70 with Toyo Open Country MT in 235/85. These have given me stellar traction and puncture resistance on my 130" Land Rover, who spends most of her time off-road. I'll see what mileage I'll get on the Trooper, who sees more asphalt than the Landy. Here are the tyres (during the bumper build).

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I then proceeded to build winch mounts/hi-lift points, winch bumper, rear bumper, and roof rack. Installed a winch (removed from my SWB Land Cruiser, stripped and rebuilt), and lifted the body 25mm with Nylon pucks.

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Added finishing plates at the corners behind the winch, for the sake of looks:

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I also lifted the fuel tank 50mm: there are 25-30mm available between tank and body anyway, add the 25mm body lift and you've got your 50mm tank lift. Here it is, before and after.

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In the cab, I installed an inverter with a 220V outlet, always useful in the boondocks, and a dual battery switch. The dual batteries are not a luxury when you run an auto box out there...


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There is still quite some work ahead, but it starts coming together!


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pressy
Hard Yaka
Posts: 445
Joined: Mon Aug 16, 2004 12:00 pm
Location: christchurch

Re: Savannah Trooper

Post by pressy »

Hi Phillip,
nice job on the mods,you made them look professorial. great job. :D where are you in the world? :wink: have you taken it out yet would be great to see some action shots also.
Philip A.
Stropper
Posts: 6
Joined: Sun Jun 30, 2013 4:19 pm
Location: East Africa

Re: Savannah Trooper

Post by Philip A. »

Oops... Added location to my profile. I live in Uganda, and run safaris out in the bush, mostly in Karamoja.
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