LIVE AXLE RODEO

Joined: 22 Sep 2008 Location: NEWCASTLE

ok, im only new to this site and seen there is a fair bit of bagging going on with the ISUZI/GMH MODELS...............

so here is my 97 LX turbo diesel rodeo. ONE THAT KEEPS UP WITH MOST NISSANS AND TOYOTA'S !!!!!

im only a 3rd yr apprentice so she is an on going project at the moment... jusy wish i had more coin to finish her quicker, but hey thats one part of modding trucks i guess.

this is her when i first bought it..... dead stock. only a couple of pics.

Joined: 06 May 2008 Location: Newcastle

soooo.. pics of it now? have you put a 'real' axel in the front? I passed a lifted rodeo at jewells the other day. it was really lifted for a rodeo. not sure what was happening under the front though.

Joined: 22 Sep 2008 Location: NEWCASTLE

because this is my first forby, the forby bug bit and the mods started happening,after about a good yr or two of owning it i bought some 15x7" sunnies off a mate with some old 31's on em so i painted em black and got some 31" BFG muddies to fill me guards and get some diff clearance... as you can see i didnt have much guard clearance at all...

Joined: 22 Sep 2008 Location: NEWCASTLE

oldmate wrote:

soooo.. pics of it now? have you put a 'real' axel in the front? I passed a lifted rodeo at jewells the other day. it was really lifted for a rodeo. not sure what was happening under the front though.

haha yeh thats me matey, i will try get most of my pics up tonight... patrol diffs front and back... around 16" over standard

Joined: 22 Sep 2008 Location: NEWCASTLE

after i got the tyres put on i did a 2" suspension lift.. used old man emu leaf springs and nitro charger shocks and greasable shackles.. just wound the front up 40mm..

and i got a safari snorkel fitted up aswell.

Joined: 22 Sep 2008 Location: NEWCASTLE

then came the bodylift.. i made up the blocks at work out of 50mm polyurethane... went to newcastle high tensile bolts and bought got all my high tensile 8.8 bolts, washers, spring washers and nyloc nuts and to be safe locktite.... in the tray i used 75x50x3mm RHS to hold weight better..

Joined: 22 Sep 2008 Location: NEWCASTLE

Joined: 22 Sep 2008 Location: NEWCASTLE

so here are the main reasons i got the conversion done...
was forever breaking CV joints and and filling the rear drums full of mud... but the main reason was the lack of ground clearance for what i wanted to drive..

here are the drums, how lucky was this, they literally broke when i drove up my mrs driveway eehehe

here is my CV, snapped the crown gear to pieces, chewed every spline off the CV, pulled it out of the hub around 20mm and snapped it where it joins to the diff... cant do much better i dont think haha sorry bout the pic quality of the hub, it was at night when i did it in the middle of the bush

Joined: 22 Sep 2008 Location: NEWCASTLE

so as yous seen from the brakes and CV;s etc.. i got pretty sick of it and thought i'm gonna do somethin completely different.. get me truck S.A.S'd. i first of started ringing aroung and getting prices as ya do. i found SELDOM SEEN VEHICLES AND ENGINEERING, PICTON 0246772207.
rang them and got in touch with KARI. explained what i wanted to do and left it with him, he rang me back the next day with a quote and all of what they were going to do..

here is the list of what i got done.....

1. GQ patrol diffs and lower arms.
2. got diffs and axles shortened
3. custom seldom seen panard,steering arm, draglink.. patrol steering damper
4. custom length/rate, comp spec king springs ( 21" free length )
5. custom length 40mm adjustable tough dog shocks ( first with in OZ )
6. patrol steering setup
7. front diff moved forward 50mm
8. custom made driveshafts ( DANIELS ENGINEERING,WOLLONGONG ), 40mm spacers, rear tailshaft has been balanced
9. in the rear is my old man emu springs sprung over with extended shackles.
10. extended diff breathers, brake lines etc
11. 1.5" transfer case lift
12. new discs, front and rear, new front wheel bearings, swivel hub bearings and axle seals etc...
13. checked CV's and diff centres..
14. drop boxes
15. custom handbrake setup
16. just little bits and pieces etc....

Joined: 22 Sep 2008 Location: NEWCASTLE

here is the custom coils and tough dog 40mm adjustables

here are the driveshafts..

here is the custom handbrake setup, they made a bracket to suit another GQ caliper and mounted it to the diff from the front..

here are the 40mm spacers

drop boxes and lower arms

Joined: 22 Sep 2008 Location: NEWCASTLE

all i gotta do now is get my 35's next week, pull my bullbar and towbar up from doing the bodylift and modify the bullbar so my 35's dont scrub on full flex..
in the future i want to run,
1. 4:11 or 4:88 diff centres
2. locker for the front
3. custom tube bar, sliders
4. reduced gears, 85 %
5. reduce the load carrying leafs out of the rear to get better flex, bit to stiff at the moment since its a ute and been sprung over.
6. holden 304 conversion

here is a couple of flex pics. still a good 2" off the bumpstop in the front and the dirt mound is a good 1.2 metre of the ground.. im 6'6" and it comes just over my hips..

Posted: Tue Sep 30, 2008 11:06 am

Hey mate, off topic question, but do you know Bryn James? Thats my younger brother, he was talking about your truck the other day.

Layto....

Joined: 22 Sep 2008 Location: NEWCASTLE

hey layton, yeh its is me scotty. hows ya zuk goin mate. bryn was tellin me bout it the other day.

Joined: 21 Apr 2008 Location: QLD

hey there mate i am admiring your truck and just wanted to know, the rodeo is of similar chassis design as the MU, would any of this be able to be done the same for the mu as a live front axel conversion would be great for my truck.
cheers
jono

Joined: 02 Oct 2008 Location: Busselton

That is AWESOME!!!

How much was the conversion to do?
I would think it would take a while to do but certainly something individual... Very Happy

Joined: 25 Sep 2007 Location: Cairns

That is sweet...

What sort of $$$ are we talking about? I would love to drop these diffs under my Mu also.

Joined: 21 Apr 2008 Location: QLD

yes i would love to know how much it all cost lol. probably an arm and a leg buy the look of it... Razz

Joined: 22 Sep 2008 Location: NEWCASTLE

hey lads, all up the conversion cost 8860 plus GST..... but is so worth it, totally different truck now... yeh u can do this conversion to your mu's... just trial and error of what works and what dont ay

Joined: 21 Apr 2008 Location: QLD

wow, ohk haha did that include labour? is there anything that can be done at home?

Joined: 02 Oct 2008 Location: Busselton

That turns it into a whole different car...

I'd be interested to know if there was a way to incorporate the existing rear axle and only replace the front suspension...
Very Happy

Still I bet that gets a few heads turning wherever you go. One of the few rodeos to have 35's on it hey...

Joined: 22 Sep 2008 Location: NEWCASTLE

twinky wrote:

wow, ohk haha did that include labour? is there anything that can be done at home?

yeh included labour,if you go leaf rear like i did, i got them to do a spring over on the patrol diff. so im goin to invert the rear and take the load baring springs out and the last locating bolt etc...

Joined: 22 Sep 2008 Location: NEWCASTLE

Lukas wrote:

That turns it into a whole different car...

I'd be interested to know if there was a way to incorporate the existing rear axle and only replace the front suspension...
Very Happy

Still I bet that gets a few heads turning wherever you go. One of the few rodeos to have 35's on it hey...

haha yeh it gets some heads turnin, specialy the boys in blue when i drive past em haha. yeh u can use a hilux diff, just gotta be the same ratio as the rear obviously..