I've owned 6 4wd vehicles in my life: a 1990 Dodge Power Ram 150 Long Bed, a 1978 Dodge W250 Power Wagon Crew Cab Short Bed w/full-time 4WD, a 1976 FJ40, a 1978 Chevy 3/4 Ton long bed, a 1992 Ford Tempo 4wd (I know, it not a real 4wd) and the current 1995 Trooper.

Aside from the Trooper and the Tempo, all of them had live axle front ends.

I'm looking for a trail rig right now. The 95 Trooper is the wife's daily driver and I won't be pumping it up anytime soon. I've found a 1st gen Trooper sans motor that I could get for practically nothing. I've also seen some tempting ads for other non-Isuzu vehicles that have non-IFS front suspensions...

The big question is this: why SAS a Trooper when I can buy an old RamCharger/Wagoneer/Cherokee/Bronco/Blazer/LandCrusher/4Runner/whatever with a live axle front suspension? OK--not a Bronco--I am allergic to all things Ford.

Don't get me wrong--I love my Trooper and can see the beauty of a SAS'd Trooper. But I wonder about the effort & expense involved when so many live axle front ends are out there already. Especially if you start with or swap in a GM engine and Dana axles. After that, you've basically got a Chevy in Trooper clothes.

So why SAS a Trooper? Even a practically free Trooper? I know that there isn't an IFS on the planet that'll take the beating a solid axle will, but why not just start with a solid axle in the first place?

Originality, cost of the base vehicle, cool factor, good overall design, able to build it how you want it not how someone else wanted it, did I mention cool factor <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />...etc...etc.
The fact is that just about every true offroader will modify what ever they have whether it aready be a straight axle or IFS. The reason I am doing it is simple, After paying $1500 for a great vehicle then getting rear ended, collecting $2000 from thier insurance fixing it for $400, I now have a free vehicle to work with. You're not going to find another 4x4 in it's class that is a better offroader. You say the Jeep XJ...humm... It's a shame you have to spend $1500 on a suspension lift just to run 33's. I can do an entire SAS for $1500 and run 37's or bigger and get a lot more performance from it.

Just my $.02.. CHACHING! <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/cheers.gif" alt="" />

yeah I totally agree... there are about a million other jeeps out there, but just as he said they are running crazy lift just to fit 33's, the fender wells under my trooper are HUGE and I have tons of room to flex around those 37's, and to be honest I'm pretty sure that I'm gonna move up to the 40's on my next set b/c the 37's still look small and I still have plenty of room in there, and get this, I haven't cut my fender wells at all, so imagine what it'd be like if I did. It's true that isuzu's can be a challenge to deal with sometimes, and I can get mad at her sometimes too, but that's the most fun about it. Plus, in my case, I can pretty much count on one hand the number of guys who have SAS'd a second gen. trooper, that alone is worth it to me and on top of that it goes pretty much anywhere I point it and it's fun to watch the faces of yota and jeep guys when they see an isuzu doing the things it does. For me personally its the originality of it and I have learned so much more having to build and do lots of research to get the parts I want rather than just buying kits and bolting them up, just gives me a little more meaning to the sticker that says built not bought..... <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/cheers.gif" alt="" />

Hey You Can Ad another finger to that fist full of trooper sas'es i just swaped mine over last weekend. every thing you said above is exactly true. I could not have said it better my self. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/patriot.gif" alt="" />

I find it hard to come up with any solid and concise "Whys" or "Why Nots." You can slap a solid axle under anything, or you can buy many a vehicle that comes standard with a solid axle.

It boils down to personal preferences, including resources and availability, and not much more.

Why not build a full-awn crawler? Why not build... I can go on and on.

People SAS Zu's to make people ask "why would you want to SAS an Isuzu?"

I want a solid axle so bad...
-J <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/kewl.gif" alt="" />

there's no logical answer. i have always been into troopers because my first 4x4 was one. I'm comfortable in them and working on them. They are cheap and plentiful. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/notooth.gif" alt="" />

Its also important to note that most ( I would say atleast half) of the people who offroad isuzu's got into it slowly and didn't really think with the ultimate end in mind.

So it wasn't like "what would be the best model to start out with to get objective a,b,c accomplished" versus, "I have this isuzu, now how do I SAS it?"

I would not trade my truck for anything even though it gives me so much problems.

WHA?

The feeling of knowing, wow, I just outwheeled a Jeep...And its not a Jeep! For the feeling of times like tonight. Going to my local pizza place/hangout and seeing a guy with a Rubi. Then him proceeding to say he really likes my rig, and its got character, and its unique.

To be able to know first hand you are the only one in my area (A valley w/ about 100K in population) to have a modified trail-ready Trooper.

And its not a Jeep. You bond with your truck when you take the time, money, blood, and sweat into modifying it yourself.

I guess it all comes down to personal preference.