Update 2003-2005:

The Amigo has gone through a lot of changes since the last time I updated this page. Its current mod list is as follows:

-1.25" body lift
-1.75" gas tank lift
-2" suspension lift
-rock sliders
-rear bumper
-Tera Lows in the t-case
-ARB air locker in rear axle
-32x11.50R15LT Goodyear MT/R's
-15x8 Micky Thompson Classic II wheels (added later)

Here is a fairly new 'poser' shot showing everything but the new tires:

And here are its current shoes:
I have been wanting to buy these tires for a few years.... and now that I have them, they were well worth the wait. They stick to rocks a lot better than the STT's ever did; better in the sand and dirt as well. Not quite a good in the mud; but I don't care about mod bogging and they handle the mud I encounter on the trail just fine:

The point of the body lift was to be able to put on a set of rock sliders without having them hang below the level of the frame. The only kit made for my truck was 3"... which is much more than I needed or wanted; so I made my own 1.25" pucks out of UHMW polyethylene rod. Of course, the body lift left a gap between the front bumper and the body; so I made these 1/4" plate steel brackets to move it back up. Held on by 4 12mm class 12.9 bolts, this set-up is much sturdier than stock:

The body lift also allowed me to lift the gas tank. This was a nice side-benefit since I was hitting the tank a lot on the trails. Even with a factory skid plate, that makes you feel a bit uneasy. This project was easy but time consuming. Dropped the skid plate and tank, cut off the stock brackets, cleaned up the frame with a grinder, and welded the brackets back on 1.75" higher. Well worth the effort!

You can see the rock sliders in the pic at the top of the page. The main body is 2x4x3/16" steel, connecting pieces are 2x2x1/4" steel, and those are welded to 1/4" plate steel that is welded directly to the frame. They have taken a lot of hard poundings without complaint. Here is a shot of the sliders' mounting system:

I had a lot of steel left over from the rock sliders, so I decided to make this bumper:

The main body is the same 2x4x3/16" steel. I never tow anything, but went ahead and integrated the reciever stock anyway. Better to do it now and never use it than to need it and not have it. The bumper is held to both sides of the frame and the rear crossmember with 4 brackets and a total of 12 12mm class 12.9 bolts. Needless to say, pretty beefy!

In the above picture, you can also see the M/T Classic II wheels. I originally put the MT/R's on my stock Isuzu "snowflake" wheels, but they were a bit narrow causing the tires to crown. I also wanted to push the tires out some to get back some of the stability I lost by lifting the Amigo. The Classic II's took care of both of these issues and still maintained a look similar to the OEM wheels I liked so much. Here is a close up shot of the wheel/tire combination:

The 2" suspension lift was done using Darlington Off-Road Springz Upgrades in the rear. These are much better than using a single, thick add-a-leaf and still allow the truck to flex like mad.

Here are the stock springs:

And the spring pack with the overload removed and the Springs Upgrades installed:

Turned up the torsion bars 1.5" in front to match with a slight (not even visibly noticible) rake to help with handling and that was all it took. With the locker and low gears, my biggest downfall on the trail had started to become lack of body armor and ground clearance. The lift and sliders took care of those issues and then some.

Sorry about the lack of new trail pics. Our group doesn't really take the time to stop, get out, get positioned, take pics, get back in, etc etc etc anymore. It ends up cutting into a lot of time that could be used crawling over stuff. There is a short clip at the end of the previous page in case you missed it. If any of my trail pals e-mail me new shots, I will be sure to post them. I hope you have enjoyed the evolution of the Amigo up to this point!

There is a solid axle swap (SAS) planned for the future. I have already started gathering parts (front D44, scrap steel, etc); but the project won't get started until I can afford to buy a new daily driver here in a few years. All in due time!

[edit]Here are some stills that were sent to me from the 3-12-05 run:

You can see the new meats on here:

Descending a steep hill with a drop-off after the root at the bottom:

Climbing the Steps with the new tires:

And finally some 'show and shine' pics of the Amigo in its current form: