My latest mitsu build-up...

off-roader

Expedition Leader
1996 Mitsubishi Montero SR
Purchased $1350.
1231645036_dsc_7469.jpg


1st Upgrade: 2" Body Lift from 4crawler.com
2nd Upgrade: 35x12.5x15 BFG MT KM2 tires
3rd Upgrade: Safari Snorkle
4th Upgrade: Jeep TJ aftermarket front & rear bumpers modified to fit
5th Upgrade: BVG Roof Rack
6th Upgrade: Stay tuned... more to come shortly.

Current condition...
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kcowyo

ExPo Original
You off-roader on the Wire too?

Are we under invasion? :elkgrin:


Welcome to ExPo - :beer:


- KC
.
 

DavidG

Adventurer
How close are the mounting points on the TJ bumpers to matching up with the Montero frame horns?
 

off-roader

Expedition Leader
How close are the mounting points on the TJ bumpers to matching up with the Montero frame horns?

FRONT BUMPER
Not really close. The front bumper mounts completely differently with the mounting bolts running front to back into the Jeep frame while the monty mounts left to right into the frame.

My fabricator modified the front frame horns to beef them up and make them so I didn't need to modify the bumper to mount it. Since I also have a 2" body lift, he raised the mounts higher so the bumper doesn't rub on too much off road.

Here's a pic of the mount on one side...
1237354181_snv10041s.jpg


You can see the bumper is bolted to the frame from the front. There are a total of 8 Grade 8.8 (metric) / 5 (SAE) 1/2" diameter bolts & corresponding nuts/washers attaching it. There are also four 5/8" bolts mounting the modified mount adapter to the frame rail.

REAR BUMPER
The rear bumper on a TJ mounts more like a Montero (bolts running left to right into the frame rails) however the rails on a Jeep are much wider. Again, with the body lift he simply made an adapter (w/out having to re-inforce the rear frame rail ends) to adapt the wider bumper mounts to the narrower frame rails. There are 4 grade 5 bolts (2 on each side) attaching the bumper to each adapter and 2 more grade 8.8 (metric) bolts attaching the adapters to the frame rails.

He also cut off ~4" off the end of the frame rail. This 4" is used for nothing more than supports for some bumpers however with US models the supports aren't even used for that so they are truly not needed (so we cut them off).

Here's a pic of the right rear adapter (black) mounted to the frame rail and bumper (in Mitsu Sudan Beige which looks kinda gold in the flash) attached to that adapter.
1237354158_snv10040s.jpg
 

DavidG

Adventurer
Thanks for the pics and info. It looks great with those bumpers. I can't believe how cool your low-buck rig build is! Are you happy with the 35's and 4.63's? What are your impressions of the KM2?
 

Momrocks

Adventurer
I luva cool build on the cheap! Most of the classic, historic expeditions I'm interested in were accomplished using tried and true mods...most were relativily affordable. It's too easy to get lured by fashion & flash and think it takes buckets of money to explore or camp. Well done, I anticipate the next installments.
 

off-roader

Expedition Leader
Thanks for the pics and info. It looks great with those bumpers. I can't believe how cool your low-buck rig build is! Are you happy with the 35's and 4.63's? What are your impressions of the KM2?

Thanks for the compliments. Yes I really like the bumpers although I will be modifying them to allow me to mount a hilift up front.

I like the 35's. With 15x8 rims (3.75" offset) they fit perfectly with almost no rubbing but I'll let you know more on that after my initial trail run this weekend. I'll probably have to trim the rear inner part of the plastic fender extensions.

I'll also let you know how good the KM2's are in the dirt. I won't know about the rocks though since I'm still waiting on rocker panel protection and won't be doing any crawling on this trip.

As for 4.63's, I do notice the loss in power and will be upgrading to 4.90's but to be honest it's not that bad if you don't expect your montero to perform like a sedan. I do wish 5.29' were available but I don't think anyone has found a source for those at this point. Hopefully they exist somewhere. I'll also be upgrading the xcase to the 3:1 gears from australia.

I luva cool build on the cheap! Most of the classic, historic expeditions I'm interested in were accomplished using tried and true mods...most were relativily affordable. It's too easy to get lured by fashion & flash and think it takes buckets of money to explore or camp. Well done, I anticipate the next installments.

Thanks. Yes this will not be a 'bling' mobile. I have never really been interested in those kinds of upgrades. It's part of my personality I guess.
Also you have to consider this is the 3rd Montero I've built up and I know at this point what's required to do the kind of wheeling I do.
 

Justice R

Adventurer
Cool

Good to see you over here Ray. Lots of good information here. I think I'll follow suit with a build thread for my 89..
 

off-roader

Expedition Leader
Good to see you over here Ray. Lots of good information here. I think I'll follow suit with a build thread for my 89..

Nice to see you here as well Justice. I was just going to comment that it's nice to see your build thread as well before I realized you replied to my build thread.
:cool:
 

4Rescue

Expedition Leader
Awesome looking truck mate, I'm loving the new Mitsu section. Were these Pajero/Monty versions (I don't know what gen body that is, 2nd? 3rd?) EVER offered with manuals, and were there air lockers still offered stock??? Again, nice truck, glad to see these great trucks coming out in the spotlight.

Cheers

Dave
 

off-roader

Expedition Leader
Awesome looking truck mate, I'm loving the new Mitsu section. Were these Pajero/Monty versions (I don't know what gen body that is, 2nd? 3rd?) EVER offered with manuals, and were there air lockers still offered stock??? Again, nice truck, glad to see these great trucks coming out in the spotlight.

Cheers

Dave

Thanks for the compliments Dave. The square bodied mitsu montero/dodge raiders are consider gen I's. They were available from 1985/6 to 1991. Here's a pic my 89 v6 2 door (Gen I).
1219733268_070505_pismobeach.jpg


The Gen II Montero's (never sold as a Dodge model) were available from 1992-1996.

The 1992-1993 models were only available with the 3.0L engine & I don't believe they were ever offered with a std trim package that included a stock locker but I could be wrong. Justice and Phil could probably set the record straight on that.

From 1994-1996 the SR models all came with a 3.5L DOHC engine, & larger rear diff with the factory air locker. The 94-96 RS or LS models came with the 3.0L engine a smaller rear diff (not sure about the front). These were not offered with a locker in the US.

The Gen 2.5 Montero's look almost identical to the gen II but has a more flared/pronounced front and rear fenders. If you find with with a cold weather option, it should include a rear locker.

The Gen I v6, Gen II 3.5L models both support the ARB RD110 front locker. The Gen I v6 also has available an ARB rear locker (forget the p/n).
So with either rig, you can easily (for a price) get front and rear lockers.

The Gen II's are offered with manual tranny's but I don't recall if they're available in the US. Mostly because I'm not interested in a manual tranny off road. 1st and foremost the auto tranny's in these are extremely reliable and most get 200K+ w/out even starting to think about a rebuild.

Plus they're simply ton's easier to use off road (especially rock crawling) since we don't have extremely low gears available w/out major mods (4.9 difs & 3:1 xcase is about it) for the Gen II. If we did have those gears then a manual tranny would make more sense and be much easier to drive.
 
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off-roader

Expedition Leader
Installed a navigation computer today. It's the same Acer One I use in my Gen I. It comes w/ an 8GB SSD drive and an 8GB SD card (Class 6). I upgraded the card to a 16GB version and I run both NatGeo Topo CA (hi res topo maps) and MS Streets & Trips.
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So far, so good!!
:smiley_drive:
 
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