I pulled out a buddy in a 2WD Tahoe after he got the crazy idea that going mudding would be fun. He high sided and was sitting on the axles. The Montero pulled him out like he weighed nothing! I've been very suprised with how well our monteros do under pressure. Wish I had pictures.
Got my 96 SR at about 165k and have since added about 25k to it. Other than replacing a few normal wear and tear parts that come along with a 20 year old vehicle, I have never had to do a big overhaul on anything. The montero has proven to be the most reliable vehicle in the family. I have 33's...
Got my new KYB Gas-A-Just shocks put on Saturday. Love the new, solid feel when taking turns at speed! I could easily compress and extend the old shocks by hand. Need to go test off-road soon.
They are manual. You could probably swap out the upholstery from leather to cloth though if you don't want to lose power seats. I can't imagine it being too hard
Haven't posted on the thread in a couple of months.
New Updates:
Alternator
Drive belts
Battery
Replaced cracked O-rings on the PS pump
K&N air filter
AC compressor/filter dryer
Condenser fan
Another alternator (bearing went bad in the other re-manufactured one)
Red tow hooks for fun:)
Floor...
Torsion crank really didn't make the ride rougher for me. If going with 33's I would do a 10.5 wide. Anything more might be getting heavy for the 3.0L. Mine has 33X10.5 on a 3.5L and it gets slumpy up hills sometimes