Se7en62's '99 Montero Gen 2.5 Overland Build & Adventures

[Se7en62]

Last Friday, I replaced the diff and transfer case fluids. The transfer case received Lucas Synthetic 75w90 and the diffs each received Lucas Heavy-Duty 80w90. Both diffs and the transfer case were simple drain-and-fill's.

I also removed the 3rd row seats. These are simple enough to remove and store for later use.

First you just remove the single cover screw (Philips head).

Once you remove the inner cover, there will be (2) 12mm bolts holding the inner bracket.

Next, flip down the 3rd row seats and you'll find a pair of (2) more Philips head screws. Remove them and then remove the outer cover.

Again, there will be (2) more 12mm bolts holding the outer bracket in place. Remove these and the seat will be free.

I also didn't like the way the bolts looked that came with the Luso Overland Pintle Hitch. They are a higher grade, but they developed surface rust very quickly. Rather than painting them, i just replaced them with the bolts that were used for the tow hitch since I was removing that as well. (Which I decided to do after I had tightened this back up. LOL.

The last item I needed to address was improving the departure angle by removing the factory tow hitch. This was straight forward using (4) 17mm bolts on the bottom, as well as the (4) 17mm bolts holding the pintle hitch in place. The last bolt was a little tricky to access, so I pivoted the hitch out to a 45° angle on my floor jack which allowed me to grab the nut that was spinning on top of the frame. After that, I just wheeled it out and stored it for later use. - I will note that the trailer hitch connection, I just moved them up and mounted it to the frame.

 

[Se7en62]

Sunday morning my wife and I bled the brakes and then hit the road. Here in Texas we have off-road parks due to the lack of public property, so we headed out to a location called Hidden Falls in Liberty Hill. This place is a about 2400 acres and features a gun range, dozens of trails with various difficulties, camping, and RV spaces. It's a pretty cool private facility and the cost is fairly low so a lot of folks from the Austin area frequent it. I've been out here before in in Jeeps, but this was the first time I'd taken the Pajj out.

I realized right when we arrived that my 4H wasn't engaging, but later found that it was my driver's side manual hub that wasn't engaging the CV axle. Regardless, my 4HLc and 4LLc both engaged a psuedo-locked 3WD...maybe? Maybe 2WD locked? We went ahead and headed onto the main trail that connects all the others. I went straight to the back and hit a Level 3 which was just a deeply rutted up creek bed that ran up a steep hill. Then we turned onto another trail and head up to one of the obstacles there. No issues all day and then we drove home without issue.

VIDEO

I'm going to fix that hub Tuesday and then get back out to a different off-road ranch on Sunday to have another shakedown.

 

[Se7en62]

I took another cue from a thread over on ADD to add an inline fuel filter to the coolant system's return bypass line. The filter used is an Edelbrock unit with a sintered copper filter element. This is a cheap ($15) and practical precautionary upgrade for these old trucks. My coolant system is as clean as koolaid, but this should catch anything floating around in it.

 

[Se7en62]

Fixed the hub on Saturday and detailed it. Then on Sunday, we went out to a private ranch near Boerne, TX to do some wheeling. We had a nice and diverse group of trucks: My Pajj, plus a black Lexus GX470 w/ Dobinsons (I think..) and 33's, a black Baja Tacoma with rear locker and 33's, a silver Tacoma with rear locker, and my buddy's well-built WJ with brand new Radflo shocks. We had a blast and everyone did the same lines, except at one point the WJ did a pretty gnarly line through a boulder field that no one else attempted. Regardless, the trip was awesome and the 'Rocket' did really well. It was about a 2-hour drive to the ranch, we did 5-hours of wheeling, and 2-hours home without an issue in about 82° weather.

Adventure Driven Design shipped by 3-Piece Skid Plate Combo last week, so we should be all plated up by mid-week next week. There was only one thing I could do...

 

[Toasty]

Looks great dude! Also your terrain seems to be fairly rocky.

 

[Se7en62]

Looks great dude! Also your terrain seems to be fairly rocky.

Oh yeah, it's pretty rocky around here. Anyone who buys property West of the IH35 corridor jokes about farming rocks every time it rains. The plains to the East are DEEP black mud until you hit the pines. Anywhere there are pine trees in Texas, the terrain turns to a bottomless sandy clay. Ahhh...Texas.

 

[Se7en62]

We arrived a little early, so before we hit the trail I had time to take some pics while it was nice and shiny.

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[Se7en62]

Two of the three ADD Skid Plates arrived on Friday, but I don't want to install them until I can do all of them this weekend. So, I had nothing better to do on Saturday. After a few hours at the gun range with some buddy's of mine, I strapped down my gear and headed back to Hidden Falls. This place is only about 12 miles from Best of the West Gun Range, so I couldn't resist. I wasn't able to get many pictures since I was wheeling alone this time. However, I did run across a nice an accessible patch of Bluebonnet (State Flower of Texas) on my way home. These flowers are finicky and don't always bloom in the same fields, but this time of year our roadways are all lined in these vibrant blue flowers. They'll stick around through April so I'll try and find some larger fields to show y'all.

 

[Thirty-Nine]

The rear springs from OME -- these are are about 0.5" up, right?

 

[Se7en62]

The rear springs from OME -- these are are about 0.5" up, right?

Hey Andy, I'd assume so. Both OME and ADD both state that the HD rear springs raise it 1.0" unladen and increase the carrying capacity by 400 lbs. Mine is about that much, then I cranked the OME Torsion bars in the front up a bit to ride about 1" lower than the rear for now. Once I install our platform/drawers/fridge/battery/roof rack/RTT/and gear it should ride nearly even. If not, I'll adjust the front end again and have it re-aligned again. (Getting a lifetime alignment was a GOLDEN idea! LOL)

I have a clean set of the standard Non-HD OME springs if you're interested. Shoot me a PM or get me on FB.

 

[Se7en62]

I've been a bit quiet, while my wife and I celebrated our 6th Anniversary over last weekend. L.I.V.I.N.

Two out of three skid plates have arrived. The last one, the mid-plate is shipping tomorrow, so those will all go in next weekend. I've also been working on sourcing some OEM CV axles, so I can rebuild them and swap them out for mine while I rebuild the set I have so I have a set of good spares. Aside from that, I've been researching batteries for weeks and have concluded that the ($$$) X2Power Group 31 AGM is going to be my next large purchase for this project. Following that I'll also get the electrical system sorted and to do that I started contemplating requirements with this to help visualize what I'm doing. - Now the system will NOT include (2) X2Power's at first, as I have a perfectly good flooded battery up front that's only a year old. The rest of this, I'm pretty close to pulling the trigger on (thanks to Amazon) so if anything seems out of place please let me know and you might possibly save me a headache and some money.

As hinted at above: Another task I'm working on is upgrading from my ARB 37qt to a Snomaster 42qt. That upgrade should happen next week and I'm really excited about it.

Last but not least, is actually the next most important task at hand and that is the compiling of roof rack materials. I ordered a set of Surco GM100 5-1/2" Gutter Mounts today and will order another set tonight, for a total of (8) mounts. The rest will just be round tubing and light and accessory tabs and mounts, then we can fabricate it and get the RTT mounted. --- Oh! I also picked up brand new ARB 4.5" awning for the rear for $80 from my buddy so that's a bit of a bonus. Cheers!

 

[Se7en62]

Gutter Mounts have been ordered...I found (2) sets on Amazon that were in "Used" condition for half-price, so I'll just refurb them if needed and replace the hardware with Grade 8 stuff. I should be able to get the rack pretty well designed this week.

In other news: We scored this nearly-brand-new Dometic CFX-95DZW Dual Zone Fridge/Freezer w/ Wi-Fi for $600! It was used at a local outdoor supplier's store as a demo for a couple months but that's brand new in my book. I had made some measurements prior to buying it and even though I figured it would be too big, I wanted to double check just to be sure. Turns out it fits PERFECTLY in the cargo area with the 2nd row seats still in place! - Now I'm selling my brand new (never used) ARB 37qt fridge (locals only.)

I have some pondering to do to figure out the layout for the rear drawer system and storage. I'm thinking the fridge will live on the left on a slide with a cutting board underneath on another slide. Then on the right, I'll build a pair of stacked drawers: One for recovery gear storage; One for dry-goods. Behind the lower drawer will live the auxiliary battery and on the right-side outer wall, the Renogy Wanderer PWM Solar Controller. - Then I'll do a box over the top of the fridge to store our pair of travel duffel bags. Then there will still be space on the sides for other smaller gear, like my Viair 88p Air Pump, tire repair, etc.

The backseats, I plan to remove and replace with a platform for my dog. She's a 100 lb Akbash that likes to stand while we drive, so she will get her own space and be separated from the cargo by a cargo net barrier. Since the back seat is set a bit higher on the rise in the floorboard, this should also create small storage spaces in the footwells of the rear seat area. I think this will be a good spot for tool rolls and other stuff I can access while parked or camped. - The fire extinguisher is likely to be mounted to the front seat, as well as my IFAK.

 

[Se7en62]

All the ADD plates arrived, along with a couple new CV axles. The plates are extremely well built and fit perfectly. I do need to tap a couple of my skid plate mounts as the PO stripped them out, but that's easy enough.

I'm also waiting on new UCA's, ball joints, and tie rod ends to come in. Once those arrive, I'll do them at the same time I replace the CV axles. Then all the baseline maintenance will be done for a while.

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[MummifiedCircuitry]

Very nice rig, where did you find that ARB bumper? I've been looking for around 2 years for one.

 

[Se7en62]

Very nice rig, where did you find that ARB bumper? I've been looking for around 2 years for one.

I was able to order mine through 4WheelParts. The part number is ARB 3434040, but it did take a lot of fabrication to get it to fit correctly. If your truck is a JDM-spec Pajero it will fit without issue, but the US-spec Montero's (like mine) have different front frame "horns" which need some modifications, as well as modifications to the mounts on the ARB bumper as well. That may not be the case if your Montero is a Gen 2 though, as mine is a Gen 2.5 so the difference may actually be caused by differences between generations as well.