Gen III Montero durability

[BushPig]

I'd love to hear from anyone who has put some miles on a Gen III Montero. How has it held up?

Most especially, how has the unibody withstood the movement of the suspension, torsion from off-roading, etc?

I'm interested in a Gen III purchase, but I'm old school in my affinity for a boxed frame. I'm trying to hard to shake it

Anyone have pretty high mileage on their's, many of them accumulated off-road?

Thanks!

 

[Michael Brown]

I drive mine offroad every chance I get, but it gets mostly Hwy at 70mph. It has 170k miles and I have no worries for it. It always surprises me with just how capable it is in stock form. I have driven up trails that I never should have attempted, but the Montero never showed signs of strain.

...and to alleviate the uni-body/frame argument, the 3rd gen Montero is a monocoque body (like race car designs) with a built-in ladder frame chassis. The link in my signature has more information about the development of the new design.

Also Mitsubishi is still the reigning Dakar champion for most wins. The 3rd Gen Montero taking 7 consecutive victories. A weak design would never last the length of that race so many times. :ylsmoke:

 

[Inyo_man]

I've been driving my Gen. III for many years now, and it just turned 150k recently.
We spend a lot of time in the high desert around Ridgecrest, so it gets plenty of high speed abuse...
Between the Sierra and the Whites/Inyos I've also put many miles of "forest" driving on this rig.
The monocoque design has never hinted at fatigue in the least.
As MichaelBrown stated above, it's a proven design.
If this is the only thing that's holding up you purchasing a Monty...time to pull the trigger.
Good Luck on the search.

 

[pajombre03]

My 03 comes in around 140K, both high way, and it's fair share of off road miles. Honestly, I'm amazed at how we'll the car still runs and drives off road and on road after everything I've put her through. Unbelievably tough built cars. Like the person above said, of the IRS is the only thing holding you back, just buy one, you'll love it.

 

[JamesW]

A friend of mine has a 05 3.2 one on 33s. It will go pretty much everywhere mine goes. He has the advantage of the independent suspension making the diff higher,so it won't ground out as easily,but the downside to that is that there isn't a whole lot of articulation there,however the traction control is helpful.

One thing I noticed is how soft the body panels are compared to a gen2. The bumpers suffer gouges very easily,and get misaligned. But he has never suffered any mechanical damage from going offroad.

 

[dookie]

Original owner '01 XLS here (stock, save OME lift). ~205k on the clock & no worries. Regular coolant & ATF changes highly recommended. Have had most of the common maladies (cracked exhaust manifold, oil leaks from aged plug seals/cam o-rings, blown rear CVs), nothing gut-wrenching.

I see you're in NC as well. This vehicle does regular time in the OBX sand, an the occasional fire road run on the other side of the state. Very pleased with both durability and ability of this truck. Plan to run her till she dies.

 

[Jaynen]

There is a video of an aussie mag getting a gen 3 stuck (they had to pull the traction control fuse to do it) and then yanking it from a good stuck over and over from totally wrong points IE the door jam and then measuring panel gaps to see how tough the monocoque is. It didn't budge. The only real drawback of the gen 3 IMO is that you can't do a body lift and make it easy to fit 35+ inch tires

 

[off-roader]

There is a video of an aussie mag getting a gen 3 stuck (they had to pull the traction control fuse to do it) and then yanking it from a good stuck over and over from totally wrong points IE the door jam and then measuring panel gaps to see how tough the monocoque is. It didn't budge. The only real drawback of the gen 3 IMO is that you can't do a body lift and make it easy to fit 35+ inch tires

That would be a neat video to see. Link?

As for a body lift... My understanding is you sort of can because the suspension sits on a subframe but honestly I've never examined one closely enough to confirm this possibility.

 

[Inyo_man]

That would be a neat video to see. Link?

Enjoy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPXixsvjDjY

 

[JamesW]

Actually said friend with the 3.2 DID on 33's managed to blow a hole in his intercooler,with the guard to the intercooler recently enough. :Wow1: Also put a nice big dent in the tank too

As it turns out,the gen 3's have very little in the way of underbody protection compared to the gen2. everything is exposed under there without even the hint of a guard,so budget for them if you are building something up on a gen 3

 

[lordtrunks]

I believe Ironman makes a under armor kit for the gen 3 now

 

[dookie]

As it turns out,the gen 3's have very little in the way of underbody protection compared to the gen2...

What?! That's not plastic, it's "composite" (says the guy with custom fabbed 1/4" T6 replacements).

Bush Skinz does a kit as well, but I'm not sure on their US distribution (whereas Ironman has a CA-based distuributor).

 

[plh]

There is a video of an aussie mag getting a gen 3 stuck (they had to pull the traction control fuse to do it) and then yanking it from a good stuck over and over from totally wrong points IE the door jam and then measuring panel gaps to see how tough the monocoque is. It didn't budge. The only real drawback of the gen 3 IMO is that you can't do a body lift and make it easy to fit 35+ inch tires

There is a switch (factory) in mine to turn the traction control off. I gotta say - it is a bit annoying. It defaults to "on" with every key cycle. Kind of a pain to drive turned on in snow covered roads as it substantially reduces the engine power when the tires start slipping. Think of pulling away from a simple stop sign on semi snowy roads in 2WD. I'm not a fan.