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UPDATE - Dropped Yoshi off at a shop I've never been to before (because I just moved towns) but has really good reviews and a stupidly expensive labor rate. I wrote down and gave them the full history of the vehicle: History: 1. Tires came off my 2003 Montero and only have 5,000 miles on them...

Ya the problem with a fast build is a lot of things were changed within a short amount of time. Lift, cvs, diff bushings, wheels, tires, alignment, muffler, etc. were all done within the span of a few drives so my memory of what changed when isnt the best since this isn’t my daily driver...

Excellent ideas, thanks so much! I’ll take off the hubcentric rings and see how it does - maybe i got a bad batch. Toasty just did brake pads 9 months ago on it so I doubt that the rotors would have a problem but I’ll inspect them when taking the rings off the wheels. The tires only have...

7/26/19: Still dealing with vibrations in the steering and pulling to the right when driving over 50mph. I've had the wheels balanced 3 times at PepBoys with that whole fiasco I already wrote about. Thanks to Ocdfisher I remembered that PepBoys doesn't do roadforce balancing so their tire...

7/25/19: Roof work About 1 year ago I was picking parts off a Gen3 at the junkyard and the roof rack caught my eye. It had Yakima crossbars on it - score. But even more interesting it had a sunroof wind visor that I never knew existed. The Yakima cross bars were locked so the only way to remove...

If they are the same mechanically: 5 speed, traction control,l 4.30 gears, and 3.8L then go with the one you like more personally. Some ppl love leather seats, i hate them. Xls had the mechanical climate control vs auto in the limited. Xls has a clock, limited has a computer screen with temp and...

New Superwinch Talon 12.5SR - 12,500lb heavy duty winch with synthetic rope and all the original accessories. I purchased this winch but it has been sitting for over a year (in an insulated warehouse, so no worries about weather exposure) because I realized that the side mounted solenoid box...

This is awesome, thanks for doing the legwork on this and posting your findings. I just moved to a county with no emissions requirement so as soon as my pre cats give me trouble or when doing some other power upgrades I'll probably import the non pre-cat version of these headers. Any word on the...

Just measured today - 75mph - mid 80s to low 90s decibel reading = insanely loud for a brand's flagship vehicle in 2005 even with 33" tires. For reference, I found an auto decibel database and it claims that a 2008 Land Cruiser measured 66.5db at 75mph (on stock tires though, so add a bit for...

Now that I think of it, this 2005 doesn't seem as bad as my previous 2003. I'll take a decibel reading on the highway and post back up but I still plan on sound deadening the entire cabin.

Oooooh ya, I forgot about "road force balance", I need to find a place that does that and have them check it out. Thanks for the reminder. As for running 32s on these wheels on stock suspension, I don't know for certain but my educated guess is that yes, they would fit with no rubbing on...

7/3/19: Another day, another PepBoys appointment. PepBoys in Flagstaff got the camber bolt parts needed from Mitsu and was finally able to complete the alignment. Unfortunately, they too couldn't get the TPMS sensors to work despite having a computer (ATEQ) that Continental says is compatible...

6/13/19: With the lift, diff bushing, cv refresh, spare tire mount, etc. now completed; I took Yoshi over to PepBoys to get the following done: Load E 31.5" Nitto Terra Grapplers changed to Load C 33" BFG KO2s OEM Wheels changed to Toyota TRD Offroad 17x7.5 Wheels with hubcentric wheel...

6/9/19: In preparation for the new 33s, I decided to try a simple modification that I heard about on the MMUSA FB group that allows the Gen3 rear spare tire carrier to fit a 33 inch tire. In stock configuration, 32 is the biggest that will fit I believe. Basically, you just unbolt the spare tire...

4/24/19: I was thinking about what to do with the OEM wheels - keep them and get some wheel spacers to widen the track, get new wheels, or get used Toyota wheels. After much deliberation and weighing the pros and cons, and costs, I decided to go with used Toyota wheels again like I did on my...

8/20/19: UPDATE - WHILE I STILL THINK A HIGH CLEARANCE MUFFLER IS A GOOD IDEA, YOU WILL NEED A HEATSHIELD (SEE UPDATE ON PAGE 6), BEST TO INSTALL IT WHEN THE MUFFLER IS OUT. 6/21/19: Quick and easy mod, took Yoshi over to Scottsdale Muffler and had them replace the giant round OEM muffler with...

3/30/19: A few months ago when I sold my 2003 Montero I had to remove one main piece of equipment on it and keep it for my new 2005 build. I would have liked to keep that 2003 build intact for the new owner (less wrenching for me too) but this piece of equpment was just too rare to give up. I'm...

6/9/19: After I got Yoshi back from the mechanic I went ahead and took care of an easy fix - Inner Tie Rod boots. Both of them had tears in the original boots: Passenger side had a small hole: Driver side was completely ripped in half: Upon removing the torn boots, it looks like the only...

Ok, onto my other 2 questions that I'm assuming everyone asked themselves but probably didn't: Why only 1 rear cam seal? - Because the other one has some sort of electronic plug harness by it or on it or something and Ernest said that that harness was on there really tight and he didn't want to...

I decided to only have the 2 rear most rear diff bushings replaced because they were in worse shape than the front ones on the aluminum support wing and because (mostly this reason), Mitsu still sells replacement bushings for the rear but not for the front. For the front ones, you have to buy...