Another new 05 Montero Owner!

[05 Montero]

Also a new member here. Let me introduce myself, I am Zach and I live in Idaho, USA. I have always liked the Montero's and finally a few years ago I bought my first 1991 LS Gen I LWB wagon. When I "upgraded" to an FJ Cruiser, I hastily sold my 91 Montero and kind of regretted it ever since. The FJ was nice, I didn't feel like I could rough it without scratching it and eventually just traded it in on an 08 Tundra which is awesome for when I need a truck which is fairly often. I talked my wife into letting me purchase an 89 SWB Gen I to use for recreation and we recently bought her this new Gen 3 with only 30K miles. I really like it and hope to get it tricked out shortly with ARB lift and bumper. I really enjoy this forum and decided I better register as I might be lurking around for quite a while.

 

[ahmetclayton]

Nice looking ride!!! I just got my 02 Limited and I love it. There are a lot of awesome people on the forum which are a lot of help. Congrats on the new ride and welcome to the forum.

 

[agerb]

Nice

Good looking truck. I will be picking up my black 03 XLS this week, fresh with an ARB bumper, OME HD lift and an ARB RD155 rear locker. I will post photos when I can.

 

[05 Montero]

Nice.. I'd love to see how it looks with the lift and bumper. Please do post some pics, also interested in how the HD springs and lift affect the ride quality. Are you going HD in the front and rear or just front for the bar? Thanks

 

[datrupr]

Welcome, nice looking Gen III. They look really sharp in the darker colors.

I can answer your questions about the lift and ride. I have the HD lift on my '01 and it is harsh at first, very harsh. After a few wheeling trips and about 1,000 miles it has softened up quite a bit. It got even better once I put the ARB bumper on the front. The nice part about itis that I can load it up with a ton of gear and family and the suspension doens't drop a bit, and it didn't drop at all in the front with the addition of the bumper.

Here is mine with the OME HD lift and ARB bumper:

And a pic of a black one I spied a while ago:

 

[05 Montero]

Those look great with the ARB and lift. I'm definitely shooting for the look of that black one, looks sick. Thanks for the pic and comments about the suspension. What did the suspension end up costing you if you don't mind me asking? As far as I can tell springs and shocks for all four should be around $700-800 my local shop wants another $700 to install. Seems high

 

[agerb]

Setup

This will actually be my second 03 XLS with a lift and bumper. I sold my green 03 (to a couple is South Africa) and have regretted it ever since, so I am building another rig in black. On my green truck I went with HD springs in front and standard in rear. Unloaded it road great, with a load the rear felt a tiny bit soft, but that is with a big load. On my black truck I went with HD's all around, and had them installed before I had the bumper on. The front felt really stiff, the rear somewhat so. After about 1000 miles and some rougher roads it feels much better. I think you could disconnect the sway bars if that was your setup, but with the bumper, a RTT and some spare gear in the empty third row well I think it will be just right. I am running 265/75R16's now, and on my green truck I had 255/85R16's. The 255's looked much better, but the 265's are better all around, especially in the MPG department. I will try to attach a photo of my Green truck

 

[agerb]

pics

http://image77.webshots.com/77/3/66/59/2615366590068243831VeiDmT_fs.jpg

 

[05 Montero]

Looks awesome Agerb, I like the color coordination on the bumper and that looks like a great tire lift combo. Definately get pics up when you get your new black one finished up.

What are you guys paying for these lift/bumper setups and who do you have install them? (I can do my bumper, I've done a few others i.e. FJ Cruiser, Trooper) ARB USA was telling me Les Schwab can do it but I called my local Les Schwab and they told me they don't do ARB.

Thanks

 

[datrupr]

I got my lift and bumper through Sierra Expeditions. The suspension was right around $700 or so plus shipping and the bumper was about the same. I put the rear suspension on myself (pretty easy) and Wil from Sierra Expeditions put the front on, and Wil and I both worked all day to put the bumper on (I know, doesn't help you becuase you are not in Phoenix). $700 for a suspension install seems really high. When I was calling, the highest quote I got was $450 and the lowest was $350 from local off-road shops (the suspension is not that hard to do, just time consuming, and the bumper requires cutting and drilling into the frame but again not hard, just time consuming and requires two people). Give Will a call and he can get you hooked up with what you need.

 

[tdesanto]

Yes, get the parts from Wil.

Install of the suspension is easy enough. The rear is suprisingly easy. The front is too, except for lining up the shock with the spring. You can also take the strut assemblies to a shop and simply pay them (probably $100 or so) to assmble the new struts for you. You'll want to take in your old ones and all the new parts, as they'll use the existing strut mounts and then they can line everything up for you.

You have to plan to pull the battery/tray and the air filter housing to get to the top of the struts assemblies, but that's not hard either. Just as Aaron said, it just takes a little time. You could do the whole thing in a day, plus whatever time you need to run to a shop to have the struts assembled for you. Or, get some spring compressors and line them up carefully, and you can do it yourself.

Oh, and I fully recommend the OME Heavy Duty for both front and rear. In fact, the rear ones could stand to be even stronger if you plan to carry a load.