Badlands offroad park with the Montero

[IncorpoRatedX]

Took a trip down to the badlands over the weekend.

Stock suspension Montero with 35's and 15x10's, a little trimming.

Still rubs a little, but it could be clearanced easily. Haven't installed the hockey puck body lift yet. These pictures are tame, hoping to upload videos of it climbing rock walls and **** later. Luckily I survived with no damage, my tie rod ends took a real beating though.

 

[LaOutbackTrail]

But, you did crank the torsions a bit, right? Didn't you also put coil spacers in the rear, or?

 

[Monterorider]

Looks to me it might rub more then a little. Cranking t-bars doesn't make any difference.

 

[LaOutbackTrail]

Sure it will, you're effectively pushing the wheels down away from the vehicle.

 

[Monterorider]

It does when one sits still on parking lot. When you "flex" on trail wheel travels withing range allowed by bump-stop no matter what you did to t-bars.

 

[GrassCat]

It does when one sits still on parking lot. When you "flex" on trail wheel travels withing range allowed by bump-stop no matter what you did to t-bars.

, but when you crank the bars you are making a stiffer spring.

 

[IncorpoRatedX]

Looks to me it might rub more then a little. Cranking t-bars doesn't make any difference.

It only rubs a little and cranking the torsion bars makes a big difference. I'm not sure where you guys have been but the front end of a montero doesn't flex much... when the torsion bars are cranked it sits higher, no sways helps it flex a little but it doesnt flex out very much. My buddy's wrangler with sway bars flexes better than this pig. But it did just fine.

current set up is stock rear suspension, untouched and cranked front sway bars with no sway bars front or rear. It made the 3.5 hour drive down, wheeled all day, I camped in it all night nice and warm (got cold over the weekend) and made the drive back just fine. I can't complain.

Here's a quick video of it from my friends phone:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3KW9PCNPQ1Y&feature=plcp

I hit that bump and it knocked the steering wheel out of my hands, i was having issues in some of the soft sand of the dunes we were near earlier in the day of digging in deep when i had it in four low and the trans in "power" mode, so i was messing around with the "hold" function, feels weird to rev it out without moving much, but it definitely helped in not spinning both rears and one front whenever i tapped the gas.

 

[LaOutbackTrail]

I dont know if you noticed, but the truck is smoking...

 

[Monterorider]

Stiffer spring just need to be pushed harder. Like going down hill across ravine. There is only so much stiffer you can make it.
Wheel gets knocked off because of bump steer which is caused by insufficient backspacing of you wheels.

 

[IncorpoRatedX]

I dont know if you noticed, but the truck is smoking...

Yeah, previous owner didn't take very good care of it so the valve seals leak pretty bad at low speeds and idle. I'll be changing them out this summer, but the montero takes low priority on my projects board.

 

[LaOutbackTrail]

Just an FYI, when you get to that point, be sure to check the head gasket. My truck was doing the exact same thing. Not only were the valve seals leaking badly, but the head gasket was about to let go. I had the heads worked was $177 for both, they decked one, did the valve seals and cleaned it up nicely.

 

[IncorpoRatedX]

Just an FYI, when you get to that point, be sure to check the head gasket. My truck was doing the exact same thing. Not only were the valve seals leaking badly, but the head gasket was about to let go. I had the heads worked was $177 for both, they decked one, did the valve seals and cleaned it up nicely.

I checked the compression the last time I changed spark plugs, all is well. Thanks for the tip though.

 

[off-roader]

Yeah, previous owner didn't take very good care of it so the valve seals leak pretty bad at low speeds and idle.

Is probably not due to owner neglect as the valve guide seals are a universal failure point for most all mitsu V6's (up to the 2000's from what I've seen) after ~60-80K.

 

[LaOutbackTrail]

A leak down test is where its at... unfortunately. When I changed my plugs each cylinder had iirc ~142psi? Isn't spec 148ish? And I still had a failing head gasket.

You're welcome for the tip.