Blank Canvas, 1989 Montero

[off-roader]

The hood mounted high lift is a fairly recent trend in off-road vehicles and it always strikes me as a bit of a "poser" move, as if it's being done to "show off" the high lift, not to make it more accessible or usable (because it is neither.) Whenever I see one I always and think "Mall crawler."

Here's how I mounted my hilift on my current gen II using yakima attachments on my aftermarket BVG roof rack (happens to be made of round tube).


Closeup of mount points.


I simply used 1/4 longer 5/16" galvanized carriage bolts in place of the regular Yakima carriage bolts.

Has worked flawlessly on numerous 4x4 trips now and I cannot find any degradation to those mounts whatsoever although I will continue to check them every month or so.

 

[off-roader]

more please!

Thank you for the compliment. Will do once I get some time. Please remind me if I happen to forget. Lots on my plate right now.

 

[Dolomiti]

Dolomiti: That's a nice looking 1st gen Monty you've got there!



Okay, I gotta ask: Why?

Yes, I know it looks "salty," and I see a lot of jeeps (both Wrangler and XJ) with this mod around here, but IMO it is asking for trouble. A high lift jack weighs 25 or 30 lbs (or more) depending on length. The sheet metal on the hood is not very thick. With two mounting points you are asking that sheet metal to hold a lot of weight it's not really designed to hold. And think about this: When you start bouncing up and down on the trail, that weight will be magnified by quite a bit. I would imagine that stress cracks and/or dents would appear pretty quickly if you actually went off road with such a setup.

And do you really want to think about what might happen if you get into a collision and that hood mounted high lift comes crashing through the windshield?

If you need to mount a high lift on the outside of the vehicle, I would think there are better places to do it. The 1st gen Monty has a very stout steel bumper (I know how thick it is because I drilled mine to mount some fog lights on it.) It would make a decent mounting point from a strength perspective. Ditto for the rear bumper.

If you have or plan to get an ARB or TJM style bullbar, you could also mount the high lift to the top of the bull bar (though I would, again, have concerns about what happens to it in event of a front-end collision.)

Finally, there are at least a couple of companies that make high-lift mounts that will work on the spare tire, mounting the high lift either in front of or behind the spare.

The hood mounted high lift is a fairly recent trend in off-road vehicles and it always strikes me as a bit of a "poser" move, as if it's being done to "show off" the high lift, not to make it more accessible or usable (because it is neither.) Whenever I see one I always and think "Mall crawler."

First, thanks.

Second, I always saw the hood as wasted space. I was planning on reinforcing the hood, etc, but I see where you are going with the safety issue. I may put it on the rear bumper instead because when I get my ARB, I will be mounting lights to the top holes.

 

[fangars]

I dont think it matters where you put the hi-lift, someone somewhere is going to think its a poser move. If you see me out on the trail with the hi-lift on the hood, please take a picture as I have gone quite a few miles to do the posing.

As far as my hood, its kind of dented up so I have no problem reinforcing sheet metal with some diamond plate aluminum which will cover the dents and act as a foundation for the mounts.

I think the safety concerns might have some validity under certain conditions but I intend to make the mounting system very stout. The hi-lift will have to drag all of the hood along with it after i am through. I might have more to fear from the axe head I intend to put up there as well.

It may well be that I decide to mount it on the interior, it will be a while before I get around to that project.


Roof rack first, sliders second, then everything else in whatever order I get to it.

 

[off-roader]

Thank you for the compliment. Will do once I get some time. Please remind me if I happen to forget. Lots on my plate right now.

Here are a couple more. There are others but not on my laptop. Will have to dig them out of my main storage drive which I don't have access to right now.

At pismo last year...


Just recently after replacing my fender with a JY fender from a Raider of the same vintage...

 

[off-roader]

It may well be that I decide to mount it on the interior, it will be a while before I get around to that project.

IIRC, the standard 48" hilift fits across the rear of the gen I.:smiley_drive:

 

[Cypher]

Can't wait to see what you come up with for this one fangars. The pics of those built ones are awesome. Congrats again on the great find. :sombrero:

 

[fangars]

Brake lights not working, not sure if its connected with the brake light remaining lit on the dash after I release the parking brake.
Researching the problem now but if anyone knows if this is a common problem please chime in.

 

[off-roader]

Brake lights not working, not sure if its connected with the brake light remaining lit on the dash after I release the parking brake.
Researching the problem now but if anyone knows if this is a common problem please chime in.

Brake light in dash is usually caused by the hand brake not all the way down or the brake fluid being low.

Brake lights in back not working is either the bulbs, switch (brake pedal), or possibly a fuse (don't recall if gen I's had a fuse for the brake lights but the gen II's do). Of course it could also be a faulty trailer wire harness wiring job.

 

[08whitex]

John, if you need some help let me know.

 

[fangars]

Looks like it has something to do with the hazard switch. After some research it turns out to be a common problem. Ordered a new on for $60. Not a lot of places have new switches.
Took the old one out and it fell to peices while doing so. Turn signals now fail to work since messing with the hazard light. Hope the new switch gets here soon.

 

[Thirty-Nine]

Great stuff. I'm always on the lookout for a V6 Montero 2dr at a good price. My family has long history of owning Mitsu products.

 

[fangars]

Got my switch, took me all of a few minutes, under five, to install it and everything works fine. So glad I did not try and buy a new turn signal flasher a few months ago, as it was not the problem. My turn signal would often stop flashing or flash real slow.
Now my turn signals work again, my brake lights work again and my hazards work again. Now to fix the parking brake switch that seems to be the cause of the brake light on the dashboard.
There are way too many circuits running through that one switch.

Anyone looking for the switch new here is the only place I found it.
http://www.partswebsite.com/courtesymitsubishi/

 

[cocovi]

Really nice truck !!! Gorgeous