First post and in need of advice.

static404

New member
About three and a half years ago I wanted to build a camping/expedition vehicle when I found Expedition Portal. After researching and reading the various forums I could see the potential of Mitsubishi Montero. Six months in I found a 2000 imported Montero. A gentleman in Orlando Fl had brought it from his home in Puerto Rico and with 154,000 miles on the truck. Everything was in good shape but needing attention to the oil seals. Wanting to have a solid and reliable vehicle I began to rebuild the truck and here is some of the things I have done.

Exterior-
*Raptor Lined body
*2" Bodylift
*ARB 3450060 modified front bumper
*Raised rear bumper
*Trail Gear 67" rock sliders
*New Warn Manual locking hubs
*x5 Procomp series 51 steel rims
*x5 BFG 33x10.50/R15 At KO2
*Tinted windows
*Replaced sunroof weather striping
*Weathertech sun shades
*Curt 13091 class 3 trailer hitch
*Trasharoo
*Several minor thing i.e. flex antenna, trailer electrical hook up, lowered hitch, D-rings...

Suspension-
*OME 303011 torsion bars
*OME 2938 rear coils
*OME 60041 front shocks
*New Upper control arm
*New ball joints all around
*New bearings and races
*New C.V. axles
*New bushings all around
*New rotors and breaks
*Rebuilt calipers
*Nearly a complete suspension rebuild

Mechanical-
*Complete Motor rebuild within less than 2000 miles
*Everything in and on the motor except the PS pump and AC compressor has been replaced with primarily OEM equipment and all machine work has been done by a reputable local shop.
It really is to much to list but I have all receipts
*Magnaflow catalytic converter
*Cleaned o2 sensors
*New fuel filter
*All fluids have been flushed and changed
*New transmission filter
*New condenser Fan
*K&N air filter

Interior-
*Full LED interior lighting conversion
*Reflectix insulated interior
*Dynadeck vinyl flooring
*New kicker speakers
*Marine vinyl top door panels
*Tactical Seat covers (seats underneath are in good condition)
*Repaired and greased factory sunroof
*Custom built aluminum framed 1/2 wood sheathed 48" drawer system with fold out sleeping platform (still have rear seats)

Fast forward, I find myself in a tight spot and in need of a pickup truck for work. I am asking the Montero community to please help me determine a fair asking price. This
truck has an embarrassing amount of time and money invested which is part of the love. Having lurked this forum for three and half years I have found it to be a fantastic resource and very inspirational on my build. I would like to thank you all.

The truck has a little over 164,000 miles now, so all this work has been done within a 10,000 mile period making it practically a new truck. There are a few things I would have liked to have done i.e. lights, winch, snorkel, roofrack... and since the truck has the 3.0 instead of the 3.5 I was hoping to fit a 5.29 gearing but was to worried about MPG. At any rate these are minor items the next owner can decide to do or not
 

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Toasty

Looking for that thing i just had in my hand...
Looks really nice, deeper gears would have made your MPG's better since you have 33's and the truck is always out of the powerband now. Good luck with the sale.
 

nwoods

Expedition Leader
With the 3.0 in the model year, certainly a unique vehicle. Does it have a rear locker? I’ve seen a couple really clean examples go for $5,000 or so, but those were USA Spec Gen 2.5’s with the rear locker and 3.5 SOHC motors. Does that body coating peel off? It might be a turn off for some buyers (it is for me), it just looks like it would be unbearably hot here in the western deserts
 

static404

New member
Shovel, to be honest I was getting a little down in the dumps about whole thing. So thank you for your post. I have done all the work myself over a 3 year period and I do kind of hate to le it go. Where would I find 5.29 gears if I do keep it?
 

normal_dave

waytoomuchwritinginposts.
Shovel's post is "game on". Get a trailer. What kind of work do you do? Mine is a toy hauler/camper, but it magically transforms into a large covered pickup truck in just a few minutes.

Here's an Australia example. You could probably get any of the cargo trailer manufacturers to build one using a concession layout, "washed in hot water" to suit your needs.
Z52Q-Boxed640x480.jpg


My 7x16 is in this link about towing with a Montero
Towing with a Gen 3
 

static404

New member
The factory gearing is 4.88 and from my understanding the gear and pinion from the diesel is a direct replacement.
 

Toasty

Looking for that thing i just had in my hand...
Shovel is dead on as usual, so your truck has 4.88's? That means you have the 4 cylinder front diff, the Hyundai Terracan uses the 8" front and 9" rear with upgraded hardware. So you could get new 5.29 R&P for the rear but the front will need to come from an early Gen 2 Pajero with 4D56 engine. That diff isn't super worth throwing money at because there aren't any locker options for it, you'd be better off finding a low pinion Gen 1 8" and putting Terracan 5.29's into that then custom fitting it into your Gen 2.
 

Toasty

Looking for that thing i just had in my hand...
A little turbo would probably go a long way. Kaliracer already did the ground work for it so might as well.
 

Michael Brown

You followed me, so now we're both lost
I also would opt for the trailer. I use a 6 x 12 utility trailer for all of my carrying needs. It is much larger than a truck bed, and also allows me the full cargo in the Montero if needed.

Maybe keep a set of 31" wheels and tires for the towing duty and save the 33s for weekends.
 

coffeegoat

Adventurer
Another vote for a trailer. If you have a place to store it, a small utility trailer is a really nice way to handle nearly everything you may want to carry, and if you get a boxed in version it's even weather proof. I looked at trucks before I decided on my monty and I found that I carry stuff so infrequently (maybe once every 10 trips) that it just made more sense to go with something like a monty and get/borrow/rent a trailer when I really needed it. I'm planning on a roof rack for some things in the future, but for most things a trailer is lower to the ground which makes it much easier to load/unload stuff.

Plus there is always the "devil you know" vs the "devil you don't know" problem. You've done most or all of the ground work to have a reliable DD, getting a similarly priced truck will likely require a similar amount of work to get it to the place where you feel comfortable with it.
 

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