Me and my Gen II say hi... and ask a ton of stuff.

[The Stray]

I have been lurking here for a bit and have decided to join in on the discussions. I drive a 96 Montero SR. Coming up on the big 200k soon :wings:
Anyway I have a ton of questions and who knows maybe an answer or two. There is a severe lack of monty information support out there and a lot of it seems to contradict with other sources so here I am to ask you all.
The monty was owned by my parents before me, been here almost as long as I have, so I know everything its been through and have full paper documentation on everything thats been done on it.
Right so the first and only problem I am currently having and that is the notorious sticking 4wd system. It will engage perfectly, but won't come out of it. The front wheels and the central locker both stick and won't disengage, I have to run it through hoops to see what works, usually a lot of reversing and sharp counter clockwise turning help. The vehicle was used as a DD for most of its life with little 4wd use so thats probably why it is acting up now. I have heard the two general solutions are to cycle through the 4wd settings until it stops sticking or if it is too far gone relube the transfer case. I have tried cycling a few times, it works most of the time, but every so often it decides to be difficult and will take a half hour or an hour of messing about to get it to behave. Should I continue trying to cycle it, or is that obviously not working and I should take it in to the dealer and have them lube/determine what the problem with it is?
Also I want to get it off of the 29s and onto something beefier, what would it take liftwise to mount 35s, is it possible to get them on without rubbing the hub? What about 32s? Also what are the biggest tires the stock alloy rims can handle?
And lastly if anyone here lives in maryland, are there any car shops here that will lift a monty? I would do it myself, but I lack tools (jackstands), assistance and any great degree of mechanical savvy, though I do wish to learn.

P.S. Sorry if some of this has been answered here before, but I would like current opinions that relate directly to my condition and circumstances.

 

[off-roader]

Not to be a diservice to this forum but the greatest amount of mitsu technical info and expertise I've found is still on 4x4wire.com's mitsu technical forum.

The 4WD light staying lit? Answered there.
Lifting your rig? Answered there.
What's required to mount 32's, 33's, 34's, 35's, or even 37's? Answered there.

As for your reason for having a shop do the lift... "not having jack stands"!?!? :Wow1:

You gotta be kidding me right?

HTH.

Oh, to help motivate you, to check things out, here's my 96 on 35's...

And my buddy's Black 94SR on 37's.

 

[78Bronco]

An SR with the 3.5L should be able to fit 33x10.5's with a small t-bar crank.

4x4wire has some decent tech.

 

[The Stray]

As for your reason for having a shop do the lift... "not having jack stands"!?!? :Wow1

My reason for considering having a shop to do it is that I have no clue what the fuzz I'm doing. I have read a lot and can sometimes sound like I know what I am doing, but make no mistake, the most complicated thing I have ever done is change the oil filter. If I knew someone who knew what they were doing I would be up a bit, but as it stands I am by myself with this. My father the grand mechanical engineer won't get near it because his friend accidentally crushed himself under an improperly secured vehicle... 20 years ago.
There is no rush I have at least 7 months before my situation here changes, I just was considering the option.

 

[off-roader]

Well, if it helps there's a how to on the body lift on the site I suggested. It's for an earlier model montero but the procedure's the same for yours.

As for your earlier question about 35's you need at least a 2" BL and even then they will rub unless you use an offset that pushes them away from the fenders.

On mine I'm finding a 4" neutral offset isn't working. I'm tempted to check if a .5" spacer is enough to push them out where they won't rub under sharp turns and heavy articulation but frankly I'm not that concerned about it since It's not taking anything off by rubbing.

The BL takes a couple of hours to complete with the help of a 2nd person but can be done by yourself if you're careful. What I'd recommend if you're even half willing to do the work yourself is find someone in your area who is knowledgeable and get their help (fluids and food are good persuaders).

Join a local 4x4 club and make friends. For all you know your current friends may be willing to help with this. They may not even have a 4x4. Not much can happen when doing a BL since the vehicle frame and tires will never leave the ground.

 

[scrubber3]

so far as your monty wanting to stick in 4wd, try putting it in reverse and pressing the gas. as soon as its rolling backward with a lil force, put it in neutral and let it roll a bit. Do this of course with everything placed in 2wd mode. I had an issue with mine and this took care of it. you may have to practice with the technique a bit, but its really simple.

 

[PajEvo]

I'd suggest that getting bigger tires on there is the easy part. 33s will fit with really no mods. Turning those bigger tires may be more of an issue, depending on what gear set you have. Look on your firewall and see: if you have 460s, you should be okay, but lower than that and you may put your rpms out of your engine's optimum range... there is a fix for this of course, by swapping in new ring and pinions, but that will require even more then jackstands.

Unless you're going for 35s, you shouldn't need a lift, beyond cranking up the torsion bars a little, as previously mentioned.