New Member Montero 2.5 Gen Upgrade Advice Needed

[F15DOC]

Hi All, I am looking for advice on where to get some products and some basic build info for my 1999 Montero.
After browsing some threads on here I have a few questions, but first some background.

We bought our Montero brand new in early 2000 from the dealer. It was our first nice family vehicle and we enjoyed many trips and adventures in her. She was fully loaded with leather interior, retractable sunroof, beautiful rig. We just love this body style and although we have added other vehicles to our stable, we just can't seem to part with her.

Over the years she has moved down the food chain in the family. My son drove her throughout High School and was taking her offroad and mudding her with his buddies, no mods. At one point our puppies chewed the rear interior door handles/panels, and I have been unable to find replacements anywhere, including emailing dealers and scouring ebay and amazon. Just no luck, considered having an interior shop rebuild it, but never really felt it was worth that expense.

Anyway, there are a few minor dents and dings through the years, but she has held up well.
At this point, I think I may just fix up the exterior look to be more of an expedition type vehicle, just for fun. Not really planning on banging her up off road, but we can still take her up to the mountains and back roads.

The look I am going for is to mount a large roof rack with lights, a front bumper bar/wench, maybe a bit of a mild lift and some larger tires at some point. Not much more than cosmetics I think.

I have attached a few photos of her through the years (a bit of a memory lane for me), and a few I just took of her this AM.
Although I am quite handy with tools, I simply don't have time for custom fabrication work, I am looking for bolt on plug and play items

So, here are a few questions for you Montero enthusiasts and experts out there.
1) It seems damn near impossible to find off road 4X4 parts for this vehicle, ie front bull bar/winch bar.
- Off of another posters photo I found a company called ARB USA which seems to make front bars, others?
- What about custom rear bumpers? I am not going to have the time or effort to make custom parts or fab.
- I did see several posts with a nice body lift, but it looks like it totally screws up the front and rear bumper alignments, any advice?
2) It is impossible to find interior door panels for the rear doors, any leads?
3) What is this orange sticker/lock thing I keep hearing mention of? Is that a special 4X4 option on this vehicle like a TC lock?

OK here is memory lane next post will be of current photos:

 

[F15DOC]

Here are some current photos:

 

[F15DOC]

Interior Door panels chewed and front door panel broken:

 

[nwoods]

Junk Yards are your friend. Find a Montero from just about any year between 92 and 2001 and you'll be able to pop in new door cards. I've got a right rear I'd give you, free plus shipping. Exact color.

 

[F15DOC]

Maybe that is my hangup, I have only been looking for 98-99 doors, the other years have the same interior panels?
What about for bull bars for the front, will the 1st/2nd gen fit the 2.5?

 

[coffeegoat]

Check out Adventure Driven Designs for all your miscellaneous off-road Montero parts (bumpers, lifts, bushings, springs, etc). It's a small shop but they should be able to get you up and going with high quality parts for reasonable prices. They specialize in Mitsu's so you don't have to import something weird from Australia.

 

[F15DOC]

Nice, they have a sweet lift kit! I suppose going that route doesn't just lift the body, but lifts the entire frame. Any issues for road use with a lift like that, does it wear out any drivetrain components faster?

 

[RyanY]

Find a Montero from just about any year between 92 and 2001 and you'll be able to pop in new door cards. I've got a right rear I'd give you, free plus shipping. Exact color.

Not necessarily true. While the doors are all the same design, the trim changes considerably over the years. You'll need to find panels from a Montero with the same color leather interior that yours has - cloth interiors have different panels, and there were several different interior colors offered over the years. Try Car-Part.com to search wrecking yards for used parts. If the door panels are still available new, any Mitsubishi dealer should be able to order some for you, although you'll probably pay more for 3 door panels than what the vehicle is worth.

 

[RyanY]

There aren't a whole lot of aftermarket parts for Monteros available here in the US due to the relatively small number of Monteros being 4-wheeled, and the fact that they are way more capable in stock form than most mildly-modified Jeeps. They are also far more durable - Jeeps need aftermarket parts to upgrade the weak components that break when they are taken off-road with larger tires on them, Monteros just don't break. A body lift will give you additional clearance for larger tires by increasing the space between the body and the frame. Since the bumpers are attached to the frame, they won't change position with the rest of the body, so you will have a mis-alignment. A suspension lift will move the entire body and frame higher in relation to the wheels and will keep the factory bumper alignment. It is possible that a suspension lift can cause accelerated wear on your front axle boots, but my experience has been that the boots tend to wear out and require replacement on all Monteros, lifted or not. It's not likely you'll wear anything else out prematurely unless you modify the suspension's bump stops, as the Montero drivetrain components are extremely stout and durable.

 

[JohnnyBfromPeoria]

Contact Pa_Jero here in AZ; he's on here, so do a user name search and PM him regarding the interior parts. He has a couple of Gen 2's, not sure what year, but he's parting them out.
You can fit 33x10.5-15 tires on those stock wheels without any lift at all. I'd suggest BFG A/T KO2's.
The ADD lift set-up is the real deal: Rear springs, front torsion bars and Bilstein shocks would really give it a serious lease on life and make it even more fun to drive.
You mentioned lights. Go LED. Check out www.superbrightleds.com and note they have 15% off through June 19th. They're probably the highest quality, best-warrantied, with the best selection around - not the cheapest, but like my Dad used to say "If you buy crap, you get crap." They're also based in St Louis, not Beijing (although I would rather live in Phoenix over either of those two...). A single row, very short profile LED light bar throws a frightening amount of light.
I've been doing some pretty serious trails for over 15 years and haven't really needed a winch, but that's probably just luck. You can usually pick up something on the used market that's good. ADD makes or will be making a winch plate to make mounting one easy.
Nice looking truck. It shows that it has been cared for. Welcome to the forum.

John B.

 

[snare]

ADD x 3

 

[F15DOC]

Great advice guys, nice to hear how well the Montero's are holding up. Even though I never intended to take it serious off roading, when I was researching family SUVs the off road ability of the Montero was a major selling point for us. So I have a few leads on good products, much appreciated!
I think a 2" lift with bigger tires sounds like a good lease on life. I haven't really been under the vehicle to check out what may be worn out and need replacing, it still seems to have a decent ride on the road. The only major issue we have ever had with the vehicle is the front rotors which have been turned or replaced multiple times. The last set of rotors were higher quality and seem to be holding up better without warping.
Would be nice to put a bull/brush bar on the front for the looks, but it just seems like nobody makes anything for the Montero.
Years ago I found a nice one made by JAOS USA, but it was crazy pricey. I just visited their site and they no longer have anything listed for the gen 2.5

 

[F15DOC]

Well, what do you know, our Montero has the winter package with the Rear Differential Lock, how about that. Never even used it!

 

[nwoods]

So, did you want that right rear inner door panel? I don't have the left side panels anymore, but I have the right side ones. Shipping would be interesting. Would have to build a custom box for that.

 

[F15DOC]

Yes! If it is the same color and leather, that would be great! How is it that you have one of those?