Roof Rack Build questions.

[SOFpirate]

So after an exhaustive search online, I've decided that most offroad companies suck.


I can't find Montero add-ons ANYWHERE! So I've decided to make them myself.

For one, I LOVE the way Gobi racks look on Land Rover Disco's, but of course, they don't make them for our beloved Japanese versions. So I did some looking around and came across the Surco racks, but they seem a touch overpriced. I decided though, after measurements and much contemplating, that I want to do a 72"x50"x5" rack. Just cover the whole truck. Here's my thoughts on it, and PLEASE correct me if I'm wrong.

In order to still fit the truck in the garage, and have a functional rack, I'm going to remove the factory roof rack, and mount the new one on 6" gutter mounts. Now I think I'm going to need 6 mounts, just due to the length of the new rack. Thoughts?

Surco priced their rack of that size that I want at around $400, and then I can't even imagine shipping on that oversized piece of frieght. So I think I'm going to have someone fabricate me one, or figure out how to do it myself. Ideas?

 

[off-roader]

I take it you didn't get around to pricing the gobi rack? It's way more than $400. IMHO, Surco is a medium duty rack at best.

Garvin Wilderness Trails Racks are decent but for a full length rack you're gonna be WAY over $400.

On my 89 Montero, I have a 48" Wilderness Trails Rack. On my 96SR I have a ~6' BVG rack (equivalent to a Surco rack IMHO) mounted onto quik-n-easy gutter mounts and Yakima round bars. Total cost was ~400 or so.

If you have the skills or resources, definitely build one. It will be less expensive in the long run.

As for Montero options, what are you looking for? Cosmetic upgrades (limited) or functional ones?

HTH

 

[SOFpirate]

Well, it being the venerable Montero, I would like for it to stay as a "go anywhere family wagon".

The guys in the Jeep club I'm in calls it the minivan, and to be quite honest, I like it. As far as the rack goes, what I want to do is use all that space. As in on one side put my tool mounts, and the other side is going to be dedicated to a retractable awning. Then slap a few lights on it front and back, and call it a day. The rack will stay dedicated to carrying the cooler, tents and whatnot.

After that, I REALLY need to redo the bumpers. The rear I kind of messed up on a 1m drop (but was totally worth it), and the front I sadly realize has no easy spot to mount a winch. So suggestions will be well taken for that.

Next, it's the tire setup. I'm a huge fan of the stock rims, and I'm running 31x10.50x15's on it right now. Long term, I would love to make it up to 35", but with my lack of ability to figure out how to lift the truck, I'll probably end up with 33". My understanding is you have to crank down on the torsion bars to squeeze that rubber in there, and has anybody had any issues with not having enough flex?

Then finally I wouldn't mind much at all putting front and rear lockers on it. I mean, if you can, you might as well do it.

This is actually originally my wifes truck, but she has relinquished it to me due to my constant wheeling of it, and the fact that I blew up my Jeep. The only condition is that she wants to upgrade from the current 96 LS Gen 2 we have now. I made the mistake of showing her a Gen 2.5 SR model. She fell in love with everything Montero, I can't complain, except now I gotta find another! :drool:

 

[off-roader]

Well, it being the venerable Montero, I would like for it to stay as a "go anywhere family wagon".

The guys in the Jeep club I'm in calls it the minivan, and to be quite honest, I like it.

Yeah, well I've certainly rescued my fair share of Jeeps with mine (96SR on 35's). I especially like when Jeep owners look down on my rig then they struggle through an obstacle & my SR simply walks/crawls right through it without a hiccup LOL.

If I were you, I'd find the rear end from a 94-97 with the built in locker and swap it in. As a bonus it also has a stronger larger differential (9.5") & axles as well. R&P gear ratio is 4.6x:1 in that and should match your LS gear ratio. car-part.com is a great site for relatively current salvage yard inventories around the country.

After that, I REALLY need to redo the bumpers. The rear I kind of messed up on a 1m drop (but was totally worth it)...

ARB & TJM (both Australian companies) make bumpers for the Gen II's. ARB is available from most stores. TJM is a little tougher and may no longer have a local importer but you can always check.

That said nobody makes a rear Montero bumper so you'll have to fab one up.

Alternatively you can do what I did and modify the frame horns to accept a bumper from a different rig. I recommend setting them up to work with either a Jeep or Toyota aftermarket bumper simply due to availability. That's what I did and I can mount any Jeep TJ bumper onto mine (gold one in picture below).

and the front I sadly realize has no easy spot to mount a winch. So suggestions will be well taken for that.

That's easy, fab a 1/4"-3/8" steel plate to sit in between the frame rails. Cut a hole into the bumper to feed out the winch line and bolt on a fairlead then go have a beer.

Next, it's the tire setup. I'm a huge fan of the stock rims, and I'm running 31x10.50x15's on it right now. Long term, I would love to make it up to 35", but with my lack of ability to figure out how to lift the truck, I'll probably end up with 33". My understanding is you have to crank down on the torsion bars to squeeze that rubber in there, and has anybody had any issues with not having enough flex?

What you loose when cranking the torsion bars is upward articulation. Many run it this way and so long as you don't cut the bump stops, you should be ok. I do recommend running upper ball joint spacers as well. You can buy them from plh on 4x4wire's Mitsu Tech forum.

Then finally I wouldn't mind much at all putting front and rear lockers on it. I mean, if you can, you might as well do it.

See what I said above about the rear locker. For a front locker, contact ARB for the RD-110 locker (~$800-900 + compressor)

Your wife sounds like a keeper. LOL.

Check my build thread for some ideas on mods you can do.

 

[SOFpirate]

I found a few guys in the area that I know that intimately know how to do fab work on aluminum and other metals. They said they'll do it for way less than what I'd get charged trying to buy one. Going to give them a shot. Any tips on what metal to use? I've heard that you can't really mount too heavy of stuff to aluminum racks (i.e. Hi-lift Jacks) without it bending. It's not like I'll be putting enormous amounts of G-Forces on the truck and running the Dakar in it, but I guess you never know.

On another note, is the Montero a unibody truck like the Jeep XJ? Because in those you couldn't take the doors off without having super trouble getting them back on after wheeling due to the unibody design. It's not like I'm actually planning on taking doors off and such, but curious.

 

[red87]

Nope, the Montero is body-on-frame. As a nice bonus, the frame is fully boxed from bumper to bumper.

EDIT: I just sent a PM to plh on 4x4wire and he is no longer selling the bj spacers.

 

[off-roader]

I found a few guys in the area that I know that intimately know how to do fab work on aluminum and other metals. They said they'll do it for way less than what I'd get charged trying to buy one. Going to give them a shot. Any tips on what metal to use? I've heard that you can't really mount too heavy of stuff to aluminum racks (i.e. Hi-lift Jacks) without it bending. It's not like I'll be putting enormous amounts of G-Forces on the truck and running the Dakar in it, but I guess you never know.

http://www.frontrunneroutfitters.com/Roof-Racks-c35/
There's an example of a highly regarded aluminum roof rack. If you build it properly it will be as strong as a steel equivalent and lighter which is the key reason you want to use aluminum in the first place. If you think about it, planes are mostly aluminum so again if you build it right...

On another note, is the Montero a unibody truck like the Jeep XJ? Because in those you couldn't take the doors off without having super trouble getting them back on after wheeling due to the unibody design. It's not like I'm actually planning on taking doors off and such, but curious.

Nope. Just look underneath. You'll clearly see the body sitting on a frame.

Full boxed frame means the frame has 4 sides. Other vehicles have frames made out of steel shaped like the letter C with one side missing which means you'll need to use thicker (& ultimately heavier) steel to make it as strong as a fully boxed frame like the Montero.

 

[SOFpirate]

So we were doing a man-jam planning process for the rig this past weekend. A few questions came up.

What size gutter mounts do I need in order to clear the rear roofline? I measured and it looked like 6-6.5" at least. Correct?

Also, we were thinking of doing something a little out of the ordinary with the mounting of the winch. So, close your eyes and imagine this. Above the skid plate behind the "chrome" on the stock bumpers, but below the radiator, there's a HUGE gap between the frame rails. We had the CRAZY notion that possibly, with a step down winch plate mounted in there, we could actually hide a winch behind the bumper over the skid plate. Take off that crappy grate grill thing between the bumper and skid plate and VIOLA! A hidden winch. Has anybody else tried that?

Also, I think I'm just going to rip off the side steps and throw 33" on it. In order to crank down the T-bars, do I need to remove the T-case skid plate? It looks like it cuts through there fairly sharp. Also, the tie rods are like 2" long! ******?!? So if someone can show me a link or a brief description on how to do it, it would be much appreciated. OH! And I found a brushguard for sale that fit on a Montero Sport. Any ideas if it would mount up to mine? If not, cool. If it does/can ... I MIGHT get it. Smittybilt - $150.

 

[off-roader]

What size gutter mounts do I need in order to clear the rear roofline? I measured and it looked like 6-6.5" at least. Correct?

Never measured it but a Yakima standard gutter mount fits without requiring the tall extension.

Also, we were thinking of doing something a little out of the ordinary with the mounting of the winch. So, close your eyes and imagine this. Above the skid plate behind the "chrome" on the stock bumpers, but below the radiator, there's a HUGE gap between the frame rails. We had the CRAZY notion that possibly, with a step down winch plate mounted in there, we could actually hide a winch behind the bumper over the skid plate. Take off that crappy grate grill thing between the bumper and skid plate and VIOLA! A hidden winch. Has anybody else tried that?

I dont mind responding to your questions but you need to READ the response. I suggested this exactly several posts back in this thread. It's been done by many people on 4x4 wire dot com's mitsu forum and it's the standard suggested method with a Montero.

Also, I think I'm just going to rip off the side steps and throw 33" on it.

Yup. Good idea. That's what I did but added a 2" body lift and threw 35's underneath instead.

In order to crank down the T-bars, do I need to remove the T-case skid plate?

Nope, not necessary.

Also, the tie rods are like 2" long! ******?!? So if someone can show me a link or a brief description on how to do it, it would be much appreciated.

Tie rods? You mean the tie rod ends up front?? Not sure I understand your question.

OH! And I found a brushguard for sale that fit on a Montero Sport. Any ideas if it would mount up to mine? If not, cool. If it does/can ... I MIGHT get it. Smittybilt - $150.

Frame is different on a sport and it likely won't fit but I don't know anyone who's tried it. I can tell you the biggest problem with brushguards is they're purely and 100% cosmetic. In fact it will INCREASE the damage in most minor fender benders because instead of protecting your vehicle, it will BEND INTO your Montero.:Wow1:

In good conscience I can only recommend a real off road bumper like an ARB or TJM type of bumper. Or do what I did... buy an inexpensive jeep bumper then modify your frame horns with an adapter to allow you to mount the jeep bumper up.

 

[SOFpirate]

Offroader, thanks for all the answering of the stupid questions. This is quickly turning into a build thread, in which I'll start a legitimate one, and move everything there.

As for the ARB bumpers, my wife fell in love with them and how they look after seeing a few pictures and having one on the old Land Rover. Unfortunately all my pictures were lost when the computer decided to commit suicide. I'm trying to build this on a halfway decent budget instead of throwing all my deployment money at it. But then again ... I just might anyways.

Oh ... and I did mean to say tie rod ENDS. My bad.

Anyways, off to blow more Jeep owners minds.

 

[off-roader]

Cool. Just want to make sure you are reading things above after you mentioned the winch mounting idea.

Cranking the torsion bars...
- by hand entails loosening the lock nut, tightenning the main nut (count the number of turns), then tightening the lock nut.
- with an air wrench/impact driver entails simply tightenning both nuts (again count the number of turns)

If you don't count the turns the suspension could end up improperly balanced.

As for a set of ARB bumpers, you will spend a lot buying them new. You may be able to find a deal on one through craigslist, even if it's for a different rig with a similar width ($250 or less) then apply some of the savings toward having a fabricator 'adjust' the mounts so it will fit your frame.

Deployment money?? What branch of service and where are you headed? Save as much as you can... You never know when it will come in handy.

As for the tie rod ends, they usually dont need to be replaced very often unless your alignment isnoff or you have steering system damage. But they do come off easy enough. Remove the castle nut then simply whack them on the thickest main body section with a 3-4lbs. sledge. They will simply fall off. Don't use a pickle fork or you'll destroy the rubber grease boot.

Btw, did you download the FSM from Mitsubishi links dot net yet?

 

[SOFpirate]

Quick and possibly stupid question.

I need to get it cleared up, because I'm hearing different things from everybody.

Can you fit a Jeep TJ (Wrangler) bumper to the Montero? I know that anything will require some "custom fabricating" of the mount points, but my question is will the Wrangler ARB bumper just look goofy on a Montero? I heard a rumor stating that you can fit a Wrangler ARB bumper to the Montero with little issues. Mainly because I don't feel like forking over all that green for a Grand Cherokee bumper that I've heard fits perfectly to a Montero when it comes to aesthetic pleasures. As in the bumper wraps around and all that. I could care less, I'm planning on doing a little fender trimming if required, and really just want a bull bar/steel bumper up front that will give it a different look.