Se7en62's '99 Montero Gen 2.5 Overland Build & Adventures

[Se7en62]

Here's a quick look at our Labor Day weekend exploring Padre Island National Seashore in the Montero. Padre Island is the world's longest barrier island and stretches 113 miles from near Mexico to Corpus Christi, Texas, but in the 1960's the federal government dredged a cut to Port Mansfield at the 60-mile marker which split the island in two. Roundtrip, we drove 510 miles on tarmac and racked up 120 miles of 4WD in the sand over 2 days to find the clearest water and most secluded beaches in Texas. You just have to have a 4x4 to access any of them and the Montero got us down and back with ease. - We also hit 200,000 miles on our way home!

 

[Se7en62]

NOTE 8/23/21: This undercoating is NOT UV stable and doesn't hold up well to sunlight after a year. For a permanent solution, I ordered brand new OEM outer window seals from Luso Overland. The link is below:
MONTERO Gen2 - Exterior Window Moulding Set (lusooverland.com)

Oh, I forgot to share that I found a solution to ugly chrome trim after the factory black coating peels off from age. I had already peeled as much as I could off during the summer time while it was hot. I had a can of this rust-oleum undercoat spray and thought I'd give it a shot. Turns out it worked perfectly and has held up really well. I recommend you do this if you have peeling trim.

Note: I didn't have to both with the windshield trim because Safe-Lite came and replaced the windshield and all the trim and now it's all black too.

 

[Se7en62]

I also got sick of seeing the oxidized hood. My solution was to use engine enamel, which required 2 cans to get a good coating. Though, I'd still like to mask it off again and hit it again for a more even look. This is temporary until I have the time to have it resprayed in the factory color and have the entire body buffed.





I also ordered and installed these 1.25" spacers from Amazon. They are 6061 billet and have been on the truck for about 1,000 miles now without issue. I have some wheels and another set of tires in mind, but for now these will work for aesthetics.

 

[Se7en62]

Nothing spectacular, but I had some time at my buddy's family ranch to clear some 4-wheeler trails out. I wish I would have got a picture of us driving over a 12" tree that had fell across the trail that we just wheeled over. Maybe we'll get back out there and put our chainsaws and winches to work to clear it out.

 

[Se7en62]

Last weekend I installed a new CVT travel cover over our RTT. The 6 year old zipper on our last cover finally broke, which worked to my benefit because I like the grey color better anyhow.



Beyza (dog) chewed a nice hole in the SafariStraps cargo net divider on our trip to the beach. To remedy that, I'm going to yank the fridge and rear platform and reconfigure the cargo area to be boxed in with shelves and drawers. That will be my Winter-project beginning in January.

In the meantime, a deal came along for this 9' Avon Redcrest inflatable dinghy. It will hold 2 people, plus 400lbs of gear, including a motor up to 4hp. - Needless to say I'm researching electric-versus-two-stroke-versus-four-stroke short-shaft OB motors now. The motor can mount to the roof rack or rear bumper with a QD transom of sorts. My thought is that since it rolls up fairly compactly and can be stored in a case or bag, that it will expand the territory that we can explore anytime we're near any lake. - The options of waterways opens up a lot if we use an electric motor, but many rivers and lakes also allow gas engines.

 

[gentimmy]

Hit PINS myself last weekend. Monsters looks great...following Incase a spot opens in my garage ?

 

[Se7en62]

Took the Montero out and rod around the local off-road park to do a shakedown run with some friends. They're prepping for their 2019 trip up the AZ BDR in March, so they were testing a homemade trailer, honing some skills, and working some kinks out. - I think I'm on the way towards getting this custom rear bumper done pretty soon. I'm hoping to get rock sliders done in January and then the rear bumper done in March.

Oh, I am also putting my new camera to work in the new pics. I still need to find a better way to edit/host/upload them but I'm liking the setup: Sony a6500 w/ Sony SEL1018 10-18mm Lens

 

[warforgotten]

That Fridge is a beast. One of the better builds on here. Really good to see someone taking care of maintenance issues before adding a 27 inch lift to their vehicle.

 

[Se7en62]

New trip! - On Thursday, I'm heading up to Broken Bow Lake, Oklahoma to meet a group of friends. Then on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday we're exploring the Ouichita NF and Ozark NF on the hunt for snow, mud, and water-crossings. In preparation for this trip, I've added some auxiliary lights up front and extended my rear diff breather. The lights were $24 on Amazon and are 30w CREE combo spot/flood patterns, which is the perfect beam pattern for mounting at bumper height. They're wired to the factory fog light switch using factory wiring. Factory incandescent fogs drew 34w each, so these 30w LED's are more than safe.



The diff breather is now ran all the way up behind the driver's tail-light and up into the D-Pillar.

I'm also cutting down one of my big camping tarps to make a deep-water-crossing tarp. I'm going to secure some Neodymium magnets inside the hem to secure it to the hood and bumper and block the grill from water egress on deeper crossings.

Anyway, here's our "route" though Friday - Sunday we're mostly winging it to explore with no intended destination.

 

[airbox]

Actually grew up in the Ozarks (Eureka Springs), you're gonna have a blast! Haven't spent a lot of time in the Ouachitas, but check out Devils den state park, Whitaker Point, and the pig trail (very windy) if you make it far enough north.

Don't have a lot of off-road knowledge to give you, I was more into motorcycles then...

 

[jeep-N-montero]

Did you by chance get an actual measured height of the tires?

 

[Se7en62]

Did you by chance get an actual measured height of the tires?

I did not, but their website shows them to be exactly 33". My friend just bought some 285/75R16 X3's yesterday and the website was accurate.

 

[jeep-N-montero]

I did not, but their website shows them to be exactly 33". My friend just bought some 285/75R16 X3's yesterday and the website was accurate.

Trying to decide between the x3 and ko2 in the same size, we don't have much mud here so may lean toward the ko2, plus they are about 8 pounds lighter .

 

[Se7en62]

Trying to decide between the x3 and ko2 in the same size, we don't have much mud here so may lean toward the ko2, plus they are about 8 pounds lighter .

In all of our travels, the X3's have not left me wanting more. They have worn from 21/32 new, down to 17/32 as of today. - That's 4/32 per 12,000 miles of semi-heavy use. That means with proper 5-tire rotation and care this set of 5 should last me another 39,000 miles before I even have to consider replacing them at 4/32. That's ~51,000 from an aggressive mud-terrain!

I always choose mud-terrains over all-terrains, because we do take this truck all over the place and I couldn't tell you the conditions of trails a thousand miles away. I always choose a tire tread that's suited for the worst terrain I plan to encounter over the next 40-50k miles. These X3's have kicked ass, have a smooth and quiet(ish) ride, and excellent highway manners including in the rain. I have run them now over 12,000 miles in 5 states and they have seen multiple trips to the local off-road park, 120-miles of soft sand on Padre Island, 680-miles of rocky Colorado mountain passes, 4x4 trails, and backroads of the BDR, and over 500 miles of muddy trails and creek crossings through Oklahoma and Arkansas.

 

[Se7en62]

Quick and dirty: My 4 days in Arkansas was rad as hell! Arkansas is full of absolutely beautiful wilderness and the nicest folks I've met outside of Texas. We covered over 500 miles of backroads and 4x4 trail, including running up from our camp above Broken Bow Lake, Oklahoma and through the Ouichita and Ozark National Forests before wrapping up and airing up in Dover, AR.

I will admit that I got stuck for the first time, while crossing one of the many creeks we encountered. I took a bad line around a rock and ended up high-centered; Lockers on and all four tires spit rooster tails of freezing water into the air. - I ended up wading in knee deep water to run my winch line out to another truck in our group.

All-in, this trip was epic and I really can't wait to return during the Fall. Thanks for having us Oklahoma and Arkansas!