The old 1999 build thread

[Toasty]

I am running 35x13.5R15's, I have stock springs now and the T-bars are cranked down to stock. I just have the 2" bodylift and 35's now. I never changed the shocks after i lowered the truck but i can still flex it all the way without rubbing so no big deal. You can really do stock shocks for everything especially if you plan to keep the sway bars on your rig, I like the longer travel but that's me.

 

[JamesW]

Have you any pictures of the skid plates from directly below to show the shape of them? Mine got ripped off on tree stumps somewhere and I can't seem to find where they are :sombrero:

 

[Toasty]

I can take a picture, I want to find the CAD files or make new ones and post them all up for you guys to be able to have them cut out locally to you.

 

[Toasty]

*Update! With EXTREME ADD running rampant i somehow managed to still be pretty prolific in my builds. PAJ and I traded trucks for a few months to work each others projects.

PA_JERO stripped the interiors of both trucks and unbolted the bodies while i finished up his SAS and dual T-Case swap. We then had a little gathering of the usual suspects and gently placed the Mighty Max body on the donor chassis.






Following the placement we scrapped the remains of the wreck and traded trucks again, i went on to center up the body and make all new body mounts. I then temporarily attached the bed to the frame to hold it in place while i moved the wheel wells.





Once i had things tacked in place i took the truck out to the dirt pile to check the scrub radius, only rubbed a little bit.



So now i just need to finish mounting up the bed and modify the skirts to be complete, i'll also be doing a composite "wood" bed floor. This will make it better to sleep on out camping. I've been getting the few bugs worked out and so far so good, i really like how the truck has turned out.

 

[Toasty]

Back to Montero Build! With the Pickup nearing completion I'm starting to shift gears and planning the future of my Montero. As this thread shows I don't actually know what i'm going to do until i do it but I did make a big decision a couple weeks ago. I had originally wanted two trucks with the same basic drivetrain and upgrades so they could share spares for the most part but after driving an SAS'd rig i've decided i only want one of those and i really came to appreciate my Montero and how it drives. One thing i really like is the way it rides offroad "like driving on a cloud of tits" I would loose this with the SAS and it wouldn't be able to do freeway speeds on those long open desert drives. So i sold the Rock Assault axle.



Don't worry it's still going under a Montero, anyway now i need to build a new IFS because mine is trashed and i sold what good parts were remaining. The plan as of now is to install a new 4.90 front diff W/air locker, RCV axles and beef up the steering components. I plan to use progressive rate bump stops to utilize the 45* range of the RCVs without beating up the control arms running low profile bump stops. I definitely want to run a remote reservoir shock up front with new springs, i haven't fully decided on my dampening and springs for the front yet. The rear however i have a solid plan for, I will be stripping all the suspension brackets off and flipping the trailing arms upside down. This will allow me to run a small amount of lift while keeping stock geometry as well as increasing my ground clearance by a few inches. The springs and shocks will be replaced by coilovers at this time. One thing we noticed on the Rubicon was that the Gen 2 gets hung up on it's trailing arm mounts frequently where the Gen 3's on smaller tires just slid over the obstacle so now i want that feature.

 

[Toasty]

First step in my Montero recovery, buy a DD! I couldn't ever catch up on major projects with the Montero because i drive it every day for work, I just did the normal maintenance and kept it doing it's job. I had so many projects lined up for the Montero and all of them required more than a morning to complete. I made the decision to retire it from it's daily duties once i got the Mighty Max to take up wheeling duties. Unfortunately the Mighty Max isn't something that can do all of the things my Montero can so i split the work load and bought a daily driver that can take my family camping, haul my canoe and drive me to work. Enter GX-470 AKA Landcruiser Prado J-120.





OK, now I can get serious! Time to start ordering parts and chip away at the Montero, unfortunately it'll be not fun stuff at first. I need to do a heater core and window regulators THEN i can do suspension and tires.

 

[BOPOH]

it must be the worst year for mistu heater cores, so many threads about it and frankly mine is going out too (fogging up my windshield)

 

[freewayross]

it must be the worst year for mistu heater cores, so many threads about it and frankly mine is going out too (fogging up my windshield)

True that changed mine last week.

 

[midwestracer]

great build

 

[zukrider]

Updates?

Love the thread! Interested to see where it ends up. Wish I could get my hands on a 1st gen 4x mighty max!

 

[Toasty]

My trucks are working as moving vans/ storage units right now. I'm all moved and unpacking currently.


Right now i'm shopping for tires and debating on 17" wheels, unfortunately there are no such things as 17x10 with 3.5" BS and the closest I can get it 17x9 with 3.75" BS. So I may go to 17's and 37x12.5R17 BFG A/T's BUT I am leaning more toward sticking it out with 15's until they become obsolete.Staying gnarly with either37x14.5R15 Toyo Open Country M/T's or trying a slightly smaller 37x12.5R15 Pitbull Rocker.

I have decided to stick with IFS on the Montero now that I have the SAS'd Mighty Max. The plan for the Montero is dual T-cases Nv241/Mitsu Super Select giving me 1:1, 1.9:1, 2.72:1 and 5.16 low low. The other thing that is happening is the trailing arms are to be flipped and the mounts on the frame side inboarded. The trans crossmember will be replaced with a custom DOM unit to hold the new t-cases and make the bottpm of the truck completely flat.

The Mighty Max will get some links and air shocks in the not so distant future.

 

[zukrider]

Nice! I'd like to see more on the dual case setup. First I've heard of that uses the Mitsubishi case

 

[Toasty]

I have personally done an NP231 and a Mitsu case before and it's no big deal, the sucky part is that i sold everything some time ago around my 3rd dual case setup. I put the final setup in PA_JERO's Gen 1 so that thing is just a MONSTER with it's 3.5 DOHC, SAS and NP231/Dana 20 T-cases.

Once i get the new dual case setup i'll post it up, right now i'm in the middle of unpacking and organizing all my stuff into my new shanty.

 

[Toasty]

Well I decided against the SAS because I didn't like how slow my SAS'd Mighty Max is offroad. So time to rebuild the IFS better than before, the plan is upgrading the CV's, locker and install original OEM bumpstops. Sticking with the plan for 37's but a less aggressive tire, from 35x13.5R15 Toyo M/T to 37x12.5R17 Toyo RT. Since I have to run 17" wheels I might as well get some big brakes to fill the hole.

All torn down

New wheels

Upgrading from the original 95mm CV's to the DOHC 100mm CV's

 

[BOPOH]

any updates?