I'm sure this is a nubie question but what does the light in the dash of my 89 Montero mean? Wheel lock. I know the rear diff has some sort of locker but havent found out how this thing works. it acts like a welded rear or a spool when i turn

The only options for an '89 were an open diff or LSD. No light for LSD (pointless). Your Wheel Lock light is telling you your auto-hubs are engaged. More specifically, it says your front drive shaft is turning, so it could be that your t-case is still in 4WD or one or both of your hubs have failed to disengage.

Might want to pop them open, clean them out, and check for worn parts. One way to check to see if one or both of your hubs have failed to disengage is to jack up both front wheels and then turn the front drive shaft by hand. While you do this, look to see that both CVs turn but the wheels don't. If one CV doesn't turn and the other one turns a lot, have a look at that side's hub. If both wheels turn, look at both hubs.

Thanks thats what i thought, I drove it home from where i bought it and made sure the shifter was in 2WD and after moving it a few feet the light shut off. Got what i consider to be a good deal on it, the guy i bought it from new next to nothing about the truck, i asked if he knew it had been in 4 high the whole time he says i dunno. he couldn't even tell me if the gas guage worked. does anyone know if the asin manual hubs off a nissan will bolt up onto my montero? I love my zuks to wheel in but this Montero is pretty kewl in it's own right. another thing is the rear is acting almost like my lockers in my Zuk so i think i might have a LSD that is going bad guess i'll change the gear oil since u buy it by the 5 gallon bucket for my zuk anyway and see what comes out.

I don't believe Aisin manual hubs from a Nissan will fit, but I don't have an data to back that up. Try looking in a junkyard for Aisin hubs from a Mitsubishi Mighty Max or a Dodge D50 pickup from around 1983 or so. Those will work (mine were off an '83 D50). If you can't find one, you can get Superwinch hubs from Summit Racing.

Regarding your rear diff, take a look at your driver-side door jam. If you see an orange or yellow sticker referring to a limited-slip differnetial, then you've got an LSD.

Once in 4WD, a common part of then disengaging is to roll in reverese for a few feet to free up the auto-hubs.

On the rear LSD, sounds like you know your stuff, but the PO didn't. Could be someone put gear lube in that didn't have any friction modifier. I don't think anyone here has ever posted about an LSD going bad by binding all the time.

yeah it has the sticker so i am pretty sure it has the LSD in the rear. I'm lucky as far as maintenance goes while digging through all the paperwork on the truck i found a detailed log of all the repairs and maintenance doeb buy the first owner with date and mileage. after moving it around here at the house a few times now the hubs are locking in and out now no problem but i really dont like auto-locking hubs. have had bad tmes with them on my suburban and it's just a street truck tow vehicle. thanks to everyone who replied and if anyone else has anything to add feel free as this is my first Mitsu.

Dont woory about trying to find a donor vehicle for manual hubs. You can purchase them from summit or many other locations.

Zuk, you're a little Off-camber over here on the mighty Mitsu board, aren't you? I have a set of auto hubs in my garage if you want them for spares, I live in Duluth. What kind of Mitsubishi did you buy, and where did it come from? There are a several around Atlanta. My 1988 Dodge Raider.