also, keep in mind that not all batteries are created equal, 105 amp hours is a pretty large capacity battery, most are half or two-thirds that capacity.

I should have thought of this before, but these two threads give a complete picture of all the work I have done on the truck, not to mention the basic stuff that I did before my deployment listed in my signature block. So far, it has been a 4 year project with a 15 month deployment in there somewhere

Mods Link Thread 1

Mods Link Thread 2

Good work, Makes my truck look all dirty and old now and it's newer than yours <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/lol.gif" alt="" />

This Sunday is the local meeting and January is the yearly Az crew H-core camping trip <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/kewl.gif" alt="" />

Wow! Your rig has the most toys for sure.

Your work looks absolutely professional too.....Great job!

<img src="/forums/images/graemlins/patriot.gif" alt="" />

Scottie, hit up Gear box magazine. They contacted me several months ago, but I was never able to find the time and answer the questions and send the pics.

Gear Box Magazine

so are they looking for mitsu's to make articles on? I will have to spend some time doing a good write up from start to finish. that would take me the better part of a day, maybe I can do that sometime.

ya know what I really want to do? I want to submit it to reader's rides magazine..........they have all types of vehicles and they post a lot of technical data too. also, it would be so awesome to get a full article written in overland journal.........someday I will take the time to write up a submission. I still have a snorkel to install, so I will wait till thats done.

Scottie, he had sent me a bunch of questions so he could sumbmit on there. Get in touch with him and tell him that I had given you the info. Its been several months, so he might remember me after you tell him about my Montero <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/lol.gif" alt="" />
His e mail is dr1665@gmail.com

It still is, and he's in AZ.

Back to top!

John B.

OK, its been a while, but I am finally making time to make a post to let you guys know what my brother and I were up to on the SR.

Went on our first trip to the overland expo; I identified several shortfalls I wasn't happy with:

1. surco roof rack on factory rack............sucks. almost lost all my stuff on the short 1 hour drive; not heavy-duty enough for all the cargo I wanted to put up there.

2. putting full jerry cans in the roof rack was a bad idea, very hard to lift them up there on a lifted SR when full; each are about 40 pounds!

3. 40 gallons of fuel in my main tank and aux tank combined is plenty; no fuel jerries are needed; instead of 1 fuel can and 1 water can, I realized I would rather have 2 jerries of water and no fuel cans; the two tanks are plenty.

4. my 4 gallon air tank in my cargo area is nice, but cargo room is more important to me; I re-designed the setup with a 1/4 gallon tank to give me more room in cargo area.

5. need skid plates prior to moab trip; I felt like I was playing hardball without a cup.

6. since downgrading my air tank, I didn't need the air gauge anymore; instead, I would much rather a more valuable gauge in that very same hole i put in my dash

7. my springs in the rear although they were custom springs stronger than stock, still weren't up to the task of supporting all the added weight of cargo, people, and our welding creations and fabrication

first order of business, that roof rack.

I ripped off the factory rack and plugged up the holes. then ordered myself a full length (84 inches) garvin wilderness roof rack; it has 8 gutter mounts and holds up to 400 pounds.





since my brother had a welder, we modified the mounting brackets for our hi lift, awnings, and axe/shovel mounts; all the light mounts fit without modding needed as it was 3/4" tubing same as surco, just that the rails are farther apart. one thing to note here is that garvin sends gutter mounts with square tubing that the foot goes thru to clamp down on the gutter, but the way the montero gutters are formed, this didn't work well as the foot pushed out to the edge of the gutter b/c of the slop when a round bolt passes thru a larger square tube. so I had them custom make brackets with round tube the same diameter as the bolt so there is no slop, foot fits perfectly now. if interested in this roof rack, I can help you with part numbers and the gutter mount mod I had them do for me; they kept the pattern and made a set for my brother; we have the same racks now.

I load this rack pretty well and it performed excellent at moab. I even had room to take enough firewood for 2 camp fires in case you are surrounded by..........nothing.



second order of business was figuring out what to do with those jerries. my brother and I designed and fabricated a tire swing out mount and incorporated into the design two easy to get to jerry mounts. the mounts are by front runner from south africa and I am very please with them. the mount uses a heavy duty hinge kit from a to z fabrication and the rest is our hard work, sweat, and blood (yes I cut my finger at one point).





the trasharoo was a great add-on to the spare tire, keeps trash outside, especially those dirty diapers.....











as you can see in above pics, we also worked on some nice bumper corners which incorporated the factory reverse lights off to the sides to assist in backing up on trails with steep drop offs on each side. we also made them into stepping platforms and finished the project off with industrial grip tape on all stepping platforms to help loading and unloading rack.

BTW, I love welders............soon i will learn myself and buy one myself to make my own stuff, but for now, its good to have my brother to do all my work and we like drinking beer together; its a reason to visit!

remember this setup?



well that 4 gallon tank was nice for using air tools, but I needed more cargo room over air tools. I removed that tank and put in a 1/4 gallon tank and built a shelf on top of the compressor unit. I later put securing straps on the shelf to hold the cargo secure on bumpy trails and also to prevent anything from falling behind my freezer fridge when i slide it out.

[img]http://inlinethumb08.webshots.com/48519/2401992480058950510S500x500Q85.jpg[/img]

[img]http://inlinethumb03.webshots.com/47810/2790388630058950510S500x500Q85.jpg[/img]

it worked out nicely as the tank absorbs the hot air from the compressor and since it is located directly in front of the air cooling fan on the compressor, not only does the compressor get cooled by the fan, but the air gets cooled as it passes thru the tank before it hits any of the other components of the air system (pressure switch, solenoid valves, etc.)

[img]http://inlinethumb42.webshots.com/46377/2517809340058950510S500x500Q85.jpg[/img]

now instead of a tank, I can put other stuff there

[img]http://inlinethumb34.webshots.com/47649/2259611250058950510S500x500Q85.jpg[/img]

this is a second t-case skid plate which my brother and I bent with an acetylene torch and a rose bud......the bend came out perfectly to match the factory skid plate; this pic doesn't do it justice, but my brother has a better pic he might share with me.

[img]http://inlinethumb47.webshots.com/45486/2095505270058950510S500x500Q85.jpg[/img]

this plate covers the entire transmission; this plate is very heavy b/c of it's size..........oil changes just got harder....

no bends in this plate, just some cuts at the front for the a-arms to flex. both plates have angle iron welded on opposite side to strengthen.

[img]http://inlinethumb56.webshots.com/45815/2476555330058950510S500x500Q85.jpg[/img]


now this mod is one that I urge all montero owners to do; it only costs about 50 bucks and the information it provides is invaluable.

lets face it, our stock low range sucks in monteros compared to other 4x4 vehicles. even if you drop 1000 bucks on the gears from australia and upgrade the axles to 4.90 R&P (which by brother and I did both) the crawl ratio is only about 50:1 which is just 'OK'

i have heard of many monteros toasting their transmissions on the trail; I urge you all to install a transmission temp gauge. this is an autometer gauge and I got some simple brass fittings from ace and tapped into the rubber hose under the radiator area; ensure you get the line before it hits the tranny cooler; the flow goes from tranny to tranny cooler, to radiator, back to tranny. here are some pics. normal operating temps range from 180 to 195. while off roading, it gets over 200 easily and higher as you tax the torque converter. with all the weight I have on this vehicle, this gauge is something my eyes are always periodically checking. waiting for the dummy light to come on isn't a good idea.

[img]http://inlinethumb43.webshots.com/46058/2088479370058950510S500x500Q85.jpg[/img]

BTW, you have to ground the T fitting since it doesn't get ground thru the rubber hose.......hence the ring terminal pushed on next to the rubber hose. the other wire is from the sender unit at the bottom of T.

[img]http://inlinethumb04.webshots.com/48259/2917873820058950510S500x500Q85.jpg[/img]

[img]http://inlinethumb44.webshots.com/46891/2136278090058950510S500x500Q85.jpg[/img]

I am still waiting on some new coil springs from springworks; i want to add more carrying capability to my rear suspension.

here are some other mods I did

t-case shifter with 2 inch body..........as mentioned by others, the shifter hits console with the body lift; here was my fix in pics below; much easier shifting back into 2wd.

[img]http://inlinethumb32.webshots.com/48607/2222923250058950510S500x500Q85.jpg[/img]

[img]http://inlinethumb60.webshots.com/47611/2552457650058950510S500x500Q85.jpg[/img]

[img]http://inlinethumb10.webshots.com/48073/2595475720058950510S500x500Q85.jpg[/img]

i made this to hand my food bags on while sliding out my fridge for quick lunch stops

[img]http://inlinethumb58.webshots.com/47929/2509034250058950510S500x500Q85.jpg[/img]

[img]http://inlinethumb43.webshots.com/26538/2443875540058950510S500x500Q85.jpg[/img]

this I had to do b/c I kept mixing up which way the valve was supposed to point to get water out of my tank vs the external hose from stream/lake

[img]http://inlinethumb49.webshots.com/46128/2246509800058950510S500x500Q85.jpg[/img]

replaced this hose as the original was too short due to body lift and was starting to rub; this is the vent tube for my aux fuel tank.

[img]http://inlinethumb45.webshots.com/46316/2956277020058950510S500x500Q85.jpg[/img]

re mounted my reverse lights on lower tube; hitting my legs on these darn brackets when loading and un loading my rack reminded me of how stupid it was to put them on the top tube before, lots of pain when you hit these with your shins....

[img]http://inlinethumb03.webshots.com/47554/2412647980058950510S500x500Q85.jpg[/img]

put a quick release pin on my high lift handle; this handle is useful as a power bar or to beat someone; wanted to be able to get at it quicker and more easily if I needed it for something.

[img]http://inlinethumb30.webshots.com/48925/2155588290058950510S500x500Q85.jpg[/img]

removed my jump seat seat belts and had my brother weld eye bolts to a bolt that threaded into the original socket; I use these eye bolts to secure hiking packs with carabeaners. when the kids get old enough, I will also hang camelbaks on these in the future.

[img]http://inlinethumb50.webshots.com/45937/2301707100058950510S500x500Q85.jpg[/img]

lastly, I did a quick lesson with Adam on operating the controls and switches.......can never start to early

[img]http://inlinethumb37.webshots.com/47780/2946052170058950510S500x500Q85.jpg[/img]

had him driving it that same afternoon!

[img]http://inlinethumb13.webshots.com/49420/2497563560058950510S500x500Q85.jpg[/img]