The 97-99 sports were leaf sprung with optional rear locker and the 00-04 sports were coil sprung with no locker option. I really liked my 2000 sport, it was a really well built truck but it is much smaller than a Montero but the hatch back makes it easy to load with gear.
As far as Gen 2?s go 92-93 are the odd years; random options like locker, LSD, bouncy seats and 4.88?s. 94-96 SR are the so called holy grail of Gen 2 monteros due to their 3.5 DOHC engine, big axles and 4.63 axle gears. 94 and 95 are the same and 96 is slightly updated and the latest year for that engine, other than what Offroader said i think the gauges are a little different and seat heaters are more common maybe offroader can confirm this. 97 SR?s are like the previous years with the 3.5 but SOHC and 4.27 gears and blue backlit gauges. 98-00 are the blister fender montero?s (gen 2.5) they are the same as the previous year SR?s but do not have the body cladding, 98 is the same as the 97 but with big fenders and new style bumper, grill and headlamps, 99 was the first year for the tiptronic transmission but doesn?t have a manual shift mode like the gen 3 (yes it gets confused sometimes if you radically change how you drive, 4.90?s fix this for some reason), 00 dropped the locker and tried to be more luxo but is otherwise the same.
Of the gen 2?s I personally like the blister fender the best because the 3.5 SOHC is still plenty powerfull and the fenders fit the bigger tires plus no body cladding to get all loose. Some people don?t like the gen 2.5 because they come with 4.27 axle gears but that?s what montero sports are for (cannibalising their axles for 4.90?s) <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Hope i answered some questions <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/kewl.gif" alt="" />