I haven't seen a gen 2 break an arm or housing yet, not even the AZ crew or Carlos or my old 95 all acid tested..Although I heard of aussies breaking the housing (rarely)... [/quote]

Agreed, making an SR rear end upgrade all the more attractive to those who wheel Gen I's...

One question I had is how often and how hard John wheeled his Montero? Regardless, to be safe if you wheel your Montero then it's HIGHLY recommended you swap in a Gen II rear end.

Thanks for all the tips guys, I ended up getting a 91 Montero V6 rear axle assy at a junkyard in Hollister for 2 benjamins. I hope it fits. The 96SR axles (what I could find) cost more than 5 bones, and I didn't have the luxury of time (and space) to wait for a good deal to show up.

Other guys I talked to offline spoke about welding a truss bar to the axle, is this also a good option aside from reinforcing the trailing arms and swapping back stock spec shocks?

I also have an 87 Suzuki Samurai, which will probably get the bigger share of (destructive) wheeling. I'll try not to break anything next time. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/cheers.gif" alt="" />

I know I'm kinda out of the way,,,I just don't want to see another Montero going to china to melt.
The axle in SLO would probably be gotten for $300.

What I've heard most have done overseas is reinforce the axle shaft housing with some kind of sleeve.

There's a write-up I put together on re-enforcing your trailing arms or alternatively you can put on gen II trailing arms which are beefier and a direct bolt in.

I caught my LWBs stock axle before it broke, but the crack was in the same spot on the opposite side, I have a feeling the welds on these axles were a bit hit or miss in 89... My Raiders axle was and still is perfect. I wouldn't be scared to wheel the Montero harder than the sami at all, that axle was probably just one of the rare bad ones. If you wanted a little bit of security, weld some horizontal slats across those weld spots?

Just do it..