I have been out wheeling the Montero hard for the past 2-3 weeks in the Colorado Snow. It's amazing what my 95 SR will do with really only changing tires to BFG 33x10.5. Love that rear locker!

Anyway, I got hung up on some rocks and managed to bend the rear stabilizer link. The real problem is that I now have a major vibration which increases with speed.

Here are the tests I did the narrow it down.

1. Going from Park to Drive sometimes causes a ping and pop. Been like that for 4K miles now.
2. Vibrations are worse when the load on the vehicle is higher..Example: When I drive up the mountain vs down.
3. Switching into 4WD reduces the vibration. I was rarely in 2WD the last few weeks and today I found dry pavement and that's when I noticed how bad it was.

Crawling under the vehicle shows some fresh metal on the U-Joints between the rear diff and drive shaft. Thus, I think that is my problem. It has what looks to be too much play. That sound correct to anyone else?

What are the chances I bent the drive shaft? I feel like this problem has been around and got worse due to the light vibrations I chalked up to warn suspension components.

Will I need to bring the parts to a press to install the u-joint? Looks like I can hammer it out after I remove the clips.

1995 Montero Sr

Probably all ujoint vibes. You can drive is apart with a socket and hammer, and assemble the same way with the driveshaft out.

True, but if it was mine, because it was hit, I would take it to a drive line shop and have them do the job. They will install your u-joints and balanced your driveshaft. An unbalanced driveshaft will destroy oil seals in the rear end and the transfer case in some cases.

Check your transmission mount also, a sagging or broken mount can cause driveline misalignment and associated vibrations.

I would have a shop check to make sure the driveshaft didn't actually bend or lose its balance weights as well.

The drive shaft was never hit and looks untouched. It still has all the grime and dirt with no clean spots (thus I assume its fine). I think I just put the ujoint under a lot of stress earlier in the day.

Does anyone remove the rear stabilizer bar? How is highway driving/canyon driving with it removed?

Most of us AZ Crew folks have removed at least the rear bar. It does either need to be cut out or have some suspension parts unbolted to get it out, though, since it snakes through some areas that box it in. I notice a little more body lean in turns and the resulting need to be more careful with abrupt swerving, etc., but nothing like having them both removed. I do not recommend removing the front one myself, particularly in a lifted Gen 2.

My Gen 1's on the other hand, don't seem to mind having none at all (the 4-cylinder trucks never had a rear bar anyway).

John B.

As I said, that's the route I'd take. If you want to fix the sway bar, I bet a commercial spring shop cloud remove the temper, straighten the bar, and retemper it pretty cheaply. I've never had a problem driving out ujoint tees with a hammer, but pressing is an option. Both have a minor risk of bending the yoke. Don't miss with the hammer, though. You may have to plug the rear of the tcase to avoid losing lube.

The ujoint came out without too much trouble. I used a ball joint removal tool (C Press) which made it easy. Took about two hours but its back together and I just got back from wheeling around in the snow! The old one was without question the problem.

It really just looks like the stabilizer link was bent. I think I will just remove the bar.

Forgot to have a plug ready for the t-case so I had to scramble to get something to plug it. Forgot about that!

Have an air compressor? If so, BUY the cheap Harbor Freight air cutter that uses the little (I think they are 5") cut-off wheels. You'll laugh along with the sparks cutting that sway bar into manageable chunks of recyclable steel. I think I spent less than $20 for the tool and a couple of discs and sliced right through a 'hardened' steel lock hasp for which the key had long since been lost. It didn't even take a fraction of an inch of the disc to do it and only took a minute. And what a spark show!

John B.