Thanks for all the good info guys. Clears things up about the brakes.

Are the Gen 1 and 2 UCA shafts the same?
I have dealt with a few stubborn pressed in ball joints that only came out after using torches and a air chisel. The gen 1 UCAs are kind of a pain to have to remove to change the ball joint. (at least the side I've worked on to change the UCA shaft was) Would still like to put in the gen 2 UCAs eventually. The roads around here are full of pot holes and are killer on steering and suspension parts. Thats also why I thought it wouldn't hurt if when I change the ideler I go with the gen 2 as I thought it was suppose to hold up longer. I forgot to add the crappy road part into my first post..

What little off-roading I have done in the Montero so far made me think the ground clearance isn't bad. My drive train could use improving though. I'm still shopping around for some manual hubs and will get them sometime. The auto hubs work ok if you lock them in before you may loose traction and don't get stuck... Not liking the open diffs would like to put in LSD in the rear. Some of the places I go to hunt and camp have pretty uneven and washed out roads/trails at times. Better tires I'm sure would help too. Also sorry I left that out in the first post.

[EDIT] If anyone has an LSD diff I won't be able to get it till next month probably [/EDIT]