Okay, this is my Monteroīs before and after picture. My dad purchased it for me from my uncle for about 700 bucks about three years ago as my first car.
As far as diffs, engine, and tranny, this truck pretty much remains stock. We have the four cilinder 2.6L on it and the 5 speed manual transmision. It has 31x10.5 Firestone Destination M/Tīs, which I think are great tires. The truck came with no roof rack, and both stock bumpers as we all know, were not so good looking. So I decided to make some mods on the truck. I donīt have a great income, so this is a slow project and I havent payed a dime for labor. All mods were made by myself.
The truck has very little cargo space so I definitely needed a roof rack. Here we have a view at my homemade roof rack with a small tool box, the Hi-Lift, and off-road lights installed.
The Monteroīs rear bumber was not only ugly, but it was too weak. After being rear-ended, I decided to make a rear bumber. I found this DIY project at 4x4wire, and decided to give it a shot. Here is the outcome.....
As we can see, the new bumper is much beefier and I now have about 7 more inches of ground clearance at the corners. At the right, we see the bumper after taking a few hits, itīs very strong and sturdy. I also threw in the jerry 5 gallon gas can in the back. I will purchase my spare shortly.
A round tube bumper came with the truck, but it didnīt match my new rear bumper. So I put my brain to work and came up with this rock bumper made of 1/8 inch thick plate. I have modified it since this picture, I added two tow hooks and a hitch hole as well to manouver the boat trailer easily when going fishing. Here are before and after pictures.
It looks much better donīt you think? I actually made this out of scrap metal from the metal dump! I also made the grill and fit two of the OEM headlights to have four evenly distributed round lights.
I made a snorkel for my truck out of 2 inch ABS tubing. Total cost about 10 bucks!!! HAHAHA... I personally think it looks pretty descent. Here it is.....
I also made some minimal mods to the interior. I placed the extinguisher at the rear left side. I took out the carpeting for easy wash with the hose. And I made a speaker box for the rear and afterwards placed a sort of table to enlarge my cargo area as you can see bellow.... Here are some pics:
This is the last mod and I havent gotten a chance to go wheeling with these, they are my home made rock sliders. I made them out of 2 inch tubing bought at the metal dump! But they look good and are strong enough for their purpose and can be used as a lift point. Here are some pics of the process and also installed:
Im still working on this truck, im looking forward to and engine swap, will look for options..... I love my montero!
im still working on this page... check for updates shortly..............
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