My Trail Rig/Daily Driver:

[DRaider90]

In the spirit of the new Mitsu section I figured I would post up.



Stats:

1988 Dodge Raider, 152k
- New 2.6 with 40k miles on it
- Weber Carb Conversion
- Stock KM145
- Off-Road Package (Rear LSD, Bouncy Seat, Headlight Washers)
- 2" 4 Crawler Off-Road Body Lift
- 1.25" Torsion Bar Crank in the front
- 34x9.5-15 Bias Ply Super Swamper TSLs on Painted Black LS Alloys
- Superwinch Manual Hubs

Current Projects:
- Front/Rear Bumpers and Sliders: All ready built, just waiting for me to pick them up.
- 4.88 High Altitude Gears: Sitting in my Brown truck, waiting to be swapped over.
- Toyota Lift Shackles: Buying them off a friend for $50

Future Projects:
- Re-crank Torsion bars and trim bump stops
- Super Swamper Q78 TSLs (35.5x10.8)
- Lincoln Lock the Front
- 2.85 Transfer Case Gears

I actually own three Gen 1 Mitsu's, 2 Raiders and 1 Montero:







Stats on the other 2:

1988 Dodge Raider, 255k
- Rebuilt 2.6 with 70k on it sold to buy 3rd truck
- KM145 replaced ($2k), then lost 1st gear
- Off-Road Package
- Current Status Parts Truck/Possible Future Project Rig

1988 Mitsubishi Montero, 108k
- Rebuilt 2.6 with new head etc
- Stock KM145
- High Altitude Package with 4.88 gears (to be swapped for the 4.62s in red)
- Needs Carburetor (from silver raider)
- Off-Road Package
- Future Daily Driver (red will be changed to trail rig only)

[88mitsu]

I still think you should pass q78s and land on 38x11 boggers

If you find Angelo tell him to ship the gears I got from him, he'll know what I'm talking about...He seems to forget to ship them

[DRaider90]

Originally Posted by 88mitsu

I still think you should pass q78s and land on 38x11 boggers

If you find Angelo tell him to ship the gears I got from him, he'll know what I'm talking about...He seems to forget to ship them

If you agree to pay for my suspension/drivetrain breakage from running 38x11s on stock axles etc I will go for it. And while your at it flip the bill for the 38s too.

Angelo is working 7 days a week right now between the 2 family businesses, that may have something to do with it.

[88mitsu]

Originally Posted by DRaider90

If you agree to pay for my suspension/drivetrain breakage from running 38x11s on stock axles etc I will go for it. And while your at it flip the bill for the 38s too.

You have 2 parts trucks!

[Raole Duke]

Nice fleet you have there.

[GreatWhiteShark]

the Red paint is very agressive lookng.

[Rockrenegade]

Raider, the better 4Runner! Ever consider some mogg portals and 40's/42's? You know it would be bad ass.

[RaiderMs]

I hear there better if you crush them

[DRaider90]

Originally Posted by Rockrenegade

Raider, the better 4Runner! Ever consider some mogg portals and 40's/42's? You know it would be bad ass.

That may be the future of the Silver truck some day. Depends on if it goes more to the project truck side than the parts truck side. Do an SAS, engine/trans/t-case swap, new axles, etc etc and slap some 40"+ LTBs on there.

Originally Posted by RaiderMs

I hear there better if you crush them

Yeah I heard something about a guy crushing a perfectly good 88 that at one point had an ARB locked rear even.

[RaiderMs]

Yeah I heard something about a guy crushing a perfectly good 88 that at one point had an ARB locked rear even

Yea, I heard that asshat parted it out first. Rumor has it he made more off parts then the truck was worth.

[Kuranosuke]

How about less yap and more of that avatar...at least give us a bigger version!

Sorry...so, how about those 38s?

[DRaider90]

Originally Posted by Kuranosuke

Sorry...so, how about those 38s?

Not sure about going up to 38s, that would be a way off in the future project. The way the truck is now I think 35.5" (Q78s) will be the largest I am going to go with the stock IFS and 4.88s (that will be going in). Since the engine is new and only has 40k on it I am going to run it that way until I can do a full engine/trans/tcase/axles swap. After that 38s will be probably be a real possibility. Till then its one thing at a time.

[88mitsu]

Why don't you leave the red one alone(for now) and drop in a cheap engine in the silver parts truck and cut the fenders for some 38s? And then run 35 LTBs on the gold one with a 4.3 chevy

[fattony]

If I had a whole fleet like that I think I'd build one slammed with a 4.3 or a 350 and an awd astrovan t-case. Not sure why, just think it'd be cool.

[Spicoli_D50]

I agree, a slammed first gen montero/raider especially LWB would be so fucking cool. It'd be like a square body s10 cept less of a POS

[DRaider90]

Originally Posted by fattony

If I had a whole fleet like that I think I'd build one slammed with a 4.3 or a 350 and an awd astrovan t-case. Not sure why, just think it'd be cool.

Not sure about slamming one, but the brown one will be staying stock on either 225s or 235s. I was tempted to even slap some baby Swampers on it too, but then I would end up wheeling it and that would defeat the purpose of keeping it nice for a daily driver. My upgrades to it will probably be more along the lines of paint and other stuff to improve its DD capabilities/look vs wheeling abilities. It will be weird having a truck that not covered in mud, beaten to crap, and the familiar hum of Swampers while driving.

[DRaider90]

A tiny update on the Red Truck. Mark made me some great bumpers/sliders for the truck, and I dumped some $$$ on 2 new 34x9.5s. So what were the "newer" 34x9.5s in the rear are on the front that I bought last year, and the new ones I bought this year are on the back now.











(Oh yeah just noticed I hadn't posted about the new body damage from wheeling. Any massive dents/scratches etc are from wheeling my truck at Uwharrie.)

[brigand123]

how much lift is on your little red raider and with those nice lookin new 34 by 9.50s how is the rub when you flex and turn or have you done any amount of clearencing your fenderwells bumper end caps etc

[DRaider90]

Originally Posted by brigand123

how much lift is on your little red raider and with those nice lookin new 34 by 9.50s how is the rub when you flex and turn or have you done any amount of clearencing your fenderwells bumper end caps etc

The Red truck has a 2" Body Lift, plus the torsion bars cranked in the front for a 1.25" gain. So 3.25" in the front, and 2" in the back. I haven't trimmed the bump-stops yet so I haven't had any serious rubbing during flexing in the front. If I trimmed them/cut them down I am sure they would rub when stuffed a good bit. In the rear they rub at full flex, but not enough to limit me on any obstacles off-road.

With the stock bumpers and the end caps trimmed the low tread ones I used to have on the front (9/32nds or so tread) they didn't rub. When I moved the ones I bought last year from the back to the front (19/32nds tread) they barely rubbed on the end caps when taking turns left hand turns fast. When I say fast, fast enough to compress the front suspension and push the tire into the bumper end cap. With the new bumpers that Mark made they don't rub anymore. Consider these tires come with 27/32nds new I don't know if they would rub any brand new in the front with Mark's bumpers.

Considering if you max our the torsion bars to 2" you probably wouldn't have any rubbing issues. But then you may end up having front end alignment issues. Best bet is to just go with a 3" Body lift from the get go instead of a 2" and not mess with the torsion bars if your goal is to only fit 34"s or maybe 35"s.

[brigand123]

you think so? is there any complications with a 3" such as hoses being too short and stuff like that? and how much can you pick up a set of those 34 by 9.50s i would need 5 and if i can make me a mount for the hood 6 tires and rims. speaking of rims what are those? stock? and umm i havent gotten mine out on the trail yet so just how capableis it with those 34s

[brigand123]

what part of north carolina are you from i grew up in gastonia just south of charllote and ive hunted most of the mountain areas.

[DRaider90]

Originally Posted by brigand123

you think so? is there any complications with a 3" such as hoses being too short and stuff like that? and how much can you pick up a set of those 34 by 9.50s i would need 5 and if i can make me a mount for the hood 6 tires and rims. speaking of rims what are those? stock? and umm i havent gotten mine out on the trail yet so just how capableis it with those 34s

This will probably be a long post so please bare with me....

I have an entire write up on the 2" Body Lift on 4x4wire, and doing it you only need to replace 1 hose that runs to the heater core. Going to 3" I would say you would still need to replace that hose, plus probably the gas filler hose for the tank. Other wise everything else should have enough slack. Compared to most body lifts the Montero/Raiders are some of the easiest trucks to do.

The 34x9.5-15s sell for about $180-$190 a pop pending on who you buy them from. Putting you at around $950 just in tires, add mounting/balancing etc and your looking at $1,100 probably. Keep in mind Interco (that makes Super Swamper) is in the middle of moving to a new plant so they are a lot of their tires are on back order till June. But who knows you may get lucky and find some. The tires aren't the cheap by far, but for the traction they are worth it.

The rims on my truck are the 15x6 LS Alloys that came on a lot of the 89+ trucks. So yes they are stock with the stock 4.375 backspacing. I just painted them black, which turned out pretty good in my opinion.

As far as on the trail goes it all depends on what kind of wheeling you do. I do a lot of trail riding with a good helping of rocks thrown in there, with the occasional mud and the truck does awesome. When it wet out on the trails I have gone places trucks locked with 36x13.5 IROKs couldn't make it. Skinny tires bite hard and they haven't failed me yet. Combined with the LSD in the rear I keep up pretty nicely with the guys with one locker and 35"s or so. I wheel at Uwharrie and it has done everything out there, including Daniel which they rate "Extremely Difficult". Which by most standards else where would be a harder Blue Diamond trail.

Originally Posted by brigand123

what part of north carolina are you from i grew up in gastonia just south of charllote and ive hunted most of the mountain areas.

I am just south east of Charlotte in Union County. I live about 15 minutes from Ft. Mill SC, and 15 minutes from Monroe NC.

[brigand123]

oh i know where that is, like i said brown mountain is a lot of fun offroad