Comet
Well-Known Member
This is my '87 Mitsubishi Jeep I recently acquired after learning I'll be in Japan another year. I needed something to wheel with and there are at least 4 areas within a few hours drive to wheel. The closest is about 30 mins. It's all pretty tame by American standards, so the Jeep is accordingly tame.
It's a turbo diesel with a lo-range gear box, although after adding bigger tires, not nearly low enough. We'll see how that works out, but I don't want to spend a lot more money on this. This "build up" consists of leaf springs and 33" tires and Rancho 9000 shocks. The springs are Zeal and one of the few still available for this rig. They stopped producing the Jeep in 1997. It has a used Warn M9000 winch that I added that was sitting in my buddies shop when I bought it. Tires are Geolander MT+ which is the only affordable off road tire I can get here. BFGs, Swampers, etc. all are about 2X of US prices because of shipping. They are fairly agressive, unidirectional (which I generally don't like) and have a decent void. Most people here wheel less agressive tires, although I see Boggers and BFG MTs quite a bit.
I took it to my buddies shop where I bought the Jeep and was expecting to do this by myself. In typical friendly Japanese manner, some help showed up and despite the language barrier, we worked pretty well as a team. We got everything done in about 2 hours. Unfortunately I was not able to wheel it this weekend because all the areas were closed for various weather related reasons (flood or snow). So I don't have any action shots, but I didn't want to wait any longer to post. The action pics will have to wait later. Hope you enjoy seeing something a little different.
The first pics are the night I brought it home. It took over a week to get it after making the decision due to all the compliance and inspection laws. I even had to prove parking and draw a map of my parking area. Every piece has to be working too. When I bought it, it had BFG ATs on it, but to pass inspections, the stock wheels and tires had to go on, so the first few pics show it in that state.
And this is on the way to doing the mods
And here we are tearing into it.
And the rear
Hot Rod! The tires hadn't come back from being balanced when the front was done, so the stock tires had to go on temporarily.
And here it is all together!
The crew!
It's a turbo diesel with a lo-range gear box, although after adding bigger tires, not nearly low enough. We'll see how that works out, but I don't want to spend a lot more money on this. This "build up" consists of leaf springs and 33" tires and Rancho 9000 shocks. The springs are Zeal and one of the few still available for this rig. They stopped producing the Jeep in 1997. It has a used Warn M9000 winch that I added that was sitting in my buddies shop when I bought it. Tires are Geolander MT+ which is the only affordable off road tire I can get here. BFGs, Swampers, etc. all are about 2X of US prices because of shipping. They are fairly agressive, unidirectional (which I generally don't like) and have a decent void. Most people here wheel less agressive tires, although I see Boggers and BFG MTs quite a bit.
I took it to my buddies shop where I bought the Jeep and was expecting to do this by myself. In typical friendly Japanese manner, some help showed up and despite the language barrier, we worked pretty well as a team. We got everything done in about 2 hours. Unfortunately I was not able to wheel it this weekend because all the areas were closed for various weather related reasons (flood or snow). So I don't have any action shots, but I didn't want to wait any longer to post. The action pics will have to wait later. Hope you enjoy seeing something a little different.
The first pics are the night I brought it home. It took over a week to get it after making the decision due to all the compliance and inspection laws. I even had to prove parking and draw a map of my parking area. Every piece has to be working too. When I bought it, it had BFG ATs on it, but to pass inspections, the stock wheels and tires had to go on, so the first few pics show it in that state.
And this is on the way to doing the mods
And here we are tearing into it.
And the rear
Hot Rod! The tires hadn't come back from being balanced when the front was done, so the stock tires had to go on temporarily.
And here it is all together!
The crew!
, and the next thing I new I was serounded by a pile of grass and rust:eeek:
