FAQ Page
(Frequently asked questions)

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1. How big of a tire can I put on my Montero Sport with no modifications?
That will depend mainly on one thing, the rim width. If you have 15x6 inch rim which usually comes with the 97-99 LS models, the biggest tire that will fit would be a 30x9.5 inch tire. But many people still chose to ignore this and put 31" tires on any way. Besides a 31" tire on a 15x6 rim will rub on the inside of the wheel well. But if you get a 15x7 inch rim you can put a 31" or 265/75R15 tire on your MS with NO modifications. For 32" tires they will fit in the back, but you will have to do a little modifying to get them to fit on the front. Mainly cranking up the torsion bars and trimming off some of the front bumper and mud flaps. I have a 2" lift and a ARB front bumper which enables me to have no rubbing with 32" tires on the 15x7 rims. If you have a 97-2002 MS you can fit a 31" tire with no mods guaranteed!

2. How big of a tire can I put on a 15x6" rim?
If you have 15x6 rims I would recommend going NO bigger than a 30" tire. Any local tire shop will say the same thing, a 30" tire on a 15x6 rim is the safest increase you should go. But many people still choose to ignore this and put 31" tires on any way. Besides a 31" tire on a 15x6 rim will rub on the inside of the wheel well.

4. What is the approach and departure angle of the Montero Sport?
For the stock 97 - 99 models the approach and departure angles of the Montero Sport are: 34 in front and 20 in back. See why you need a good approach and departure angle click here.
For a full explanation of approach and departure angles click here

5. How much lift can I get out of the front IFS on my Montero Sport?
The max lift you can get is 3" to 3 1/2" for to front of the stock IFS. That 3 1/2" of lift is with the rubber bumpstops shaved down and the torsion bars cranked all the way till they are touching the frame bumpstop. Don't let people fool you!
It is physically impossible to get any more the then 3 1/2 " of  lift with the stock IFS on a Montero Sport. So does that mean that if I buy stronger torsion bars I can get more lift then 3 1/2" of lift. NO!!! Why? The the control arm will stop when it hits the upper part of the frame bumpstop. So the torsion bar can only be turned for more lift till it hits the frame bumpstop than that's it. You have to install longer A-arms and other components to get more lift or more travel. Which no one makes in the US or can be imported. Just remember, if you lift you sport higher the 2" and you don't shave down the rubber bumpstops you will essentially have NO down travel what so ever!!!

6. What should I modify first?
Modifying your vehicle is kinda like the domino affect. You can't just change one thing with out it affecting something else. So you have to consider a lot of different factors when making mods to your vehicle. Most people start with bigger and more trail ready tires such as A/T or M/T tires form 30" to 33" tires and wider rims like 15x7 or 15x8. The bigger the tire your power will decrease and gas mileage will decrease as well and your speedometer will be off too. But you will get more ground clearance, more tire to ground contact, and better stability off road. But to fit a 32 or 33 inch tire you need lift to stuff those new tires under your sport. Like I said before, you can't just change one thing with out it affecting something else. So...

The next thing to consider is lift. There are not many options for 97-99 and even fewer for the 00-02. You have 6 different ways you can lift the 97-99 Montero Sport. The first way is the cheapest, that's with shackles and cranking you torsion bars. You can crank up your torsion bars to a max of 3" of lift, and put in shackles in the back to match the front. Shackles are twice the height of the lift you want. So if you want a 3" lift you will have to get 6" shackles. "Note that you might worsen your departure angle with longer shackles. You will also loose most if not all of your down travel when you crank the torsion bars up to 3". You will have to buy new longer shocks for the rear too. The next way you can lift you Sport is adding more leafs to you leaf-spring. And once again cranking your torsion bars. Another way you can lift you Sport is getting new leaf springs all together, and once again cranking your torsion bars and getting new shocks. OME (Old Man Emu ) has a setup that comes with two rear leaf springs and 4 new shocks, for $700.00. But it is only a 1.25" lift. The next way you can lift you Sport is similar to the OME set-up. Ironman Suspension comes with two rear leaf springs, 4 new shocks and new torsion bars as well, all for $600.00 for a 2.5" lift.
OME (Old Man Emu ) also has a 2" lift for the 2000 and up models for around $400.00 in that kit you would get 4 new shocks and two new coil springs. There is a real 5" lift kit form Sun lift. Made in Australia imported through Thailand.

Now that you have better tires you will have lease power. So one of the best things you can do is get better (lower) gears. Gears for you Transfer case and gears for your axels. If you have a Montero Sport that fits the 2.8 or 3.15 transfurecase gears. But you have to have a mannul trans. to get the 2.8 gears and we think the 3.15 gears will fit a 97-99 Montero Sport but no one knows for sure. You can get gears for your axels 4.64 or 4.90 gears.

The next thing to consider is better shocks. There are many different types of shocks out there to choose from. But the most common shock for 4 wheeling is the Rancho Shocks. Why? Because the Rancho 9000's are adjustable. You can adjust the setting form 1 to 5. 1 being the softest and 5 being the stiffest. This is great because now you can have the shock react how you want it to, depending on what you are doing. The Rancho shocks will make a huge difference on or off the road. I usually set mine on 1 or 2 for 4 wheeling and 3 or 4 for high-way driving. If you don't like getting tossed around in your vehicle when 4 wheeling then I would highly recommend the 9000 Ranchos and set them on 1 or 2 for 4 wheeling.

The next thing to consider would be BODY ARMOR. Body armor is very important if you want to keep you vehicle in one piece. So where is it needed? You have five main places you should consider protecting if you are 4 wheeling. The first is the front 2 skid plates. It is highly recommended that you get stronger skid plates for this area. This area will take a beating when 4 wheeling. Custom skid plates run anywhere for $150.00 to $300.00. I would recommend a 1/4" aluminum skidplate. A aluminum skidplate will be much lighter and just as strong as a steal skidplate. If you made a steel skidpate the same strength as a 1/4" aluminum skidplate it would be too heavy.
The next place to consider protecting is your rocker panels. This is the area just below your doors. This is a very crucial area to protect. When maneuvering over large obstacles you want to go over them with your tire, but if the obstacle is bigger than the clearance on the side of your vehicle it WILL damage your rocker panels. If you have rock sliders then you can literally slide over the obstacles using the rock sliders and not compromise you vehicle. Rock slidres cost anywhere between $150.00, if you can do the work you self or up to $350.00 or more.
Next is the front and back bumpers. The stock bumpers are not meant or designed for 4 wheeling and hang down too far. It is very easy to damage your front or back bumper. This can be one of the most expensive pieces of body armor you can get for you vehicle. But it's worth it!! A front ARB bumper will cost $720.00. ARB Bumpers for the Montero Sport are made only for the 97-99 models. No one makes a back bumper for the Montero Sport, so you will have to have one custom built. If you get a front or back Steel bumper they are heavy, around a 100 + pounds a bumper. That will make you suspension sag, you will have to crank the torsion bars up for the front. for the back you will have to add a leaf or get a leaf helper or get new leaf springs. And last but not least is the gas tank skidplate. The stock gas tank skidplate is pretty whinpy. You don't wnat to cruch you gas tank.

Now you are all armored up you will have lease power again. So one of the best things you can do is get better (lower) gears. Gears for you Transfer case and gears for your axels. If you have a Montero Sport that fits the 2.8 or 3.15 transfurecase gears. But you have to have a mannul trans. to get the 2.8 gears and we think the 3.15 gears will fit a 97-99 Montero Sport but no one knows for sure. You can get gears for your axels 4.64 or 4.90 gears.

The next thing to consider is disconnecting the sway bars. You can do this at the beginning of the trail each time Or you can just remove them altogether. I now several people who have done this, but I would not recommend it if you do a lot of high-way driving. I would have a set of quick disconnects custom made. Disconnecting your sway bars will make a HUGE difference 4 wheeling!! I highly recommend it!!

The next thing to consider is a differential locker for the back. A locker will lock the back wheels together so they can't spin individually. To minimize the undesirable on-road effects of an automatic locker, a selectable locker such as ARB is preferred. I highly recommend this too!! If you want to have better understanding of why you need a locker click here?

Another mod to consider is a winch. Some times all the best mods in the world can't help you get off a tuff obstacle or down a section of trail. That's when a winch comes in very handy. Specially if you like to go 4 wheeling on you own and you get stuck.

Another mod to consider would be flood lights. Why Flood lights? There will come a time when it takes you longer then you thought to do a trail. When this happens you need to be prepared. 4 wheeling at night is much more difficult. So to even up the odds, I would suggest installing a set of flood lights on your ARB bumper or roof rack. You would think that just putting your head lights on high beam would do the trick. But in reality it makes it worse to see. By putting your headlights on high beam you can't see all the rocks and obstacles that are right in front of your rig. But if you keep your head lights on low beam, they just don't produces enough light to see everything you need to see. The answer, Flood lights. Flood lights are at least 2 or 3 times brighter then your stock head lights and will cover a larger area. Prices for flood lights very from $23.00 to $300.00 a light. I went with the Procomp 55 flood lights. They were only $23.00 a light. Don't forget to buy the wiring-switch kit. A note about the wiring-switch kit. It doesn't come with everything you need. You will need quite a few different types connectors to connect the wires and ground the lights and switch. And buy some different color wires too. The kit only comes with one light blue wire

One more mod to consider is a snorkel. This will enable your vehicle breath in a deep river crossing, so you won't stall out in the medal of a river. You can order a snorkel for your MS form Australia for around $500.00 or make you own out of PVC pipe and just buy the top part of the snorkel for $50.00 at your local 4x4 shop.

7. What are the Pros and Cons of cranking the torsion bars?
The Pros, that's pretty easy. More lift! But the Cons that a bit more difficult. When you crank the torsion bars two main things happen. Number one, it makes the Suspension appear more stiff. And number two, you loose most of your down travel. Which limits you to only about 1" of down travel or less. When you go over a pot hole your suspension bottoms out much more easily and you hit the upper bumpstops. You will hear this big blam sound when you bottom-out. The higher you crank, the LESS down travel you have. But you will increase your UP travel. But you will always be in the same range of travel unless you go with shorter/different/no bumpstops. The only way to minimize the blam noise is to get stiffer shocks. I would recommend the Rancho 9000s and set them on 3 or 4.

8. How do Torsion Bars work?
The Montero Sports' Independent Front Suspension (IFS) as it's called is one of the most misunderstood of all suspensions types. Most owners don't understand how it works. It's very different then your normal coiled spring set up. Instead of coil springs, the Montero Sport uses bars that can be rotated to raise and lower the front suspension. Now wait a minute! Where are the springs? Are you telling me a big stiff bar is controlling my Front Suspension? Yep, anything will twist or bend with enough force and depending on the properties of the material it will "spring" back. A torsion bar simply twists and then springs back. OK, but how are the torsion bars holding up the front suspension? There are two torsion bars parallel to each other, and each are attached near the back third of the vehicle. That part does not move (unless you raise or lower the suspension). While the front part of the torsion bars are connected to the A-arms and the A-Arms are attached to the tires. So the A-arms move up and down twisting the torsion bar depending on the terrain. See pictures below. But how does the torsion bar know how far to twist back and forth? There are Rubber bumpstops on the inside of the A-arm and the inside of the control arm and the frame goes in between the A-arm and the control arm. The A-arm will stop when it hits the bottom part of the frame bumpstop and the control arm will stop when it hits the upper part of the frame bumpstop. So the torsion bar can only twist as far as the bumpstop on the frame. To change the spring rate the most common way is to increase the diameter of the bar. Very small changes in the diameter can GREATLY increase the stiffness/spring rate. But you still can't gain any new lift from a thinker torsion bar. You still can only lift the sport the max 3 1/2 inches. Because the control arm will stop it from going any farther. But you will have less sag with thinker torsion bars, which is definitely needed if you have a ARB bumper and a winch.

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OK, so what happens if I what to crank up or reindex the torsion bars for more lift? Will it change the spring rate or make it stiffer? No, when you crank up the torsion bars or reindex them you are simply rotating the entire torsion bar and the A-arms down. The higher you crank, the LESS down travel you have. But you will increase your UP travel, however, you will always be in the same range of travel unless you go with shorter/different/no bumpstops. The torsion bar is always at its normal center point whether you crank it or not. So why does it appear to be stiffer when you crank your torsion bars? There are two reasons for this "perceived" difference. The first is the ride gets worse when cranking the torsion bars, simply because you are closer to the upper bumpstops (less downtravel). So, whether you crank or reindex you have the same spring rate because you have not changed the torsion bars. And second, as you crank in more lift or reindex the A-arms are at an angle that is further and further from horizontal. Because gravity always acts in a vertical direction, the wheel has the most leverage to twist the torsion bar when the A-arm is horizontal. When the A-arms are at a more downward angle, the torsion bar will feel slightly stiffer to the driver. So if people crank their IFS way up, it may feel stiffer just because there's slightly less leverage at that angle. The rest of the force supporting the vehicle is transmitted through the vertical component of the angled A-arms.

9. What is reindexing the torsion bars?
To reindex the torsion bars you just pull out the spline end of the torsion bar and rotate it around however many degrees. That just means it starts out higher without more cranking. The advantage to reindexing is if you have maxed out the adjusting bolt. You are just manually rotating the torsion bar. The torsion bar are always at normal center point whether you crank or reindex or leave it at stock. The higher you crank or reindex, the LESS down travel you have. But you will increase your UP travel. But you will always be in the same range of travel unless you go with shorter/different/no bumpstops.

10. Independent Front Suspension (IFS) VS Solid Axle Suspension - Which is better?
Because I fall under the category of serious 4 wheeler, we will answer the question from the angle of what works best under serious off road conditions.

The complex problem of articulation can be reduced to the single wheel stiffness of the suspension. The higher a wheel can be deflected on one side without the wheel on the other side leaving the ground, the higher your articulation will be. Now let's look at how the two suspensions shape up in this department.

Let's first look at what the IFS offers us in the articulation department. Each tire is independent of one another. It doesn't matter whether one or both wheels encounter a bump in the terrain because the spring stiffness at the wheel will only affect each wheel independently. Each independent spring will determine how far the wheels will travel up and down when they encounter uneven terrain. The other weakness is that the A-arms are very short and are connected directly to the frame. Your front wheels can only articulate as far as A-arms are allowed and then they hit the bumpstops. This is partly the manufacturers fault. IFS is not designed to have a great amount of articulation in stock SUV's. IFS could have more articulation than what the manufacturers have come up with like in the Baja Racing vehicles. But it will never have as much articulation as a Solid Axle because IFS is built for comfort not articulation. In other worlds you can't make an ostrich fly because it's not designed to fly.

Now let's look at what the Solid Axle can deliver in the articulation department. When we strike a bump in the terrain with both wheels, each wheel experiences a spring rate equal to the rate of the spring near it. This in itself is no revelation. Hit a bump with both front wheels and the wheels on a solid axle will experience a spring rate equal to that of the IFS. But things change drastically when we encounter a bump with only one wheel. Now all of a sudden ratios come into play. The whole suspension now works like a teeter-totter with two springs (one left and one right), the wheel on the bump experiences an increased spring rate but the other wheel experiences a reduced spring rate. It doesn't take rocket science to visualize that the single wheel on the bump side will go up and the other side will go down. In fact, when you work out the effective single wheel bump stiffness of a solid axle, you get a value roughly 4 times lower than when both wheels hit a bump! That means that for a given suspension stiffness, the solid axle will be able to articulate 4 times more than the IFS.

Statement: A Solid Axle has better ground clearance than IFS.
First, one of the advantages of IFS is its more compact packaging (the diff can be mounted close to the engine because it does not move up and down with the suspension), which leads to lower vehicle height. This brings the belly of the vehicle closer to the ground and more susceptible to grounding out when cresting a rise or going over a ridge.

Second, when you hit an obstacle with anything like walking pace or above, the suspension compresses, causing the diff cover on an IFS equipped vehicle to move closer to Mother Earth. On the other hand, when the wheels of a solid axle make contact with an obstacle, the whole axle moves upwards and out of harms way.

Statement: More and more vehicles are being equipped with IFS.
So, why do we see more and more vehicles coming off the production line with IFS? The answer is simple: IFS packages are more compact which leads to a lower vehicle height which means more people can get in and out of them which means more people become interested and buy them. Sales are where it's at. Also, people believe that IFS delivers better handling and driving comfort. Motor manufacturers will give people exactly what they believe in.

A few other notes about IFS.
They are much more difficult to lift, the components of IFS are weaker and easier to break and there are more pieces to break. There are very few real lifts for the Monteor Sport. In fact there is only one real lift for the Monteor Sport. And it comes from Thailand export from AUS.

11. What is a H/T, A/T, M/T tire?
Tires have 3 main categories. H/T: Highway, A/T: All-terrain, M/T: Mud. The H/T tire is only meant for the high-way, rain, and dirt roads. Then there is the A/T tire, this tire is design as a happy medium between the H/T tire and M/T tire. The A/T tire is designed to do well in all types of terrain but doesn't excel in any one area. A/T tires are good for high-way, rain, ice, moderate snow, moderate 4 wheeling, slick rock, moderate loose dirt. The M/T tire feels at home off-road. The M/T tire is designed to do well in mud, loose dirt, deep snow, sand, and sharp rocks. M/T tires have heavier thicker sidewalls. But there is a trade off. M/T tires DON'T do well on ice or slick roads. On the highway many M/T's don't do well or are just loud. If you want to see the difference between these 3 styles click here.

12. How do I know what type of tire to buy?
You first need to figure out what type of driving you will be doing or anticipate doing and what type of conditions you will be driving in. Here are some general rules: If you drive only on dry or wet highway and dry dirt roads. Then H/T tire would work best for you. If you drive on dry, rainy, snowy, icy highways and like to do moderate 4 wheeling or plan on caring heavy loads. Then the A/T tire will work best for you. If you drive in deep mud, snow, loose dirt, sand and do a lot of difficult trails 4 wheeling, then the M/T tire would best suit you. Want to know the differences between these 3 types of tires click here. To get a good idea of what tires are out there and what tires people prefer, check out this web site www.tirerack.com.

13. How to convert this (225/75R15) into this 8.9" x 28.4" ?
How to convert this (225/75R15) into this 8.9" x 28.4" ?
Divide the first number (tire width) by 25.4. This converts the width in millimeters to inches. So 225 divide 25.4 = 8.9 inches wide. The second number (75 in your case) represents how tall the sidewall is relative to the width. Multiply 8.9 by .75 to get the height of the sidewall. So this sidewall is 75% as tall as the tire is wide, or 6.7" tall. There are "two" sidewalls, so you double that and you have 13.4" of sidewall. You then add the diameter of the wheel, in your case 15", to the sidewall value, and you wind up with a tire that is 28.4" tall by 8.9" wide.

14. Why is 4 wheel drive really 2 wheel drive.
The common assumption is that 4x4 means all four wheels are pulling at the same time. However, this isn't necessarily true.

When four-wheel drive mode is engaged, the front and rear axle are locked together, so at least one wheel on each axle can be driven by the engine.

Being a mechanical device, the differential abides by the laws of physics which state that energy always takes the easiest route. So, if one wheel is on a slippery surface (like ice or mud) or the tire is suspended in the air, then all the energy will be sent to that wheel and away from the wheel with traction. The end result is that you lose all forward motion!

This is why a LOCKER is so very important when 4 wheeling. It will lock the differential (tires) together so they are truly turning at the same time! So you would have 3 wheel drive if you have a rear locker. ARB makes front and rear locker for the Montero Sport.

15. What does the A/T Button do?
It locks out 1st gear and has you start in 2nd gear from a stop for less wheel spin in slippery conditions.

17. If I buy a lift kit for my Sport, Will it improve the IFS down travel?
No it won't. Here's why. They make two lift kits avalable in the US for the Montero Sport, OME (Old Man Emu ) and Ironman Suspension. Both lift kits come with new stiffer torsion bars for the front IFS. Neither are a real lifts for the front IFS on the Montero Sport compared to most other lift kits for other SUVs or tucks. You can't gain new lift or more down travel from a thinker torsion bars. You will still have the same amount of lift, max of 3 1/2 inches of lift and an no down travel. Because the A-arm will stop when it hits the bumpstop frame thus the A-arm will stop from going any farther. In order to get better down travel you need to have longer A-arms and a bunch of other stuff or a real IFS lift kit. Like the one from Thailand that will drop your torsion bars down. For a full explanation on torsion bars go to this link.
How do Torsion bar work.

18. What gears do I have in my MS?
3.0L 1997 LS 5-speed, 1998 LS 5-speed, 1999 LS 5-speed or automatics with the offroad package had 4.64.
3.0L 1997, 1998, 1999 LS automatics have 4.37 gears.
2000+ models all have 4.90 now.

19. What gears can I get for the MS?
You can get the 4.37, 4.64 or 4.90 gears, but that's it.

20. So you want more then your standerd 2" of lift eh?
You have 2 in country possibilities in the US. You can do a custom body lift. See link below
body lift

Or the other in country possibility, is you can do a SAS. (Solid Axle Swap) see link below.
SAS

Them you have one out of country possibility. If you can get it. It's a real IFS lift from Thailand. See link below.
Thailand lift

That's all your options to get your MS in the air past 3". The cheapest of all those would be the body lift. The other two would run somewhere inbetween $4000 and 10,000. If you can do all the work your self maybe you can get away with it being $3000 to $6000.

21. What options do I have for lifting my Montero Sport?
There are not many options for 97-99 and even fewer for the 00-02. You have 5 different ways you can lift the 97-99 Montero Sport. The first way is the cheapest, that's with shackles and cranking you torsion bars. You can crank up your torsion bars to a max of 3" of lift, and put in shackles in the back to match the front. Shackles are twice the height of the lift you want. So if you want a 3" lift you will have to get 6" shackles. "Note that you might worsen your departure angle with longer shackles. You will also loose most if not all of your down travel when you crank the torsion bars up to 3". You will have to buy new longer shocks for the rear too. The next way you can lift you Sport is adding more leafs to you leaf-spring. And once again cranking your torsion bars. Another way you can lift you Sport is getting new leaf springs all together, and once again cranking your torsion bars and getting new shocks. OME (Old Man Emu ) has a setup that comes with two rear leaf springs and 4 new shocks, for $700.00. But it is only a 1.25" lift. The next way you can lift you Sport is similar to the OME set-up. Ironman Suspension comes with two rear leaf springs, 4 new shocks and new torsion bars as well, all for $600.00 for a 2.5" lift.
OME (Old Man Emu ) also has a 2" lift for the 2000 and up models for around $400.00 in that kit you would get 4 new shocks and two new coil springs. If 2 inches of lift isn't enough for you...then you have 2 in country possibilities in the US. You can do a custom body lift. See link below
body lift

Or the other in country possibility, is you can do a SAS. (Solid Axle Swap) see link below.
SAS

Them you have one out of country possibility. If you can get it. It's a real IFS lift from Thailand. See link below.
Thailand lift

That's all your options to get your MS in the air past 3". The cheapest of all those would be the body lift. The other two would run somewhere inbetween $4000 and 10,000. If you can do all the work your self maybe you can get away with it being $3000 to $6000.

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