Se7en62's '99 Montero Gen 2.5 Overland Build & Adventures

[Se7en62]

Labor Day weekend was on the horizon, which would give the cooling system a good run-down. Here's our weekend exploring Padre Island National Seashore (aka PINS) in the Montero. Padre Island is the world's longest barrier island and stretches 113 miles from near Mexico to Corpus Christi, Texas, but in the 1960's the federal government dredged a cut to Port Mansfield at the 60-mile marker which split the island in two. Roundtrip, we drove 510 miles on tarmac and racked up 120 miles of 4WD in the sand over 2 days to find the clearest water and most secluded beaches in Texas. You just have to have a 4x4 to access any of them and the Montero got us down and back with ease. - We also hit 200,000 miles on our way home!

[Se7en62]

Next small project was to fix the ugly chrome trim after the factory black coating had come off. I had already peeled as much as I could off during the summer time while it was hot. I had a can of this rust-oleum undercoat spray and thought I'd give it a shot. Turns out it worked perfectly and has held up really well. I recommend you do this if you have peeling trim.

Note: I didn't have to both with the windshield trim because Safe-Lite came and replaced the windshield and all the trim and now it's all black too.

[Se7en62]

I also got sick of seeing the oxidized hood. My solution was to use engine enamel, which required 2 cans to get a good coating. Though, I'd still like to mask it off again and hit it again for a more even look. This is temporary until I have the time to have it resprayed in the factory color and have the entire body buffed.





I also ordered and installed these 1.25" spacers from Amazon. They are 6061 billet and have been on the truck for about 1,000 miles now without issue.

[Se7en62]

Nothing spectacular, but I had some time at my buddy's family ranch to clear some 4-wheeler trails out. I wish I would have got a picture of us driving over a 12" tree that had fell across the trail that we just wheeled over. Maybe we'll get back out there and put our chainsaws and winches to work to clear it out.

[Se7en62]

Last weekend I installed a new CVT travel cover over our RTT. The 6 year old zipper on our last cover finally broke, which worked to my benefit because I like the grey color better anyhow.



This past weekend I finally had time to go meet a guy about a boat. This inflatable raft, when inflated will carry 700 lbs of people, gear, and a motor up to 4hp. It's a 9' Avon Redcrest from England. I figure this will serve us well when we camp near lakes and rivers, to explore the areas around us and reach more remote areas to explore on foot.

[Shovel]

Those window sills look good!   

[Se7en62]

Took the Montero out and rod around the local off-road park to do a shakedown run with some friends. They're prepping for their 2019 trip up the AZ BDR in March, so they were testing a homemade trailer, honing some skills, and working some kinks out. - I think I'm on the way towards getting this custom rear bumper done pretty soon. I'm hoping to get rock sliders done in January and then the rear bumper done in March.

Oh, I am also putting my new camera to work in the new pics. I still need to find a better way to edit/host/upload them but I'm liking the setup: Sony a6500 w/ Sony SEL1018 10-18mm Lens

[MrGalantguy]

Looks like a fun time. Like your cockpit setup

[Se7en62]

New trip! - On Thursday, I'm heading up to Broken Bow Lake, Oklahoma to meet a group of friends. Then on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday we're exploring the Ouichita NF and Ozark NF on the hunt for snow, mud, and water-crossings. In preparation for this trip, I've added some auxiliary lights up front and extended my rear diff breather. The lights were $24 on Amazon and are 30w CREE combo spot/flood patterns, which is the perfect beam pattern for mounting at bumper height. They're wired to the factory fog light switch using factory wiring. Factory incandescent fogs drew 34w each, so these 30w LED's are more than safe.



The diff breather is now ran all the way up behind the driver's tail-light and up into the D-Pillar.

I'm also cutting down one of my big camping tarps to make a deep-water-crossing tarp. I'm going to secure some Neodymium magnets inside the hem to secure it to the hood and bumper and block the grill from water egress on deeper crossings.

Anyway, here's our "route" though Friday - Sunday we're mostly winging it to explore with no intended destination.

[Se7en62]

Quick and dirty: My 4 days in Arkansas was rad as hell! Arkansas is full of absolutely beautiful wilderness and the nicest folks I've met outside of Texas. We covered over 500 miles of backroads and 4x4 trail, including running up from our camp above Broken Bow Lake, Oklahoma and through the Ouichita and Ozark National Forests before wrapping up and airing up in Dover, AR.

I will admit that I got stuck for the first time, while crossing one of the many creeks we encountered. I took a bad line around a rock and ended up high-centered; Lockers on and all four tires spit rooster tails of freezing water into the air. - I ended up wading in knee deep water to run my winch line out to another truck in our group.

All-in, this trip was epic and I really can't wait to return during the Fall. Thanks for having us Oklahoma and Arkansas!

[Se7en62]

About a week ago, I was digging around on FB Marketplace and came across a set of 10" 100w Lightforce Blitz 240's for $100. They had been used on a guy's trucks driving back and forth from Alaska to Texas, so the were a little rough. Nonetheless, I couldn't resist, so I picked them up. After a call to Lightforce USA in Oregon a pair of new covers ($60) and mounts ($30) were on the way. I disassembled them and cleaned their reflectors as best as I could. Now they are as good as new and ready to light our adventure across Arizona next week!

[Se7en62]

We're heading to Arizona next week! We leave on Tuesday evening and will rendezvous with a group of friends from Texas and North Dakota in the Prescott area along a route setup by a buddy of mine. My wife and I's work schedules won't allow us to leave on the 15th with the group from Texas, so we'll be meeting them about half-way through their 879-mile route.

The guy form Arizona who will be meeting up with us is affiliated with the Arizona Backcountry Explorers, and he's posted a brief write-up here:
https://arizonaexplorers.blogspot.com/2019/03/7-days-on-epic-journey-across-arizona.html



In preparation for this trip and given current snow-fall and other bad weather throughout the Southwest, we've started some extra prep ahead of this trip. Primarily, just going around the truck insuring everything is good to go and adjusting what isn't. We've also bumped up our sleep system to include a 20°F canvas double bag from Teton and a Mr. Buddy heater in the annex. Speaking of which, this will be the first time in 3 years that we've used the annex on a trip. The new CVT covers have enough material that we can no stow the annex under the cover and leave it all connected when it transit.



You might also notice that my hood is no longer black! - I found an MMUSA Member about 70 miles away with a blue Gen 2.5 he was parting out. I scored the hood, OEM headlights and taillights, OEM fog light switch, a spare set of ignition coils, and a hand full of other odds and ends.