2006 Sierra Challenge prerun pictures (large)

[off-roader]

Wondering how many of you take your Mitsu 4x4's off road on actual trail runs (not just dirt/farm roads)? In the US, 99% of owners use their mitsu 4x4's to simply pick up the kids from school, "bling" it to death, or go to the mall which is a shame really since it's such a capable 4x4.

I'm part of a group of US owner's that do take our 4x4's off road and we're going to have our 5th annual Sierra Challenge (AKA Sierra Carnage) in the last weekend of July this year. We'll be running some well known +4 trails (on a scale from 1-4) so the challenge run won't be for beginners who haven't modified his mitsu 4x4 properly. If you're interested in taking your Mitsu 4x4's off road but haven't done so before and want to do an easier trail, we do have beginner trips. This just won't be one of them.

Anyhow, here are some pics from our pre-run / shakedown run which we did on Saturday this past weekend. The dark Montero is running on 35" tires and the white Montero is running on 33's. Both 4x4's have rocker panel protection and rear locking differentials. The black one also has an ARB front locking differential.

Unfortunately excessive snow stopped us from running the whole trail. It won't be like that on the Dusy when we run it in July though.

The full gallery can be found here... http://sierrachallenge2006.fotopic.net/








A neat pic of a Black Widow spider we saw during our BBQ later that evening.

[nugundam93]

sweet! 4x2-only FTL.

[off-roader]

Originally Posted by nugundam93

sweet! 4x2-only FTL.

Well, mitsu 4x4's are pretty cheap right now due to high gas prices so it would make an inexpensive 2nd vehicle / weekend toy to have.

I do prefer & recommend the solid rear axle models for off road use instead of the current IFS/IRS Montero/Pajero. The new pajero's are quite capable off road but to a certain point. You'd never fit 35" tires underneath for example which is where I'm at with pending upgrade's these days although I'll be buying a mid 90's Montero first and will retire my 1990 4x4 to daily driver status.

[nugundam93]

hmmm...so that's the bad with the new paj/monty eh? oh well. it got too civilized.

35"? wow. hope to see that soon!

[off-roader]

Well, you won't see 35's on a Gen III Montero/Pajero without significant mods such as a new suspension system including major mods like longer A-Arms, etc.

In fact, I fear that either '06 or '07 will be the last they'll be available in the US for the short term. After that, they wont be imported until Mitsubishi Motors N. America can get back on their feet.

[nugundam93]

i see. those are pretty major suspension mods...

as for the 06 or 07...i dunno, not that impressed, it was just a facelift. hehehe. looks-wise, i prefer the 1st version of the 3rd gen.

[off-roader]

Originally Posted by nugundam93

i see. those are pretty major suspension mods...

as for the 06 or 07...i dunno, not that impressed, it was just a facelift. hehehe. looks-wise, i prefer the 1st version of the 3rd gen.

Not sure when we'll see any facelift on the current generation since mitsubishi is having some major financial problems and redisigns are very, very expensive, but hopefully it should be soon at this point as the current model is now 6-7 years old.

[nugundam93]

i do hope that the newer ones would at least look a bit like the current dakar pajero evos.