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Post by ausman on Jan 29, 2013 2:02:02 GMT -5
I am new to the forum.. so thought I would post away. We just bought our 2001 MS XLS back from my sister. We were the original owners and when my sister decided to pick up something new.. we benefited quite nicely. We sold it to her with 30k on it around '04 and it now has 80k. Not to bad for an '01!
We were going to set it up for Overlanding and as a complement to Dodge 2500 CTD w/Four Wheel Camper. The MS should prove to be a little more nimble. Out idea was for a front and rear bumper, suspension, tires and a winch. Well nice shock to find out that a lot of stuff does not exist for the 2001 MS... especially a front bumper.
So does anyone know of a fabricator that produces a bumper? Any idea of something such as a ARB for '99 work with some modifications? I just have a hard time imagining using the Sport with that nice plastic bumper with no real recovery points.
Suspension looks a little tricky as well. Not really much out there. So if anybody has any words that could point me in the right direction... I sure would appreciate it.
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Post by monty98 on Jan 29, 2013 14:28:22 GMT -5
Welcome to the forum, glad to have someone else interested in overlanding on here! I spend some of my time over on the expedition portal forums for that kind of stuff also. As for the front bumper for a 2001, the only one that I've seen that was more or less a hack job was using a smitty-bilt Jeep bumper and fabricating brackets for it.
To that end, though, you might as well get the ARB bumper you want and then make custom mounts.
The suspension isn't that bad quite honestly. I am running 33 inch 10 inch wide km2s, and they stuff nicely in the wheel wells with a little bit of a torsion bar adjustment up front and some "custom" leaf suspension work I did in the back. Once the sway bars are out, articulation is pretty good with the rear axle, especially on yours with the coil sprung rear.
On that note, Old Man Emu (OME) makes the suspension lift kit for your rig as does Ironman (both sourced from Australia) and are both very good kits from what I've heard.
As for recovery points without the bumper there should be a recovery point and a tie down point just below the bumper before the skid plate starts. Not much, but it's better than nothing!
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Post by ausman on Jan 30, 2013 0:54:17 GMT -5
Thanks for the info. I would buy the ARB for the '99 if I knew that the only thing I had to do was fabricate mounts. I would like to hope that the body contour would be the same as the '01.. but not having been around MS other than the one we have.. leaves me asking if they are the same.
So does anybody make replacement torsion bars? From what I understand the rear OME coils are available.. correct? Monty98.. did you remove the sway bars and leave them off?
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Post by ES_97Sport on Jan 30, 2013 18:13:42 GMT -5
Thanks for the info. I would buy the ARB for the '99 if I knew that the only thing I had to do was fabricate mounts. I would like to hope that the body contour would be the same as the '01.. but not having been around MS other than the one we have.. leaves me asking if they are the same. .... They are not the same. The '97-'99 are different than '00-'05. That's why the ARB isn't just a bolt-on for the newer years. Yes, you could make it fit. You'll need to modify the grill and or bumper. Actually, I think the frame brackets will bolt on directly. You'll also need to reinforce where the ARB brackets mount to the Mitsu frame. My guess is not more than 400-500 to get it modified and installed, but that's just a guess to YMMV.  If you're going to drive on the highway, leave at least the front one on. If you have to make an emergency swerve you'll be happy you did. If you want, disconnect the rear at the trail and take the front off. Put it back on when you're done and reconnect the rear. I'll tell you right now, wheeling a IFS setup without a sway bar can be a little 'different' (not in a good way). It's not like pulling the sway bar on a solid axle. Edward www.4x4extremesports.com |
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Post by ausman on Jan 31, 2013 2:08:43 GMT -5
Since it sounds like the ARB bumper is doable.. I might just take that project on. If it is close at all.. it should be within my realm to pull off a hat trick and install it. If not.. I little help from someone with more creative welding skills sounds in order.
Sway bar.. actually I was really only thinking that disconnecting the rear was a viable option. I can only imagine what swerving would be like without the front!!
Thanks for all the good info. I will reciprocate with posting my info as I get into this project this spring.
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Post by ausman on Jan 31, 2013 2:11:20 GMT -5
Oh.. forgot to ask if the front bumper availability for the '01 have anything to do with the airbags? Seems I ran across a piece about that somewhere along the way.
I won't have the MS for another month or so.. consequently just going out and having a look is not feasible.
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Post by ES_97Sport on Jan 31, 2013 17:50:48 GMT -5
Oh.. forgot to ask if the front bumper availability for the '01 have anything to do with the airbags? Seems I ran across a piece about that somewhere along the way. .... Not that I'm aware of. The '97-'99s have air bags and I know from reading ARBs documentation that the Sport bull bar was originally designed for an air bag vehicle. I drove for a year+ on 33x12.5s with no rear and no front. DD. It's not as bad as you might think IF you make appropriate changes to compensate. I've always run RS9000s shocks which are adjustable so for the street I'd turn them way up to control body roll and on the trail I'd turn them down so they wouldn't affect wheel compression. Even driving twisty canyon roads every day to work wasn't all that bad. Of course, I never swerved sharply. Long ago I was trained out of reflex 'panic' swerves. Sometimes it much safer to hit whatever jumps in front. One big negative - pulling the front sway bar tore the hell out of my front tires.  I went through a set of Geolandar M/Ts in 8 months. That's the bad thing about IFS - the alignment changes a lot more and a lot more often than a solid axle setup. Sigh. Edward www.4x4extremesports.com |
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I went through a set of Geolandar M/Ts in 8 months. That's the bad thing about IFS - the alignment changes a lot more and a lot more often than a solid axle setup. Sigh.