1988 Montero Body Lift Kit Installation Author: Joe Ambrose Well I've finally gotten around to installing your 2" body lift kit and, as promised, I figured I'd give you some feedback. A bonus, however, is that I can give you some feedback on not one, but two of your lift kits for Monteros. About two weeks before I did mine, I also helped Wells and Alex Fargo (here in Colorado Springs) accomplish the lift on their '89 LWB Montero. I had originally intended for a shop to do mine, but a set of 5.29 diff gears for Monteros became available on the market that I just couldn't pass up, so I held off the shop doing further work so I could acquire those gears. Since time and money were both running short and it's now two weeks away from our annual Moab trip, I decided to just do the lift myself. First the '89 LWB Montero. Items of note: -We taped the outside of each 2" spacer with black duct tape to tame the appearance of the blocks standing out. Worked nicely. (Note: this is in place or ordering the CLR custom color block option). -No need to alter the rear bumper on a LWB Gen I Montero. It fits back on fine. -Their kit had bolts which were all the same length. They had to get two longer bolts for two of the rear mounts. (Note: Long bolts can be requested ahead of time or the Extra Hardware option can be ordered to include normal and extra long bolts) -Gas tank filler has a bracket on it that just needs to be loosened (more on that later). -Shifters do not appear to be an issue, however, their rig still doesn't have an engine in it so it hasn't been road-tested. -One of the fuel return lines popped off the top-back-right corner of the gas tank. Got an extended line. -The two bolts which go into the mounts accessible beneath the taillights needed to be inserted upside-down (would not go in otherwise). -No known issues with steering...no adjustments made. -Front brake lines just need to be fed through the body. -E-brake lines will have to be readjusted. Under heavy droop they are heavily tensioned. -They didn't order bedspacers with their kit but I suggested to them that they get some since they have a LWB. -There is a heavy duty bracket of sorts with a very heavy bolt on the front side of the rear wheelwells on the LWB Montero (that bracket doesn't exist on my SWB) that could not be reattached after the lift. It did not contain any bushings or such and the thickness of the bolt was only slightly more than half the diameter of the hole in the bracket through which it fits. Folks on 4x4Wire have mentioned that it is there in the case of a catastrophic accident which shears the body mounts and will keep the body with the frame. I've suggested they have a welder refab that and get it reattached. -Took the three of us about three hours to get most of it done. The engine was out so the heater hose hadn't been done. Also need to adjust the main tranny shifter once the tranny is mounted back onto the engine. Basically, it was a very straight-forward install. Now items of note on my '88 SWB Montero: -I also taped the outside of my 2" blocks with black duct tape. Really makes a difference in appearance. (Note: this is in place or ordering the CLR custom color block option). -I re-used all the bottom bell-washers from my mounts. They seemed to be better than the brass-looking washers that was in your kit. The two very front mounts, however, did not have those bell-washers so I used your washers up there. -All of the bolts you provided in my kit were of the correct length (my kit had the two longer bolts). -The two mounts accessible in the bottom of the taillight wells and the two mounts at the forward-end of the rear wheelwells required me to insert the bolts upside-down. Just no space to put them in rightside-up. -Replaced one heater hose with a longer section. -Removed the lower half of the fan shroud. -Front brake lines were fed through the body, but I don't like how they are stiffly sitting as they pass through the body (concerned about wear over time). Will re-bend. -Shifters don't seem to be an issue, but I haven't driven it yet (I was also doing some carb work and am presently waiting for some sealant to cure). -I loosened my gas tank filler bracket and partially reattached it. It wraps around the line but can't reach to reattach. I reattached one end of it and used doubled-up .030 wire to secure the other end back to the original mounting point. Seems to be okay. -No issues with my other fuel lines. -On the SWB there is a bracket just forward of the gas tank which is attached to the body floor and needs to be disconnected. It holds the main fuel-sending line and a fuel-return line. When reconnecting, a 6mm bolt which is about 2 1/2" long will do the trick. I tried looking for a 2" bushing (spacer) to use with this bolt but haven't found on yet. I will probably use a cut section of small piping. This same bracket on the LWB is attached to the frame, not the body. -No adjustments to steering made. -Bumper still needs to go on but the diamond-plate will need to be cut to accommodate the rear-most mounts. I will just take the plate off because I have new front and rear bumpers coming to me in a week or so anyway which won't be affected. -Three of the original mount bolts were frozen inside the metal bushings through which they passed due to rust. Patience and working them free with vice-grips on the spacers did the trick. -Very glad I got the new poly-bushings with your kit. The old bushings were in very sad shape. -Bedspacers very simple to install. -E-brake lines are a little stiff at heavy droop but not as bad as it was on that LWB. I may address that later. -Since I was doing several tasks on the rig at the same time it's hard to narrow down how long it took, but the basic lift took me about 4 to 6 hours, by myself, in the wee hours of the morning. It was also a very straight-forward install. It really looks awesome! I did it this last Sunday night/Monday morning and I put on 33's with new rims about two days later. I was going to put on 35's but my 5.29 diff gears won't arrive in time for the Moab trip. Thanks for a great kit! Joe Some other notes: 1. To make lifting the rear of the body easier, use a chain or ratchet straps to tie the rear axle to the frame to keep if from drooping so far when you take the weight of the body off the frame. Unlike the front end, the rear coil springs can keep unloading and raising up. So the straps or chains keep that from happening. 2. With the polyurethane bushing kits (P), some model vehicles may use a one=piece front bushing, unlike the rest that are two-piece. The one-piece bushings can't be replaced with the two-piece polyurethane bushings.