Hey mate, good to hear from another challenger owner.
Yours sounds like mine, and so does your walllet!. Also a daily driver which I don't want to go mad on. Only had it a month or so, and am just getting used to where it can go, and what I want to do.
I've been looking a "price concious" ways to lift it. A set of rear springs from a Safari will go in, and will give it 3-4 inche's of lift. (But I'm unsure if tweaking the front torsion bars that much would be a good idea and was told it leads onto having to do other mods)
Or for a couple of hundred bucks, buy some rear springs say 2" and adjust torsions to suit. That way no other mods really need to be sorted. (ideally the shocks as well of course)
Will keep an eye out on this thread to see how ya get on.
Ideally my first project, will be to learn to weld, and a winch to go into a tow hitch reciever say one front or rear. I like the club tours, but reckon that will be more helpful for our family tours around the country which may or may not be with others.
Virgin Challenger
Re: Virgin Challenger
If it's already riding high at the back, you should definitely adjust the front to match - this will give you slight ramp-over improvements, and a slight clearance advantage under the front diff. And it's FREE. Just keep an eye on the top bump-stop to make sure there is still room for the wheel to droop.
Make this mod and see how you find it.
I wouldn't go much more that 2" lift in the rear, otherwise you will find it difficult to get the front to match without doing a bunch of other mods.
Next best thing you can do is put some mud tyres on. Not necessarily the cheapest thing, but sure will make the truck go better off road, and it's not really 'modifying' the vehicle.
Wouldn't bother with a snorkel unless you are planning on some deep river crossings...
Make this mod and see how you find it.
I wouldn't go much more that 2" lift in the rear, otherwise you will find it difficult to get the front to match without doing a bunch of other mods.
Next best thing you can do is put some mud tyres on. Not necessarily the cheapest thing, but sure will make the truck go better off road, and it's not really 'modifying' the vehicle.
Wouldn't bother with a snorkel unless you are planning on some deep river crossings...
Last edited by pjb on Fri Nov 18, 2011 6:49 am, edited 1 time in total.
94 Pajero SWB, 3.5 V6
Re: Virgin Challenger
pjb wrote:Wouldn't bother with a snorkel unless you are planning on some deep river crossings...
Fully agreed. Get some mud tyres and you will be impressed. Remove your side steps and it'll look like you've lifted it!
SWB V6 Paj with one or two mods 
Re: Virgin Challenger
Writeup on torsion bar adjustment here:
http://www.4x4wire.com/mitsubishi/tech/ ... rsion_bar/
The more you adjust the ride-height at the front, the more you should get a wheel alignment done afterwards.
Muddies: noisier than highway tyres, but not by much. It's the extreme offroad tyres that really make a din. There are some quite road-mannered muds around, like Kumko KL71, but they aren't necessarily the cheapest.
Grip seems fine to me. Apparently they aren't as good in the wet, but I've never had any moments.
They definitely wear faster, but you also start off with deeper tread. So for the highway, should last at least as long as regular tyres. However, they work best in the mud when they have lots of tread left.
http://www.4x4wire.com/mitsubishi/tech/ ... rsion_bar/
The more you adjust the ride-height at the front, the more you should get a wheel alignment done afterwards.
Muddies: noisier than highway tyres, but not by much. It's the extreme offroad tyres that really make a din. There are some quite road-mannered muds around, like Kumko KL71, but they aren't necessarily the cheapest.
Grip seems fine to me. Apparently they aren't as good in the wet, but I've never had any moments.
They definitely wear faster, but you also start off with deeper tread. So for the highway, should last at least as long as regular tyres. However, they work best in the mud when they have lots of tread left.
94 Pajero SWB, 3.5 V6
Re: Virgin Challenger
On the front you can do a tridon 4wd ball joint flip,for more wheel movement. The rear suspension has two bolts to hold the radius arm to the diff, do not let it to move freely, lifts wheels tripoding, also the diff moves in an arc which can snap shocks on the rear if lifted, also buy cruiser or safari rims with big offset as track is narrow on challengers,
Bullbars are made for your trucks, but in america they have problems of them breaking off, mounts are not strong enough to support the weight.
they do needa rear locker, a front one helps too.
Also limited choices to fitting tow hooks on the front, rears not to great either
Waypa on here has one, this has been a 3 year learning curve,ARB 2'' lift has help, but broke shocks thats fixed, and had to fit limit straps in the rear to please wof man,
Bullbars are made for your trucks, but in america they have problems of them breaking off, mounts are not strong enough to support the weight.
they do needa rear locker, a front one helps too.
Also limited choices to fitting tow hooks on the front, rears not to great either
Waypa on here has one, this has been a 3 year learning curve,ARB 2'' lift has help, but broke shocks thats fixed, and had to fit limit straps in the rear to please wof man,
89 safari, pto winch, 33x15 simexs. sliders,75mm lift . turbo intercoolered
Re: Virgin Challenger
Hi Waypa here.
The picture is of my truck. The adjustment of the sway bars is very easy to do. You only need to do a ball joint flip if you use up all the travel space.
Yes Challengers do have a tendancy to tripod rear wheels, however I don't think this is any worse than most Surfs I have seen.On extreme articulation at the rear the body can move over considerably. This did have a tendancy to break the heads off the shocks. I had also removed the rear swaybar and this allowed the body to move over. However the problem of the broken shocks was fixed by our club engineer Bernie
Konz and this was a very simple fix. Yes a rear locker does transform this vehicle. If you have a towbar the fitting of the rear towhooks is quite simple. If not they can be attached to the chassis.
The front towhooks are another problem but not insurmountable. You would need to look at what Coxy has done to my truck and I have seen others with towhooks fitted front and rear.Wider rims do give you a better track. Off Road Australia forum has a section for Challengers. These trucks are used quite a lot in Australia.
Yes this has been a 3 year learning curve in NZ, but don't let this put you off. I have done the hard yakka now and you are more than welcome to view my truck and discuss modifications and /or problems etc.
The picture is of my truck. The adjustment of the sway bars is very easy to do. You only need to do a ball joint flip if you use up all the travel space.
Yes Challengers do have a tendancy to tripod rear wheels, however I don't think this is any worse than most Surfs I have seen.On extreme articulation at the rear the body can move over considerably. This did have a tendancy to break the heads off the shocks. I had also removed the rear swaybar and this allowed the body to move over. However the problem of the broken shocks was fixed by our club engineer Bernie
Konz and this was a very simple fix. Yes a rear locker does transform this vehicle. If you have a towbar the fitting of the rear towhooks is quite simple. If not they can be attached to the chassis.
The front towhooks are another problem but not insurmountable. You would need to look at what Coxy has done to my truck and I have seen others with towhooks fitted front and rear.Wider rims do give you a better track. Off Road Australia forum has a section for Challengers. These trucks are used quite a lot in Australia.
Yes this has been a 3 year learning curve in NZ, but don't let this put you off. I have done the hard yakka now and you are more than welcome to view my truck and discuss modifications and /or problems etc.