ok i am new here so i thought i'd share a few pic's of my truck and a few of it's mods. i have had my truck for just over two years now and it has worked wonderfully. it is a 94 mitsubishi . when i purchased this truck it already was lifted and had 25" atv tires, aluminum rims, cd player, and rear reciever hitch. since i bought it i have made a few more modifications so it would better suit my needs. here they are: 1. first thing i did was remove the original battery and cut the stock battery tray off the frame. it was replaced with a weld on unit bought from the local race shop (they cane be bought from speedway motors also). once it was in place i installed a optima red top battery. 2. ok why did i install the battery well i had a neighbor who found a 4700lb warn works winch in the bargain cave at cabelas. he didn't end up using it so he sold it to me for the $200 he gave for it. it was still in the never opend box. the winch sells for around $500. anyway i could not pass it up. next i made a receiver hitch mount and put a mount in the bed, built a front bumper with a mount and i can also mount it in the rear receiver hitch. the wiring has a quick disconnect at each point so i can use the winch in all three positions. and i have had to use it. the one in the bed is nice for hoisting deer in the tree for skinning. 3. the next mod was the front struts. i use mine almost always offroad. the stock springs on the struts were not stiff enough an it felt like i was riding a bucking horse when driving across a pasture. i took some measurements and a wild guess on the spring rate and i bought a pair of QA1 10" 250lb coil spring like you can order from summit racing. now i installed these myself but i would not recommend it. i did not have the proper tools to compress the springs and my way was probably dangerous. these springs really improved the off road ride. still not a deasert racer but way better than before. not near as much bucking. these springs will actually add lift and i cut my lift blocks down 1/2" after i pulled a pass side CV shaft out. 4. next up was the paint job. this is my hunting truck so it got a standard camo paint job. 5. up next was the tool box. i bought one of the 48" aluminum diamond plate side mount truck boxes from lowes. it is the perfect width for the mini's. the mount is made from some square tubing that i added to the stock head ache rack. i just added legs all the way to the floor. the legshave angle iron feet that act as mounting tabs because each one has a hole that is used to bolt it down to one of the bed/body bolts that are in the bed of the truck up next to the cab. next i just kinda made a cradle to hold the tool box. it holds it at an angle because i wanted it as close to the cab as possible and the angle allows the lid to open without hitting the rack. i wrapped all the way around the front of the box with the cradle so i could add bolts to act as my hi-lift jack mount. i used to use mounts like this on my rock buggies. it is a simple bolt, metal spacer, rubber bushing, and a wing nut. the spacer spaces it out to it will fit and not hit and the bushing helps hold it tight and not rattle. 6. next was the rifle rack over the dash. this was simple and was nothing more than a piece of 3/4" square tube with flat tabs welded on both ends. then i mounted ATV mounts to it. i had to take the atv mounts apart and notch them so they would indext the way i wanted them to but other than that it was a very simple project and the holder works wonderfully. just make sure your rifle fits between the A pillars because some don't. 7. next was back up lights. running around on the farm at night it is nice to have the back up lights. these are just el cheapos and i welded tabs on my reciver hitch tubing to mount them. they sure are nice backing up at night and also when i go through a gate and need to see to get it closed again. the switch is a rocker switch and i mounted it in my dash. my dash had two spots in it that looked like it was made for some kind of switch but wasn't an option on my truck . i just cut the hole there for my switch and it looks like it was supposed to be there. 8. ok the last thing i can think of is my cup holder. this is the easiest mod of all i simply bought one of the cup holders that has one of the rubber straps and catch that is made to slip in behind the glass of a window. now not the all solid plastic ones but the one i have has more of a rubber strap on it. anyway i just put the end in the ash tray and closed it up. it worked better than i could have imagined. i can run around on the farm and have my coffee too. ok now for the pictures.
i like the ride to! battery box is cool idea. that with that battery in there, you could get some of those GM to ford posts for it and easily boost another car from there!
actually i bought a good set of long jumper cables and cut the the clamps off of one end and added one of the quick connects like i use on my winch. this way i can attach the cables at any of the three winch points on the truck. also on the end that i cut off i attached another quick connect so i can conned the two sides of the jumper cables and use them like normal if i need to on another vehicle.
yeah i almost hate to. i have really enjoyed this truck. i was given a ford ranger 4x4 recently and i kinda enjoy the a/c, auto, and power steering for cruising around the farm so i decided to sell the mini truck and keep the ranger. i have been trying to decide which one to keep for 7-8 months now and it has not been an easy decision.
