Outer Limits 4x4 Board

Hello all..

First posting in this section.. As can be seen from the name, I am of the LR brotherhood.. but am looking at a Paj for the MRS. possibly.. but holy crap.. there are so many different "N" models.. I dont know where to start

Please help..

looking at spending around $10-12K depending on trade in..
Must be auto.. SWB not a problem (if cheaper)
What are the auto gb's like.. are they $$ to rebuild... and how many km's do they last for on average..

Sorry for all the Q's.. I have read through "the bible" and FAQs and had a search around but cant find answers to my questions..
Will mainly be used for very light wheeling and camping/fishing/mountain bike transport..

So what model/vehicle should I be looking for @ that max spend.. What would you buy for that $$..


Cheers

I think the NL is generally the pick of the bunch, I don't know how much they're going for these days though.
Someone else might have different ideas though.

Well NLs are definately the pick of the bunch, I've had NH, NK & NL. I put nearly 400k on my NK & it was still going strong when I traded it. No probs with tranny or motor.

Nls are generally around 18-25k depending upon model, Exceeds are top of the range & include niceties like auto, leather, woodgrain & dual air. Some have moon roofs.

IMO the best motor is the 3.5l & the best of those is the SOHC that came only in the NL. It has a much better spread of torque.

If you cant afford NL then IMO the best value for money would be an NJ Exceed. $70k when new but I've seen them for around $15k lately. But there arent many of them either.

BTW NJ Exceeds have rear diff lock standard, dual air, auto etc.

The 3.5l auto trannys are are great unit & make these vehicles a delight to drive.

And also there is finally a good selction of aftermarket stuff for 3.5l Pajs now.

Mark Hardmans crawler gears, ARB front locker (& soon I believe a rear locker).

The motors are plenty strong, the autos are plenty strong & the rear diff is a 12 bolt with 31 spline axles, very tough!!!.

Also SWB are not common either BUT you do see them every now & then.

Good luck with what ever you get.

Oh & since these vehicles were mainly purchased by city folk chances of finding low k, well looked after vehicles is very high.

cheers

mmm.. so it looks like a NJ Excede might be the way to go..
with rear locker and all...

any inherent problems with the Pajero eg. Rover are known for weak axles, hilux cv joints etc..

What sort of mileage would one expect from the 3.5 before a rebuild is neccassary.. and are pistons/rings/bearings expensive..

Cheers

LandyMan,

The Pajs are highly underated & often ridiculed by the hard core 4 wheelers, But in reality they are a very comfortable , powerful (with 3.5l) & very capable in the bush. Tough drivetrain. We all know they are good!

Sure they arent as tough as the LCs or Patrols but they do come close. The front setup is IFS which gives great comfort at the expense of serious wheel travel. But a front locker fixes that!. They have all the creature comforts that you could want, air, steer, power windows etc.

The only serious issue I have heard of is that in the US , the early DOHC 3.5l motors had a habit of dropping butterflies flaps into the motor, resulting in expensive rebuilds, but I have never heard of that problem in Oz & it may be that we got different motors , I dont know. Frank might know about that one.

But the 3.5l DOHC in my NK went well for over 400k , same with the auto tranny. I reckon a motor rebuild or tranny rebuild would NOT be cheap though. I've seen new DOHC motors in AutoTrader for $4700.

You do have to get the timing belt & plugs done every 100k. Thats a big cost if you have to pay for it as it is basically a days work to pull everything down, The DOHC is a bugger to work on. If you get one , check the log books to see that this has been done. My guess is that low k, well looked after NJs would have had at least one of these 100k services, so a safe bet would be to stay with a vehicle on the good side of 200k , so that you dont have to do a belt for a while.

If you are close to Syd or melb , thats the best place to find one of these vehicles. I generally check tradingpost.com or drive.com, carsales.com or carpoint.com to see whats going round & see a few NJ Exceeds every now & then , but they are the rarer of the breed.

If you are in a hurry or cant find an Exceed, the next best one down is the GLS which gets about everything 'cept dual air, & diff lock.

cheers

Yeah, what Ian said!

Any of the soft-top shorties are imports, it's your call as to whether that's an issue.

Mitsubishi didn't sell auto-diesels in Aus before the DiD arrived in the IRS models. Not that I expect your mrs would want a diesel.

Yes, people love to ridicule the Paj, but you need to be driving some hard core terrain before you need something better - i.e. with a solid front axle. How extreme is your mrs?

Cheers,

Scott