Mitsubishi Outlander Sport light over land build

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James Deaton

Rank V

Pathfinder I

How are you handling the lack of a lower range four wheel drive? I know that for us, and our Ford expedition, we use low range quite often, especially for short steep hills, and for long gradual climbs on ridgelines and such. It is much easier on the transmission for us using low range. Thoughts?
 

James Deaton

Rank V

Pathfinder I

I understand. The Expedition does weigh a lot, but there are definitely times that low range is needed, and I’m wondering how the Outlander does with that limitation...
 

Enthusiast III

1,212
Grand Falls-Windsor, NL, Canada
First Name
Steve
Last Name
Adams
I think the outlander, Just like my patriot has no issues where low range is needed. put it in first gear, using the sport shift and crawl away. They will not be rock crawling, so anything else, I have gone over in my patriot. Again, I am guessing the little outlander is the same, As well as other small SUVs. I have owned an expedition and various other large rigs and their weight causes you to put the drive system into low range more often.
 

Pathfinder I

1,685
Bellingham
Well my outlander is only FWD so not a clue [emoji12] I air down when needed and am smart about where we go. Tires help a TON as we all know. This car continues to show us that you do not need a massive rig to get off the pavement. We have been to places in the car that would make you think it’s a 4x4 with lockers. We’re planning on new tires soon too. In the next few years we plan on converting it to a 4wd and doing an Evo motor swap. It is killer on steep grades for how light it is but does have its limits of course. There’s some pretty gnarly service roads up here in northern Washington and so far we have yet to make a U-turn. Our car has paddle shifters and a “manual” mode if you will that we utilize off-road sometimes as well either when descending steep grades or more needed torque.
 
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James Deaton

Rank V

Pathfinder I

Two questions:

What offset do those American Racing wheels have?

Would the 235/15 tires have required fender cutting if you had installed the lift first? (Basically: with the lift, would those tires have cleared the uncut fenders)

James
 

Pathfinder I

1,685
Bellingham
Two questions:

What offset do those American Racing wheels have?

Would the 235/15 tires have required fender cutting if you had installed the lift first? (Basically: with the lift, would those tires have cleared the uncut fenders)

James
Hey James, here is a link to AR’s website. I have the 15x7’s with a 4” BS.

https://www.americanracing.com/wheel/8848/ar767

As for the tires, no the fender flares were not required nor was the lift for the tires. I did have some rubbing on the inner part of the wheel wells though and on the unibody frame. I had 1” wheels spacer but removed those as it gave me WAY to much tire poke and extensive rubbing with this wheel/tire setup.
 

Pathfinder I

1,685
Bellingham
So... to clarify:

235/15 tires can fit (without spacers) with NO cutting, but may rub the frame and/or fenderwells?

James
Yes. I wanted more side-wall meat so went with a 75 side profile. You also should be more then fine with a 235/70-15. There’s a few other outlander sport owners who have run 235/70-16’s I believe. This is for outlander sports, I cannot speak for 235’s on your rig.
 

Pathfinder I

1,685
Bellingham
So I need to replace my pre cat o2 sensor and cannot for the life of me trace the wires to the connector. They dip in and disappear into the body somewhere and I can’t find where they come out of. I’m pretty good at electrical soldering and wondering if anyone has tips or tricks for this? I may cut the wires and solder a new o2 in, or just have a shop do it. Need to get this done before my upcoming emissions test [emoji58]