Pajero Owners Club of South Africa

Exactly this time last year I replaced the suspension and brushes. After a trip to iMfolozi where the roads were admittedly potholed and the dirt roads corrugated, the garage says the bushes have cracked as well as the suspension- caused by impact. Another R12k to replace. Mainly the trucks done round the town driving.
Am I being naive about what the Pajero is capable of putting up with, or what the heck am I doing wrong?
Should I be mad, disappointed or accept that this is the cost of having what is otherwise a great car?

Unless someone is pulling a fast one. That doesn't seem right. Is this at Mitsubishi?

What did you replace with last time? Original Mitsu rubbers or something else? What was the mileage when you replaced the first set?

I am on 300000kms and the majority of bushes are still original parts.

CATS

Replaced the engine mountings on +- 300 000, but the rest were still in good nick.

My Mk1 late '88 lwb has covered around 140 000km, of which 100 000km has been off road camping in Namibia, Zambia, Bots, SA and at home in Zim.
The truck carries typically 500-600 kg including a RTT and additional underfloor fuel.

Regarding the suspension, in that time I've replaced all rear trailing arm bushes, and at 60 000 km fitted OME rear springs and shocks all round. This year I replaced all bushes on these shocks and on the torsion bars.

I'm now on my 4th set of tyres, so the going has often been tough. The rear axle developed a weld crack, and this has been ground out and welded.

Last year I replaced all 4 CV boots, and three years ago I fitted a new bearing in the axle housing tube, and that's the only replacement parts on the front end in 140 000km, and 26 years of life, greasing the wheel bearings at the same time.

Most of my spares have been genuine Mitsubishi from Mid Rand, and the work carried out by myself.

Obviously engine and such maintenance has also been carried out, including fitting a s/h manual gearbox earlier this year.

If Steve's Auto are being genuine, then I suspect the truck has done much higher km than declared.

Wayne, i can only echo the puzzled responses to your posting.
My '99 3.5 lwb has 410K rough roading & i've not had these suspension issues. I fact I'm impressed some of those roads have not ripped the entire suspension clean OFF!
As Andre Ashton suggests: be very specific.
You say "the garage says the bushes have cracked as well as the suspension": which bushes & which suspension? surely not ALL the bushes & the ENTIRE suspension?!
Looking fwd to your reply