Missed Berridale to pick up the Goatsack from M&M this Saturday - the result ?
'KIN AWESOME !
Very impressed with the fit and quality of both Tube Fenders and Hi-Steer.
The Tube Fenders were made up of 4 tubes with niiiiice contours - no boxy looking edges here ! Matt and Paul at M&M really improved on the design from a few pics I supplied of the Poison Spyder tube flares. As nice as the PS ones are they were'nt gonna cut it for Aussie road laws or comp regs for that matter.
The result is 1.6mm sheet steel for the top and 3mm for the underguard plate. These things are
BEEF ! I gave the sack it's annual wash tonight and STOOD on em to get in the engine bay - no flex or movement.
The width covers the MTRs but *may* need a small rubber extention to cover Claws or Swampers - will wait to see. This was by design so there's some give when "interfacing" with obstacles. Blinker duties were sorted before I left to have it done with Supercheap Auto ADR-approved blinkers installed below each headlight at the front and below each Jeep logo for the cowl sides.
The Hi-Steer is pretty much as close to perfect as you'd get for geomtery. The panhard, drag link and tierod are all parallel. I drove it home, 3 hours on the Hume, with no steering stabiliser and found no bump steer, wandering or other ill-effects. Gonads is sending an aftermarket stabiliser for me to put on just in case but as far as I'm concerned it's really not essential. They also made a HD front adjustable panhard rod which allowed the front track to be tuned to perfection.
http://www.aussiejeepimages.com/gallery ... CN0409.JPG
I really dig the nice little touches like stainless hardware and button allen-headed bolts too !
Only fine tuning to come is a few turns of the drag link ends to centre the steering wheel (not that it's off by much). And an extra nut for one of the steering stops to ensure correct lock to lock travel. More of a precaution as on-road steering was fine. Might get some colour-match paint too to match the sides of the fenders to the body and leave the rest hammertone silver.
Gonads is working out prices and duration for both kist now now and I'll post em up when they're available.
I will say one thing re price : 5, count em
5 tie rod ends each twice the size of a stock TJ ones = $158 From memory Jeep ones are about $90 ea -
cooooool
Hope this stuff helps anyone considering upgrading their TJ/XJ steering and/or Fenders.
Check out the full story in an upcoming
JAA mag
