Extended rear mudflaps/Rear window protection

Yep, I agree with you on this.
Bought a set for the Jackaroo, (large & small rear doors) cost was about $220 odd.

bleep tered the main rear window on a previous trip and the replacement cost would have been $1500+ if the Insurance Company didn't cover it.

I don't think you can have enough protection.

My camper trailer (not part of last trip) has a mesh stone barrier but I believe this is more to protect to camper.

I have also manufactured a full width rear mud flap but haven't worn it into battle yet. That is happening in a couple of weeks time.

In the meantime Obie's Rear Window Saver is certainly a worthwhile investment and just maybe, the only one you need.

Attaches with Velcro fasteners so you can remove it between off-road excursions, or when you are not towing anything.

Hi Sandman

I just leave mine on fulltime these days, and agree with you on the trailer mesh, it helps, but you still need the last line of defence.

Obie's for the Landrover was $130 some time back.

Good luck

I agree that the Obie gizmo (I don't have it fitted) would protect the windows......but what about the stone damage to the other parts of your back door/s? I have seen vehicles towing trailers over many klicks of gravel roads and the rear doors are a real mess from stone damage.

I don't really have a problem with mine in any case as the Ultimate's pointed nose cone deflects stones very well. However, as there are a lot of stones hitting the underside of the camper, I decided recently to fit a set of 3 large truck-sized mudflaps across the back. These are mounted to a piece of angle (1.8m long....as each mudflap is 600mm wide). I used 4 x 4" hinges to mount each flap; these are welded to the angle iron. The angle is then bolted to the 2 lugs that hang down from the rear of the chassis on the GU. The idea of the hinges is to allow the flaps to swing through 180 degrees (fore & aft), thus they can't get caught up or ripped off etc. Works for me.

Cheers

Roachie

Vince

LAst year in the pilbara i saw some one using bubblewrap. I suppose because you can see thorugh it.

And just to add to the deflector, use shade cloth that is attached to the frame with cable ties. And don't have the shade cloth taught, because you the cloth to absorb the impact of the rocks.

Leroy

Disagree,

Angled mesh deflector on its own does not work.
That is what I had on the off-road trailer I was towing along the Birdsville track when the rear window went.
Perhaps the stone bounced off the frame of the deflector.
The stone (about half the size of your little finger nail) was still embedded in the window, so it doesn't take much to bleep ter it.

I also don't subscribe to the old beer carton either, unless the weather is completely dry. As soon as it gets wet, you end up with a soggy mess that just falls to pieces, then you are back where you started.

The beer carton is good however to tape to the inside to support the bleep tered window glass and stop it from falling inside the vehicle. This and some pieces of strategically placed duct tape "held" mine together for the rest of the trip, plus a couple of weeks afterwards, until it could be replaced.

G'day Jackablue,

Thinking of doing much the same thing. Have the rear window protector and stone guard on the trailer. This follows discussion in a previous post.

Broke a rear window once and cost me $700, really don't want to experience that in a remote location so going to be triply sure.

How did you fix yours to the vehicle?, thinking of utilising the shackle holes to mount a bar.

Kind regards

Beatit Qld I got a section of steel sleeve the same as the towbar sleeve and welded the cross bar to it.
link text

Like the looks of that (I like KISS and that's about as KISS as it can get)! That's a fine weld as well. Hope you don't mind if I copy that?

Kind regards

Jackablue ,
I'm confused ! ( nothing new ) . If the sleeve goes into the tow bar to hold the cross bar for the mudflaps , how to you put the tow bar on ?
Thanks ,
Willie .

Willie,

This sleeve as pictured fits over the tow bar tube that generally has space between the hitch reciever and the towball plate welded to it.

If that doesn't make sense then I can draw you a pciture.

Regards,

Stuart M.

Also to really complete the package - try the Scratchpro paint on stuff on your rear door metal.

Hi Flappa,
The 100% solution is to use the same design rock deflector as Trak Shak make for their campers . The normal style rock deflector shade cloth extends out from the two metal arms and goes all the way to the back of the 4WD and is attached to it by elastic ropes so that when the car turns it does not tear it to the crapper .
It works perfectly .
I had a big "all the way across " type mud flap and as David O said , it swept up rocks from the crown between the two tyre tracks . I am not sure that Roachie's idea is all that good either as if the flaps are hinged , I think they might swing back in the air flow and let rocks come up .
Cheers ,
Willie .

G'day Willie,
Mate, I was concerned about how far the flaps would swing back too; and they do....the faster I'm going, the more they swing back. On the hwy @ 100klm, they're sitting about 45 degrees. On gravel, I'm usually travelling a bit slower. Certainly, if the track is so bad that it has a definite raised hump in the middle, I'm unlikely to be going over say 60klicks. I guess what I'm trying to say is that it's all relative.
When I am going quickish on gravel roads, any rocks I spit back are likely to either hit the flaps and be deflected downwards, or if they are on a low enough trajectory to go underneath the flaps, it is likely they will go straight under the camper anyway.
I have thought of putting a piece of steel along the bottom edge so the additional weight will assist keep them hanging down closer to the ground, but haven't bothered with this yet.
Cheers
Roachie

Yep, that's a good set-up too. Some of the blokes in our 4x4 club have a similar set-up, but go one step further. They have mounted removable steel posts about 6" high at the outer ends of their rear bumper bar. They attach the shade cloth to these using pulleys (about 40mm diamter) and the stretchy cord goes in one piece from one front corner of the trailer, to the pulley on the bumper, across the top of the tow bar to the pulley on the other corner of the bumper and then back to the other corner of the camper. The pulleys allow the whole thing to equalise when going around corners and works well for them.
Cheers
Roachie

Nope, disagree again boys.

I had one of those in my arsenal as well.
The problem was, when I left Mungerannie, the first 50 kilometers of track was MUD and the trampoline, had I had it mounted, would have sagged down to ground level and been ripped off, or worn away.

Any, or all of these devices have there uses in given situations but few of them work in all.

Yes, the vehicles paintwork can be peppered with little stone chips, but this wont stop, or spoil your holiday.

But let me assure you, when you have a bleep tered window (even if its still sort of intact) and its raining and you come across a decent section of corrugated road, you quickly assess the situation and ask yourself, "do I really want to go there?"

I still think a window protector is singularly, the best insurance against a potentially spoiled holiday. Anything else is cosmetic insurance.

Hmm..that reminds me. I still haven't reached Coongie Lakes.
Must go up to Innamincka again:-)))

I've also drilled holes in the end of my bar attachment to accomodate this also.

Indeed Sandy - you can't go to Innamincka too often and Coongie is great - mind you, it can be damned freezing up there if the wind comes off the lake, and you can't have a fire !!