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Hi Sheldon,
welcome back! Thought I was on the wrong page of the thread when I saw 'the_grubb' :)
"...I should of be charging at least $5K for each hand built complete adapter...". I suspected you might have been doing 'mates rates' on your gear, when I compare what Outcast Offroad have to charge to stay commercially viable on such small volumes.
Just received my Outcast adaptor kit this week. Still need to figure what I'm going to do gear lever system wise.
Sheldon I've just attempted to PM you. Message says your inbox is full and I can't send you a message.
email me if you like - mike@mikeirving.com.au
Otherwise call me and I'll give you bank details over the phone. 0410 638 886
The transfer was made to your account on February 11, 2014 for $2,000.
Thank you for following up on this.
Sheldon when I PM you I get a message telling me your inbox is full and you can't receive any further messages until you create some space.
I'm not going to post bank details in a post, so empty some messages out so I can send this to you...
I've already posted and when I did I didn't reply to your post, so I'm hoping this helps you see this...
A phone call would be nice in order to handle this quickly mate.
Mike 0410 638 886
Quote:
Originally Posted by the_grubb
Like a good father would??? Thems fighting words.....Quote:
Originally Posted by the_grubb
Grubb,
I had a company car while i was building the Landy, for as long as i needed.
I was doing my best to get a reliable, do everything vehicle so my son can see Australia, like a good father would. I was without a car at the second failure after i'd give the work car back, after a few decent kays.
Money wasn't a problem, but i had a budget to work within (so i could buy my first house, like a good father would!) Your website price was what i budgeted from. Your verbal price on was different, i questioned it once, you agreed. Whats the problem exactly?
Sorry you missed your family over Christmas. I was asking about if and when the adaptor would arrive to fit around when i'd get holidays. If it sounded like i was pressuring you, that wasn't my intent.
Until your last post, I had no idea mine was the third adaptor. If i knew that i would defiantly have got an lt95.
You had a website and were make adaptors in 'batches'. Was there any reason for me not to expect a business to consumer relationship.
I would have taken this off public forum other than you have no space for PM....ohh and you called me a bad father...:p I don't claim to be the best father in the world I'll be damned if you call me a bad one.
Grubb, Sheldon,
Im sorry this didn't go down well, no hard feelings, honestly.
Have a good life...:)
Just a cut and paste from my own build...
On the subject of Outcast, said they have not had any other interest in their adaptor kits, and appreciate price is an issue for such small runs, so unless there is a sudden spike of interest they will not be making any more casings, very time consuming to make. The shafts will still be available, being relatively straight forward.
I have not seen a price anywhere? Or a report of one installed?Quote:
Originally Posted by workingonit
Isuzurover, the kit is expensive, at $3k, but in the face of nothing else ready made or making one myself I opted to jump at it.
At about page three I start to show photos. Long way off finishing the project.
http://www.aulro.com/afvb/isuzu-land...t-adaptor.html
What do you get for your $3k? Just want to compare
Hi Damien, replaced that broken window yet?
See response to Izusurover above for photos.
I'm not exactly sure what Sheldon provided in his kit, and would be best if someone with a kit chimed in...but I think you got:
- a fabricated casing, that is pieces of steel welded together vs one piece, milled from aluminium billet weighing 13kg finished
- fabricated spud shaft, that is pieces of steel welded together vs milled from one piece by an axle manufacturer and if I understand correctly then cryogenically treated for extra strength.
- transfer case levers in both cases
- Sheldon supplied a mechanical gearbox lever system vs nothing at this stage, but a cable system is being worked on for extra $$$.
- nuts, bolts, washers, seals in both cases.
It's hard to tell, but Sheldon may have been supplying with a very small margin or just at cost, and where there has been issues then at below cost. My impression the costs vary between $2-3k. But really, someone else with a kit should provide proper clarification.
And this is no reflection on Sheldon's work overall, but because of demand issues between supplier and customer, some cases have cracked around welds. That's not to say the Outcast units may not have long term issues, but you can only go on the basis that they are designed by someone who has lots of experience in the heavily modded vehicle area ie tough trucks, large horsepower, without apparent failure. I'm not a salesperson for Outcast but I feel under pressure for not trying to make the stuff myself and for paying too much. But then my project is moving. This is a project where you have to grab things as they become available and struggle to overcome the deficiencies in the plan. There aren't stacks of 4bd1s, msa5s and conversion kits sitting on shelves for the taking.
From what I can gather, Sheldon has made maybe 6-8 units (I could be wrong as no one is supplying firm numbers) and Outcast have made about the same. This is not a big demand item. If Land Rover were as reliable as Nissan and Toyota have been over the years then it would be Land Rover kits that would be super popular, well made and half the price to what I've paid aka Marks Adaptors for Nissan and Toyota.
Tha'ts why I'm gutting my RRC of just about every piece of Land Rover running gear - I like the aluminium skin, suspensioin and style, but that's about it (oh, and cost of $200 for the one I'm working on, and $100 for a complete spare vehicle, as a reflection of how people want to get rid of them) - going for best of British aftermarket ie Ashcroft teamed with quality robust Japanese engine and gearbox.
It seems to me that LRover have come up with many innovations over the years, but through penny pinching and engineering short cuts, ruin the final product. I think ancillary choices have been a big factor ie leaking injector pumps, leaking vacuum pumps, mischevous ABS systems, dry solder joints, poorly designed window winders and latches...etc. The latest crop of LRover vehicles may start to dispel the reliability history, given most new vehicles will be skating around on circuit boards - just a matter of who falls over the most to decide who is best :)
I think it helps to report the relevant post here:
For me the price is less of an issue than reliability. I don't want to bolt in an untried adaptor and find things don't line up or vibrate due to alignment or balance issues. Your pic shows the balance problem of having only one notch - which I believe you are addressing?Quote:
Originally Posted by workingonit
In short - I would be happy being a beta tester for a weekend offroader, but not a tourer.
Once you (or someone else) have yours up and running then I am likely to line up to buy one.
