Hi Trouto,
We have a Stone Stomper and could not be more happy, they did a great job, fit perfectly the car & van and protect them both from stone, mud etc. could not recommend them enough.
just interrested as i have just purchased a new van and there isnt a mark on the
front as yet
or is it all a wast of time
thanks inadvance
Trouto
Stone stomper brilliant if all you want to do is keep your pretty van pretty,but absolutely useless if you want to stop rocks from going under your van,and smashing taps,pipes,water tanks and other fittings under there.If you intend going bush,home made (much cheaper) Rock Tamers plus full-width mud flaps on the front of the van work well. Good luck with your project.Cheers.
They are not a waste of time! Even with a guard fitted, I destroyed the end cap of the water tank (100mm seer pipe) on my camper trailer years ago (got two buckets of rocks up to 65mm out of it in Adelaide). Fitted a new cap & reinforced the guard - the rest of the trailer was unscathed. That was from a not so good road via "Old Cork Station" in the Diamantina NP.
I'm on Mk 4 stone-guard at the moment. Home-made Stone-Stomper didn't like my hot exhaust (with gas injection) - current one is "similar" but not adjustable to the Rock Tamer. Is bolted on to the car, U-bolted to towing hitch. No stone damage yet to the van but have replaced a couple of the mud flaps (ex SuperCheap) due to stone damage. Cost to build was 4 heavy duty mudlaps, a piece of 25mm square tubing, some angle iron & a former springs U-bolt from my "junk" box.
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Warren
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If you don't get it done today, there's always tomorrow!
Hello again Daryl,
If you do decide to make your own (mine are similar to Plain Truth's except the quick ability in removing them) - don't feel you have to fill in the whole width of the car with rubber (you do see them occasionally) - that reduces the ability to cool the diff in hot weather.
The previous police senior constable at Birdsville suggested to a friend that the flaps should not be solid - slotted reduces the speed of the stones better.
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Warren
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If you don't get it done today, there's always tomorrow!
There is a bit of theory going around that the Stone Stompers may lead to more damage under the van as they effectively force the stones under the van.
Im unsure as to which works best, Rock Tamers or Stone Stompers, but the one thing that is certain if you are going to do some of the tougher tracks out there, you need something. We have recently done the Birdsville Track and saw some of the carnage first hand, smashed rear windows were common and minor front damage to unprotected vans etc.
G'd morning Daryl,
The damage to the car is caused by stones being thrown by the car & rebounding off the van (gas bottles, etc) & smashing the tow's rear windows - which are expensive. I believe the rear window on a 100 series TLC is somewhere around $800 while the small one on a Patrol is $1100!!! Any stone guard is better than that!
The guard I had on my camper (tent) trailer - I made with square steel tubing, shade cloth & two mud flaps. As the shade cloth was not as tight as the bought ones, it collected a lot of the stones without throwing them back & the cable ties that I used to attach it with kept getting cut from the stones - wire was the best! I hinged that guard so that I could access my spare tyre, etc. With the commercial ones, you'll see that they are placed on an angle to deflect the stones down. But if you go that way ensure you can access everything you need to. A friend had access problems to the boot of his Jayco Eagle.
I would suggest that the best type is the one that attaches to the car. You didn't say what sort of car you have but Plain Truth's (Pajero) guard & mine (Patrol) are similar, a friend has a home-made one on a 100 series TLC & another friend has one on his MUX. With a bit of thought & mucking around, one can design something that will fit. With the depth of the flaps, allow for any drop of the car's suspension when the van is fitted otherwise you'll be sweeping the road!
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Warren
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If you don't get it done today, there's always tomorrow!
This topic seems to come up a couple of times a years!
For my part I have made and tried all types of mudflaps and stone guards. I have seem many others on our travels. From my experience there is only one which actually works without detriment to tug or van/trailer and for that matter other vehicle passing and thats the Stone Stomper.
