[bjc]

Let me answer a few questions as best I can and then I will find some more pictures to post.

1. Weight. All 3/16" steel construction results in a heavy, but extremely strong product. I'm going to take the plates down after testing them and I will let everyone know the weight of both the front and back plates. I noticed absolutely no performance hit. I got 18 mpg on my trip out (70-85mph, no A/C ) and 18 mpg on my way back with new winch bumper and skids attached. In addition -- and this is probably just in my head -- on the way back, the engine seemed to struggle less in 5th gear at speeds between 75 and 90 when passing (is it downhiil from IN to DC? )


2. Heat. There is no doubt this is a concern of mine and I've asked f5fstop if he can get me some benchmarks. What I know so far is that if you start up your H3 on a cold morning and drive it a mile and then feel the tranny, or diffs, or exhaust they are hot - damn hot. After I got home from driving 10 hours I spent a few minutes underneath my truck and came to the same subjective conclusion - hot (damn hot). Nothing, of course, was glowing red, and no overt signs of overheating (such as burning smells, etc.). I take some comfort in the fact that I've got a manual transmission and that all the heat from the catalytic converter and much of the exhaust is not enclosed. I will probably have my fluid flushed and checked in about 2-3k miles to get some objective feedback. A tranny temp guage isn't a bad idea but I've never seen one on a manual, and without benchmarks the data isn't terribly helpful. It's clear at this point that the heat issue isn't acute and the real issue is whether temps are being raised moderately to a degree that would breakdown fluid at an accelerated rate over the long run. I think that's probably the case for anyone that does heavy wheeling and can be taken care of with more frequent fluid changes.

3. Mud. Like the heat issue, I can only speculate at this point. One school of thought is that large amounts of mud will get trapped and create more severe heat issues. Another possibility is that the plates will do a better job of keeping mud out and away from the components that really matter. I think it really depends on the terrain. I will report back -- the idea is that it's always easier to drill more holes later if it's a problem.