leeds wrote:

First I suppose a couple of statements of interest.

1) I have used WVA/Safari Equip gear for a number of years on my own Land Rovers

2) I am a reseller of WVA/Safari equip gear. Their factory is about 2 miles away from where I live but apart from reselling some of their gear I have no other connections with the owners of WVA/Safari Equip.

Have used Safari Equip gear for a number of years including the swing away wheel carrier. The one on our red 110 is about 7 to 8 years old and carries a 255/85/R16 BFG MT on a steel modular. The red 110 has not had an easy life and has done tens of thousands of miles off tarmac. Have not experienced any problems with it and have had it modified to provide a mount for a HF aerial.

As a private individual they have made one offs for me so as a private Land Rover owner I am very happy with the service and quality of gear I have had from WVA. As a private individual have their diff guards, R+T sliders,wheel carriers etc

2) As a reseller of some of their gear I was in their offices about a week prior to Christmas. On a desk was what appeared to be the top bar of a swing away wheel carrier. I asked Jullian a partner in WVA about it. Yes they had experienced problems with some of their swing away wheel carriers. They normally sourced steel from a company which gets steel from UK/Europe. They had problems getting supplies of certain steel tube sizes from their normal supplier. An alternative supplier who got steel from India coud supply required tube and at a slightly cheaper price then normal supplier. Apparently all the failures in their swing away wheel comes from this batch of tube.

They are not the first company to have experienced problems with their goods after a change n supplier.

I will quite happily point out the pros and cons of any gear we sell WVA/Safari equip is no different.

Good points?

In general there stuff is well made and reasonably priced for the quality. i.e. their swing away wheel carriers varies between ca. £160-210. On ebay different makes varies between £130-280 (ignoring the alisport one at £600) The top mount is a long mount rather then the much shorter mount used by some other manufacturers.

Their protection gear is hot dipped galvanised then powder coated rather then the cheaper electro plated or just painted.

They are prepared to do one off specials. They do their best to resolve problems

Some bad points.
Their website! Lack of fitting instructions (they normally sell to garages etc and they assume that the fitters know what they are doing. I personally think they should at least put instructions on their website. Hot dip galv, they don't always check that tapped holes have not been clogged. Sometimes the fitting kits are a bit of a hit and miss affair.


Yes I can understand Vixen being annoyed and personally I do not blame her!

Yes as a reseller there has been a couple of minor issues which I have been able to resolve quickly. Probably helps that I am so close to their factory. Yes they have room for improvements

Hopefully that will help to clarify what has happened

Hope I have not overstep any forum boundaries


Brendan

Brendan....that was a carrier from Scorpion. I have no idea who made them for resale by Scorpion. I saw another similar one, which turned out to be made by WVA I think and made the comment that it might break also.....guess what? Owner checked his carrier and it was cracked in the exact same place

It is a simple thing to add more bracing, should have been designed with extra bracing. I just wonder how many others have broken.....surely the manufacturer would know of this fault? Pretty bad for the money we end up paying for this sort if stuff. No wonder so many people make their own. Unfortunately I don't have the skills to do that

leeds wrote:

Lets just be careful here please.

I have used the WVA swing away wheel carrier for many years, without problems so I personally have faith in the product and the design.

They admit they had a problem with a batch when they had to change tube suppliers.

Various items have failed on my Land Rover due to fatigue fractures/driver error/old age etc.

Vixen says the one which failed on her vehicle was from Scorpion. That raises the question is that one a WVA wheel carrier and is it one from the batch made with Indian tubing? That I can not answer.

However Scorpion had a reputation of suppling good gear from a reputable manufacturer, then taking the design elsewhere and having them made cheaper. Two examples spring to mind. Is that the case in Vixens spare wheel carrier? I do not know.

It is possible to over engineer items, put too much weight on a vehicle and cause other problems.

Like RLD I have seen equipment for sale that IMO should go straight in the scrap bin. It is however much easier for someone doing very small batch runs to maintain quality then a small engineering factory when they can have supply difficulties etc.

I have had a product part fail from another small UK engineering firm. Spoke to them and got a replacement outside standard warranty period no problem. Yes things do go wrong, but it is how the problem is dealt with that is important.

He who has never made a mistake has probably never made anything. (Probably horribly misquoted)


Brendan

mse wrote:

Dont have anything to do with WVA do we...

Quote:

First I suppose a couple of statements of interest.

1) I have used WVA/Safari Equip gear for a number of years on my own Land Rovers

2) I am a reseller of WVA/Safari equip gear. Their factory is about 2 miles away from where I live but apart from reselling some of their gear I have no other connections with the owners of WVA/Safari Equip.

leeds wrote:

mse wrote:

Dont have anything to do with WVA do we...

As stated in my earlier post

Quote:

First I suppose a couple of statements of interest.

1) I have used WVA/Safari Equip gear for a number of years on my own Land Rovers

2) I am a reseller of WVA/Safari equip gear. Their factory is about 2 miles away from where I live but apart from reselling some of their gear I have no other connections with the owners of WVA/Safari Equip.

I am not related to the owners of WVA, I do not drink in the same pub as them or socialise with them apart from when I visit their factory or chat to them at a show.

If you read my earlier post I also criticised them on various aspects

I hope that is clear enough.

Brendan

I got it...i was being sarcastic - it came across just fine that there was a vested interest  Mike

leeds wrote:

Vixen says the one which failed on her vehicle was from Scorpion. That raises the question is that one a WVA wheel carrier and is it one from the batch made with Indian tubing? That I can not answer.

However Scorpion had a reputation of suppling good gear from a reputable manufacturer, then taking the design elsewhere and having them made cheaper. Two examples spring to mind. Is that the case in Vixens spare wheel carrier? I do not know.

Brendan

Not just 1 Brendan....but 2 Both the original AND the replacement broke in exactly the same place!! And as I stated, the other one I know of was a WMV one and it also broke in the exact same place, which sort of makes me think it is more a design fault.