So, I've now received and fitted my Wheeliams spare wheel bracket on my 66 plate t6 lb 4motion. I've been asked for my thoughts after fitting it, glad to be able to give back to the forum, so here we go.
I didn't want to fanny about with dragging a hefty wheel and AT tyre from under the van after a previous blow out on the standard wheel and bracket, changing it on the side of a dual carriageway was not fun. So ordered the Wheeliams bracket, it cost £385 with postage and locking bolts.
It arrived after 14 days, so slightly slower than advertised 7-10 days, having travelled from UK to Germany back to the UK, not a huge issue, I emailed Wheeliams, he replied he was on holiday and would get back to me that night - never heard back from him ???
Then the fun starts, the bag of fittings was ripped, the packaging being another grey plastic bag taped to the main package). So I was a number of fittings short, which wasn't the end of the world, I thought, I ordered a full set of fittings as per the Wheeliams plans from the local supplier and here it all started to go wrong. The plans mention 12no. m8x20mm bolts, which are actually too short for the nyloc nuts to engage, I had just 3 in the packaging which were actually m8x25mm, so then ordered another full set of m8x25mm. I did receive 28 washers, needing only 15? and a 110mm bolt, not the 100mm as per plan which is too long and scagged the material on the bed, no flanged nyloc nut and I had to buy a box of 100 as they aren't typical stock. Type t nuts were mentioned, but I received type p' s instead which probably caused the issues with original nuts... So I think fittings which only cost a couple of quid in bulk, are thrown in willy willy as per stock levels, rather than to plan, causing delays in fitting and more cost.
I took the whole set to the powder coaters having test fitted it all, which went well. The powder coater who was a mate of a mate, laughed saying he spent nearly an hour redressing the main bracket, but they did an excellent job and it looks superb. He advised not to go for a Matt finish as it is a bugger for holding salt/polish residue etc, so I went satin black. Cost £80 and took 3 days.
Picked it up yesterday and fitted this evening, took about 1.5 hours with a step, a jack and some wedges under the door and some deft manoeuvring of the spanners to reach inside the hinges, but its on, it's solid and the wheel is now on.
So overall, positives, it's very solid, it fits superbly, it's OK value, it looks the part.
Negatives, biggest for me is no phone number to contact a human, the finish of the main bar is not good enough to paint or finish without a fair bit of work, then plans and component lists are vague, the fittings listed are not necessarily what you will get so plan on ordering a new full set.
I'd say a solid 7/10, clearly a good product well made and accurate, but let down by a lack of customer service and finishing/attention to detail.
I didn't want to fanny about with dragging a hefty wheel and AT tyre from under the van after a previous blow out on the standard wheel and bracket, changing it on the side of a dual carriageway was not fun. So ordered the Wheeliams bracket, it cost £385 with postage and locking bolts.
It arrived after 14 days, so slightly slower than advertised 7-10 days, having travelled from UK to Germany back to the UK, not a huge issue, I emailed Wheeliams, he replied he was on holiday and would get back to me that night - never heard back from him ???
Then the fun starts, the bag of fittings was ripped, the packaging being another grey plastic bag taped to the main package). So I was a number of fittings short, which wasn't the end of the world, I thought, I ordered a full set of fittings as per the Wheeliams plans from the local supplier and here it all started to go wrong. The plans mention 12no. m8x20mm bolts, which are actually too short for the nyloc nuts to engage, I had just 3 in the packaging which were actually m8x25mm, so then ordered another full set of m8x25mm. I did receive 28 washers, needing only 15? and a 110mm bolt, not the 100mm as per plan which is too long and scagged the material on the bed, no flanged nyloc nut and I had to buy a box of 100 as they aren't typical stock. Type t nuts were mentioned, but I received type p' s instead which probably caused the issues with original nuts... So I think fittings which only cost a couple of quid in bulk, are thrown in willy willy as per stock levels, rather than to plan, causing delays in fitting and more cost.
I took the whole set to the powder coaters having test fitted it all, which went well. The powder coater who was a mate of a mate, laughed saying he spent nearly an hour redressing the main bracket, but they did an excellent job and it looks superb. He advised not to go for a Matt finish as it is a bugger for holding salt/polish residue etc, so I went satin black. Cost £80 and took 3 days.
Picked it up yesterday and fitted this evening, took about 1.5 hours with a step, a jack and some wedges under the door and some deft manoeuvring of the spanners to reach inside the hinges, but its on, it's solid and the wheel is now on.
So overall, positives, it's very solid, it fits superbly, it's OK value, it looks the part.
Negatives, biggest for me is no phone number to contact a human, the finish of the main bar is not good enough to paint or finish without a fair bit of work, then plans and component lists are vague, the fittings listed are not necessarily what you will get so plan on ordering a new full set.
I'd say a solid 7/10, clearly a good product well made and accurate, but let down by a lack of customer service and finishing/attention to detail.
