Well, I ended up getting the Manik 1-piece brush guard installed today (along with the matching rear guards), and it's pretty nice. The only issue is, it seems a little lopsided on my truck - one side is a little lower (maybe 1/4") than the other at the outside edge, and that same side is about 1/4" further away from the body on the side. It's not noticeable from a distance, but it is when you're looking right at it, at least to me.

Since it was installed at the place that sold it to me, my question to anyone who's installed one is, do the mounts have room for adjustment up/down and/or left/right, meaning it was just installed a little off center, or is my unit not quite symmetrical? If they can be adjusted, how much torque is used on the bolts? (I'll just adjust it myself.) Thanks much...

-- Jim

 

There is a little bit of room for adjustment on them vertically, but almost none horizontally.... mine varies about 1/8 or 3/16 of an inch from side to side... Both of them were mis-matched the same way, so it's possible that the bumper is what's mis-aligned, not the guard. It sounds like the guards themselves just aren't perfect to start with... If you really wanted to, I'd tie a strap around the corner that's too close and attach the other end to a spare car, tree, or other solid object and gently "tweak" it into alignment.... I think I'm just going to settle for the way it is for now.

The thing that was WAY off on mine is the dumb sticker... it's about 4" off center.... I'm going to peel it off alltogether as soon as I can get it warm enough to soften the adhesive and remove the residue.... spring time, probably.

-Joe-


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98 Explorer (Lemon Law Case in Progress)

'00 F-150, X-cab, 4x4, Lariat, Off-road, Trailer Tow, Holandia Sunroof, built 11/99 picked up 10/00!Clear Corners, Manik Stainless Steel 1-piece brush guard, Custom CB wiring, Uniden PC76-XLW CB radio with K-40 Magna-Mount antenna (for now), 1 set of 165 watt KC Daylighters (for now... more on the way) Custom switch mounting plate and overhead console, Bully Stainless Steel Trailer hitch drawbarw/ 2" stainless steel ball.
List of planned mods: Clear tails, torsion bar tweak, bug deflector, spray in liner, and a tonneau of some sort...

93 Probe GT teal, OE rims painted to match, bone stock drivetrain.

 

Thanks much! I'll see how much I can adjust it and then live with it - don't want to weaken it or crack the paint by bending it. (I can see the guy who mounted it already scraped off a little of the paint & plastic on & near the mounts while putting it on, and I don't want it to rust while I'm still in the Northeast in the snow & salt! A pretty imperfect mounting job... next time I'll do it myself or take it to pros...)

When you say yours were mismatched the same way, do you mean you had the same problem on guards for both the Explorer and the F-150?

-- Jim

 

No, sorry, I wasn't clear... I'm actually on my second Manik... the first one had a dent in the middle tube that had to have been from the factory... there was no gouge... it looked like they had polished a dented piece of metal. There was a second smaller one near the upright that I would have ignored, but between the two of them, I felt I deserved a new one in perfect condition. For $650 I want the quality they claim to have! So I actually put mine on twice. Both of them were a little bit tighter on the right side between the column piece and the top of the bumper, and therefore the right side sits a ted lower than the left. Maybe when the weather warms up I'll try to tweak it a bit, but it's OK for now.

-Joe-

 

Thanks for the info Joe, I'll see if it can be adjusted, otherwise I'll leave it and assume they just aren't made very precisely... kind of surprising for such an expensive piece (one which is allegedly of such higher quality than competitors... makes you wonder...)

-- Jim