Yipes, Lot's of questions.

To BorderPhreak -- 1. The vertical tire mount with angled support piece is so beefy, that even if a vehicle was high enough to hit the tire and rear-ended me, I honestly don't think the tire would end up in my hatch. 2. The diamond plate does a good job of cleaning that area up. 3. I plan to Durabak the whole thing (including plastic corners). If you're familiar with this stuff, it's like steel when it's dry. No wear concerns or need for plastic there.

To Lil_pino: I told Kyle at KMA about this forum (I think he already knew about it from Kirk)and the attention his bumpers were getting. I told him to keep those welding torches fired up because lots of Xterra business is headed his way. He's already got the bumper blueprinted. I think the only issue was the mounting of the tire carrier itself. The bumper went on perfectly.

To gothamist: "Full production" is sort of a misnomer. They're a real small outfit. There was only one guy working yesterday. But, it didn't take long at all. I think they'll be able to fill the orders in a reasonable amount of time.

To Meeklo: 1. No, I would forget about the Jerry Can all together, unless you don't mind having the tire mounted further away from the truck. 2. No, the hi-lift doesn't block the hitch receiver, just the angle of the photo. Yes, it's a 32". No, it doesn't touch anything (jack included). I only plan to carry the jack offroad. The stock jack will be fine for common on-road flats.

To all: Here's the price breakdown: $350 for the bumper w/tire carrier. $65 for the hitch receiver, And something like $25 for the can mount, $25 for the jack mount and $10 or $15 for the antenna mount. Ended up costing me $470, but I had to pay sales tax because I purchased locally (they didn't charge for the install though -- I helped out). The best bargain would probably be the standard $350 bumper/tire carrier minus the add ons.

By the way, the folks at Kennesaw Mountain Accesories were very helpful/friendly to me. They seemed to want to do whatever it took to make me happy with the bumper.



[This message has been edited by Mustard Custard (edited January 16, 2001).]