The $ 30.88 Snorkel !

[justbecause]

No it isn't going to kill your family but something as vital as an air inlet to your engine is something to think about.

If the plastic cracks, warps or just doesn't line up right and causes a vacuum leak you could kill your 6k engine very fast if you do water crossings.


Now if you want a snorkle just for show then i'd say jump on in and don't look back.

well im just the man yall need! my engine isnt worth 1/2 that! a freshly rebuilt 1980 2f! someone can buy me a kit, ill check it out and report back to you!

i see your point though... and i will agree with you but... i do kinda want one just for looks b/c A) the stock intake on my 40 is in a "pretty good" place... and B) thinks snorkels are sexy "it shows a guy is willing to go down to get a job done" C) like was said earlier water crossing isnt my big concern im more worried about dirt and dust. i have other things to worry about when it comes to water, axles breathers, wires, tranny and t-case a snorkel dosnt make the car amphibious its only the first step to making a vehicle more water resistant.

to counter though... i wouldnt instal it and then immediately take it out and test it. I would clock several hours with it, test it out (put a plastic bag over the breather neck and if it kills the engine you know you have a good tight seal) and id watch for crack and if one showed up id decided if it was fixable of completely FUBAR... who knows maybe its not worth S&H or maybe a 30$ snorkel + 50$ worth of seam sealer and you have a kick ass system with $ left to allocate to other projects.

again though... if i can get my name in on this and get shipping and handling reasonable ill try it out! ill be the geni pig

I'm just not going to go in water that deep. Around here we just don't have stuff like that and if you do see someone doing that it's most likely off the trail and illegal.

I see that pic and I think.

My extended axle breathers are under water thus water getting in everything it shouldn't
My cb and radio are shot.
My guages are filled with water and shot
My ECU is underwater and thus completely worthless
My winch is full of water
My starter is full of water
my alternator is full of water
my clutch and throwout bearing have water in them
My fan now has more resistance and is probably bending into and eating my radiator
My heater blower is probably toast
There is water in every light I own
All my gear is full of water


And to top it all off my ass is wet.



And assuming you have a snorkle you still have to make sure you make it to the other side. It's not going to help if you get stuck.


What most people don't realize that 4-5 ft of water is a lot of pressure unless your seals are perfect water is going to come in somewhere.

Just my opinion.

from this thread

 

[MountainBum]

All the Chinese company products I looked at at the SEMA show just felt cheaper.

And they ARE cheaper. That's the whole point of every Chinese product on the market. A cheaper alternative. They have never claimed to make the best stuff or even better stuff, just a cheaper alternative. Everyone bashing this stuff is a total hipocrite. Look around your house for all the "cheaper alternative" stuff you've got and then come back and talk. If we all could afford the best stuff, we wouldn't need ANY alternatives. There would be ONE company making it WAY better and we would all buy that ONE. No choices either. No thanks. If $400 is in your buget for the "best" snorkel, good for you. But I like having options.

Count me in. I'm in New Mexico where water crossings are few and far between and I'll admit I'm a poser that wants it mostly for the looks and maybe a little better desert dust deflection!

 

[sandcruiser]

just to get into the fray: I prefer to support companies that innovate. I prefer to support companies with clean environmental records. I like the idea of a top-notch product vs. an inferior one.

It does cost money to R&D. Better materials are more expensive.

If this company can make a snorkel package and sell it, at a profit, for $30 then I think it is safe to assume that even with high-end materials and a higher-cost labor that ARB should be able to produce their snorkel at $100. If ARB does that, and sells it to a dealer, who keystones it to get $200... then where is the extra $200 coming into play? Call $100 of it shipping. Okay. So there is still $100 difference. That's not trivial.

I love ARB products and would rather save my pennies than buy this knockoff. But the existence of the knockoff might mean that ARB should trim its margin a little. Would *anyone* buy the crappy snork for $100 (with shipping) vs. paying $200 for an ARB? I sure wouldn't. So if ARB wants to kill the competition, they can.

Finally: the R&D thing doesn't really hold water. ARB has been selling snorkels with (presumably) the same resin for twenty years. They have recovered the chemist costs or they are doing something very wrong. They do have to design new snorks when new body shapes come out, but that really just means "get ahold of a car to test it on" for which I'm pretty sure that they can find a volunteer who will accept a free snorkel in trade for the few hours that ARB needs to use the test vehicle.

 

[lt1fire]

Everyone bashing this stuff is a total hipocrite. Look around your house for all the "cheaper alternative" stuff you've got and then come back and talk. QUOTE]

Not comparing the same stuff here.
Point one: on my rig I want the quality stuff that I know isn't going to break and have down time fixing it again or leave me stuck somewhere.

Point two: if my made in China silverware or plates break (actually my plates aren't from China) I don't have down time because I have more and if I needed another the only down time I have is driving 1 mile and picking up some more cheap crap. Can't do that with the cruiser.


Nobody in this thread is saying they don't buy Chinese made stuff, or not to buy Chinese made stuff period, what lots of us are saying is that if it is important to you buy a quality product at least from a company with a good repuation even if it is made in China.


Now in your situation If you don't need it for what it was intended to be used for then the one advertised is the right one to get. My snorkle might cost more but I have that piece of mind thing that comes with it if I ever need to use it like that.

 

[landtank]

How many people here who have expressed their opinions actually have done water crossings where the water was over their hoods?

here is a video of last years stock run http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4ZIsBJ7bBY

 

[lt1fire]

How many people here who have expressed their opinions actually have done water crossings where the water was over their hoods?

I have at OBX in my cruiser and in a buddies JK a few times.

 

[NLXTACY]

I've had water over the hood once and still don't plan on getting a snorkel, ARB or knock-off.

EDIT: BTW I work for a manufacture of film camera accessories and 3D equipment. In one of our product lines we spent $1.8M on a product that took 2 years and sells for $67k. We are just now starting to see our stuff getting replicated by the Chinese and it is soooooo damn frustrating. They are selling one of our products for less than we pay for the aluminum to make it. And now we are starting to get RMAs for defective merchandise. Only to find out its a stupid Chinese knock-off. It looks actually pretty good but we can tell right away its junk.

 

[landtank]

I've had water over the hood once and still don't plan on getting a snorkel, ARB or knock-off.

really, my biggest fear is finding something along the way where forward motion stops and the engine compartment floods.

In the attached video above we know that the bottom is packed gravel so that possibility is minimal. It still makes for a great first time crossing though.

 

[NLXTACY]

Hey Rick, not saying I wouldn't want one but there are no rivers for me to cross. I really had to go well out of my way to find that one and it was stupid of me to even try it and I will refrain from mentioning why in order to fend off being yelled at. Needless to say I'm in SoCal and do most of my travels in the SouthWest. So for me its more an issue to controlling dust as it is water.

really, my biggest fear is finding something along the way where forward motion stops and the engine compartment floods.

In the attached video above we know that the bottom is packed gravel so that possibility is minimal. It still makes for a great first time crossing though.

 

[landtank]

Hey Rick, not saying I wouldn't want one but there are no rivers for me to cross. I really had to go well out of my way to find that one and it was stupid of me to even try it and I will refrain from mentioning why in order to fend off being yelled at. Needless to say I'm in SoCal and do most of my travels in the SouthWest. So for me its more an issue to controlling dust as it is water.

Actually my worst event was a mud hole. I was in unfamiliar territory and as I entered it all I could hear in my head was " DIVE DIVE DIVE".

Good lord that thing was deep.

 

[rlzel]

snorkel

i have bought one of those snorkels from this company, you better save your money for some thing else...
i also thout that it's just "plastic tubing" ,it's not !!!
what they sell is crap, the plastic is very low quality,it's painted black insted of using black plastic,they glue the 2 parts of the tube very pure (i allready got it broken) .
don't touch it.
Harel

 

[e9999]

i have bought one of those snorkels from this company, you better save your money for some thing else...
i also thout that it's just "plastic tubing" ,it's not !!!
what they sell is crap, the plastic is very low quality,it's painted black insted of using black plastic,they glue the 2 parts of the tube very pure (i allready got it broken) .
don't touch it.
Harel

ok, now we're talking. Real and useful feedback rather than conjecture. If the function is really not there, the low cost becomes a moot point.

 

[firetruck41]

ANybody see the video on their website? They drive over the snorkel with a Jeep Cherokee, then they drive backwards over it and walk up to it and it is still intact. It appears to be pretty strong, at least when new.

 

[landtank]

ANybody see the video on their website? They drive over the snorkel with a Jeep Cherokee, then they drive backwards over it and walk up to it and it is still intact. It appears to be pretty strong, at least when new.

I followed the link that Christo posted to the Chinese 4x4 site and the snorkel for the 80 actually says "Safari" on it. LOL

EDIT: look closely at the video of the truck driving over the snorkel. Maybe it's me but there looks to be an oval shadow about the size and location of the Safari logo on that piece.

 

[NLXTACY]

They probably used an actually Safari snorkel for the video because theirs sucked ass

 

[Marc311]

To me the issue isn't one of supporting vendors. Competition is generally good. If some Chinese company wants to design a snorkel and can build it at a savings, more power to them!

BUT . . .

That is totally different than blatantly stealing another company's product:
ARB

Knockoff:

To me, no matter what price, I wouldn't buy that on principal alone. Clearly, the company just bought an ARB snorkel, made molds from it, and called it their own. I find that just plain wrong and wouldn't buy one even it was higher quality and given away for free. China does nothing to prevent this from happening either - if anything, they encourage it. And our government and others don't do much to stop it either because they want to continue to do business with China.

We're not talking about Hyundai using a Camry as a benchmark for their own product (Or Toyota using an F150 as a benchmark). This is the theft of somebody's hard work. Is $400 for an ARB snorkel a ripoff? I certainly think so and wouldn't buy one. But I won't buy from somebody who steals that idea either.

That being said, I'm not going to give the OP grief if he wants to buy one. It's his money. But to me the underlying issue is much bigger than "supporting vendors." It's a matter of voting with my $$$ that I won't tolerate that kind of business.

 

[spartan]

Back on the real life functionality issue of installing a snorkel. I've thought about the snorkel thing many times in the past.

No way I'd screw up perfectly good sheet metal and a good air intake system to drive around on asphalt the major MAJORITY of the time. The cool factor is really not all that cool except for the high school kids.

If you want to put your truck under water just for the fun of it then get yourself a snorkel. Same if you need to cross rivers because you have to. Different story.

I've done many water crossings over the last 50 years since I started four wheeling. There are streams and rivers everywhere around here. I ALWAYS picked the least difficult and shallowest place to cross and never went into any standing water without knowing how deep it was. My father taught me that wheeling in a Willy's and later on IH Scout's. I never needed a snorkel to get anywhere I actually needed to go.

I put the hood of a vehicle under water exactly one time in a built up FJ60 driving across an open field through 18" of fresh snow - loud CRACK and the front end was under water. The rear end went through and the mud started flying. Fortunately I had a set of new " mudders " on - they didn't even have radial mud tires back then - and after about five tries broke through the ice and got back on dry land. The pucker factor was high.

Lesson learned - thought I would pass it along here.

 

[spartan]

Oh yeah - I just got some MB E320 parts in today. They were made in Taiwan and they were cheap. They work fine though for a strictly cosmetic item. Maybe the snorkel is just that - a strictly cosmetic item.

 

[firetruck41]

I followed the link that Christo posted to the Chinese 4x4 site and the snorkel for the 80 actually says "Safari" on it. LOL

EDIT: look closely at the video of the truck driving over the snorkel. Maybe it's me but there looks to be an oval shadow about the size and location of the Safari logo on that piece.

It (the one in the video) seems to be a direct copy of a Safari, with the oval, but minus the actual branding.

 

[jamrod]

It doest matter what. the investment is no to much , and is a good opportunity to give a chanceand support the china factories. I think is time to break the monopoli of one seller....