TRIPLESWILLNEVERDIE!
New member
I have an ekholm 151 tunnel without kickup on a MM. I put a 162x2.5 and big wheels on it last spring and ended up ripping the coolant hoses off the rear heat exchanger with the paddles. I had to zip tie the snowflap to the bumper so the track wouldnt suck it up too. I called mpi this summer and asked if they had a kit to lengthen the tunnel. They said no. So now I am trying to figure out the best way to extend the tunnel on this thing. I was thinking of building a gaurd that protected the coolant hoses that extends out the back a little to hold the snowflap out but am worried about blocking some of the snowspray that should be reaching the tunnel cooler. Mabey a set of mpi running board edge rails for the 159-162 tunnel with kickup, cut off the end of the tunnel and build a new kick up tunnel extension. Might be a better solution. I am sure sombody has gone though the same thing with these tunnels so I figure I had better ask before I start hacking it up.
interesting quandry. do you have access to a tig welder? we will get to that later. what i do for extensions is take some measures, draw a schematic, haul it to my local aluminun dealer with a brake, and have them bend it up to suit. .100 is min, i prefer .125.i like to make it fit over the tunnel. take it home, check for fitment. if happy with the fit, get you some buck rivets and an air riveter, hammer that sucker on. this is not the place for pull through rivets. now, for the tig part. cut the ends off the stock coolers on the tunnel, fit some aluminum tubing into the ends, weld, add some new hoses, shazam! tunnel ext! this is kinda a walk through in a nutshell, for more detailed info, pm me.
I have a 151 in my ekholm 144 tunnel. I ended up building a guard to go around the cooler hoses to prevent direct contact. My cooler is 16x16 so ther is plenty of exposed cooler beyond the guard. I only get interference at the very last bit of travel, and I think if I didn't have 8" idlers in the rear I would be fine. I also ditched the proaction in exchange for a poo xtra-lite 144 with the offset axle in reverse and a skid set-back.
TRIPLESWILLNEVERDIE!
New member
Thanks for the info guys. I am going to try the gaurd idea. Mine is also the 16" cooler. I would rather not do ann add on extension if I dont have to.