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Filter byAVM was founded in 1957 in Brazil by Hugo Vidal, after a chance meeting with the owner of Warn Industries, Arthur Warn. After a conversation and a handshake, Vidal walked away with the rights to sell his own version of Warn’s highly-regarded free wheeling hubs in the Brazilian market.
In the 1950’s, the Brazilian market was heavily legislated and it was difficult and costly to import and sell non-domestic products. Warn had made a name for themselves in the USA with their heavy duty freewheeling hubs, but they were not actively sold in south America until the deal was struck with Vidal and AVM was formed.
After coming to prominence in Brazil, AVM started to export products around the world. Their quality standards were high and their focus on developing a huge range of freewheeling hubs saw them win favour with Land Rover, Land Cruiser and Jeep owners everywhere.
Freewheeling hubs, in their traditional form, are a manual locking device which is operated by the driver to lock or unlock the front wheel assembly. When the hub is locked, the vehicle can be driven in four wheel drive, but with the hub unlocked the front wheel is effectively disconnected from the drivetrain and this “freewheels”. This can save a noticeable amount of fuel and also significantly reduces driveline wear. Such savings can be vital to drivers in remote areas, such as the Brazilian jungle, but are just as relevant in Europe as they are in south America.
By the 1980’s, and with a range of over 200 hubs on offer including manual, automatic and heavy duty product versions, AVM expanded their range to cover a product which is as popular as it is controversial: wheel spacers.
Wheel spacers come in two different flavours: hub-centric and stud-centric. With the former, the spacer is designed to spread the torsional loads across the surface of the hub, which is safer and more durable along with being somewhat more expensive to produce as each vehicle needs to be accurately templated to ensure a close fit. Stut-centric spacers are often lightweight, cheap, and due to their generic design the torsional loads are carried by the wheel studs. In light use and at low speeds this may be acceptable, but stud-centric spacers are not a good idea for heavy users or for high speeds. If things go wrong, the wheel studs could snap and the road wheels could come loose or even shear off.
AVM wheel spacers are heavy cast and are hub-centric in design. The product range is extensive and most spacers range from 30 to 40mm in width. Just about all common 4WD models are covered, from the Hilux to the Ranger, L200, Navara, Patrol, Shogun, Jimny, Amarok and more.
4×4 Works are proud to be one of Europe’s leading importers and retailers of AVM products, direct from the factory in Sao Paolo, Brazil. With an extensive knowledge of the product range and a technical understanding of all things 4×4, we are well placed to help you to save fuel, extend your drivetrain life, or to safely widen your vehicle track.
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