Thread: homemade winch bar pic's

Hi Stumpy, I'm in the same boat and have an existing alloy bullbar that I started welded up a mild steel frame to sit behind it but am now thinkin about ditching it altogether and was actually toying with the idea of modifying the original bumper to house the winch. I'm also wondering about extra fixing points as the ones for the bumper look a bit feeble.
cheers Gerald

here is mine I built

cheers,
Serg

That looks the goods Serg but I'm wanting to mount my cheap (supercheap) winch up high and run it vertically down then through a fairlead roller and out through another fairlead roller so I can keep it dry and clean but I like the styling on yours.
cheers Gerald

Originally Posted by Didge

That looks the goods Serg but I'm wanting to mount my cheap (supercheap) winch up high and run it vertically down then through a fairlead roller and out through another fairlead roller so I can keep it dry and clean but I like the styling on yours.
cheers Gerald

I can see your thinking, but I feel it will be inclined to apply alot more forces on the bar and its mounting. It will do some funky things when loaded, rotational forces just one. I didnt really want to mount mine ontop of the chassis rails, but rather between them with the base of the winch equal with the bottom. It was to wide. Also consider blocking of airflow to yoru rad/intercooler.

Yeah uninformed I understand what you're saying but I'm hoping I'll be able to configure my setup so that the forces are pulling the winch down onto a line that would exist if it were drawn between the chassis rails and then the rest of the forces would be simply straight out the front as per normal. Of course I'll have to be careful where support brackets and bracing are located. If I get it to work I'll be sure to post a few pics. Gotta pull my fingers out first and make the damn thing.
cheers gerald

in regards to pulling your winch rope and winch down...will the winch cope with this?

I was always under the impression that vertical pulls on winches that are designed to do horizontal pulls is not a good idea. For example I was told (some years ago but can't remember where i heard it) you shouldn't use a winch like this to lift things

Can anyone confirm or dismiss this, with experience or knowledge??

And serg that's a bloody nice looking bar on the defender of yours nice work

Are fairlead rollers made to take the 90 degree change in cable direction? Normally the cable will barely glance off the rollers, and the side ones may get up to 45 degrees at most, but the change in direction will give a 1.2x load directly on the roller.
ie 1 ton load = 1.2 ton load on the roller.

HI Lou, I'm thinking the load should be pretty much the same as I'm still only pulling hte same as if it were directly horizontal. I'm not increasing the gearing or anything. The cable is still coming off the drum in the same way and the resultant force will still be out the front of the bar. Hi ScottW, yeah the change in direction is a concern and looking at the fairlead rollers I have they look pretty cheap and nasty and I did have a bit of concern about them. Originally I was thinking about getting a big mother of a roller (preferablly hollow due to weight) and I was considering getting a bloke I know who is an engineer to design it for me. Can't be that hard really, can it? Anyway, now I'm intrigued! where does the 1.2x increase in load originate?
cheers Gerald