Fitting a winch to a non-winch ARB bar

[gusthedog]

I hear that you can bolt on a TJM winch cradle, cut a hole in yer bar, chuck on a winch (dynama rope of course!), whack on a fairlead and bobs your mothers brother. Anyone done this on AULRO? I'm being lazy by the way and not properly searching first.:D

I have a non-winch ARB bar and have compared it to a mates winch bar and the steel and everything looks the same 'cept the darn hole. Why go to all the bother of swappin' bars? (And yes I'm a tight ass).

[discobaz4311]

hey pricey ive got an arb bar on the front of my D2 but i can't tell if its the winch bar or not? whats the difference between the two and is it written anywar on the bull bar itself?

[Alex 110]

I'll swap you my winch ready TJM steel bar for your non-winch ARB bar!:D
Mines a 2000 TD5 auto too so it should be a straight switchover if you're interested
Alex

[gusthedog]

hey pricey ive got an arb bar on the front of my D2 but i can't tell if its the winch bar or not? whats the difference between the two and is it written anywar on the bull bar itself?

The winch bar has a hole for a winch in it :D. More seriously, under the main part of the bullbar, there are three openings on an ARB winch bar , the middle of which is a larger opening. On a non-winch bar there are only two openings and no mounting spots for a winch - hence my asking about the cradle.

Mounting points aside, I think the bars are the same. Can anyone confirm this for me?

And no Alex, I will not swap your ugly TJM bar for my good lookin ARB one :D

[Alex 110]

And no Alex, I will not swap your ugly TJM bar for my good lookin ARB one :D

Fair enough too, but I had to ask:)

[Capacious]

You can cut up a non-winch bar to fit a winch, but I would just add a thick backing plate to mount the winch on to spread the load. The non-winch bars aren't rated so if they failed on you under load there would be some hard questions to answer!

[gusthedog]

Capacious:
You can cut up a non-winch bar to fit a winch, but I would just add a thick backing plate to mount the winch on to spread the load. The non-winch bars aren't rated so if they failed on you under load there would be some hard questions to answer!


Hmmm. That's interesting. How about the ARB crush cans? Are they the same between both bars I wonder? I know from previous D2 ARB bar converstations that Slunnie et al have said that ARB crush cans are designed to cope with winching loads. I wonder if they just have the one type?

At a quick glance, the winch bar looks identical other than the holes in the bottom. I will have to investigate further.

If you happen to see me on the ground under your D2 inspecting your ARB winch bar, please do not run over me as I am completing some recon :D

[jimmyprizzle]

Yes you can fit one, i am buying one second hand now and the person I'm buying it from has never had any issues with it on his 99 TD5.

[gusthedog]

Thanks jimmy. Some good feedback.

Now to convince SWMBO!

[ScotchRocks]

I am likely to do this in the next few months - anyone add to the thread who has also mounted winch cradle and cut the fair lead hole?

[crash]

You may have to cut a hole on top of the bar for winch control and access the free spool lever.
The winch compatible bars also have the mounting tabs for the roller fairlead.

[Tins]

Would an ARB D1 cradle fit? I hope to get my D2 back this week, so I could look.

[ScotchRocks]

You may have to cut a hole on top of the bar for winch control and access the free spool lever.
The winch compatible bars also have the mounting tabs for the roller fairlead.

I hear you on the free spool clutch access.
95% certain will go synthetic with hawse not roller.
Plan is to put solenoid / control where jack is in battery box.

[ScotchRocks]

Would an ARB D1 cradle fit? I hope to get my D2 back this week, so I could look.

My understanding is d1 and d2 chassis rails are significantly different at the front.

[Tins]

My understanding is d1 and d2 chassis rails are significantly different at the front.

Wouldn't surprise me, but I don't know.

[ScotchRocks]

Read a thread in my winch search where someone asked about putting a d1 winch bar on a d2 and it was pretty quickly discounted by more knowledgable Land roverers than I.

[clintooo]

I’ve attached some pics of a winch mount from a bar that has the winch mounted to the chassis rails. The rope just passes straight through the bar. It’s off a 2003 D2 I bought for parts. I’m unsure of the brand, I think it is south African as the car was imported from SA. I think this was installed by the original owner as he had decked it all out for touring.

You could do something frame wise like this and then mount your bar to it. When you look at it, there isn’t really a whole lot to it. I just went through the exercise myself about how to convert my ARB to a winch bar. I ended up getting an xrox. But had I waited this might have been an option. It looks a bit rusty, but it is just surface rust, the guy lived on the ocean.

I’m in bicton if you want to swing past and have a look/measure up etc.



The bar is also for sale 😊 so I could do you a great deal on it 😊 two careful owners, only driven to church on a sunday...


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[clintooo]

when I compared the inside of my non-winch ARB bar and the xrox, there is substantially more meat behind the front of the bar where the winch mounts up to the bar on the xrox. Plus the side plates that mounted to the chassis rails were somewhat thicker plate. But really that was the only difference.

So I think there would be a bit of reinforcing required to make the ARB bar work. That was really my main concern about converting it. It ended up working form me with the xrox, so I went that way.

[crash]

On a previous vehicle I had a TJM alloy bullbar. When I installed the winch all I needed was a steel cradle for the winch to mount onto.

[trout1105]

Here are some images of my D2 winch bar where the winch is mounted so you can have an idea of what you will have to do to convert a non winch bar.

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