Homemade winch bar

[Sandgroper]

G'day all,
I just thought I'd share a few pics of the winch bar I made for my Xtech puma. I decided to build a winch bar as against a full bullbar simply because I love the look of the winch bars! I know they don't offer the same front end protection as a full bullbar and many wont like it because of that fact, but, I'm really pleased with the way it has turned out. It is very solid on the front of the landie and has enough room (I hope!) for the winch to sit in front of the extended grill. I'll find out on the weekend when I attempt to drop the winch into place, so far my measurements have worked out pretty well, I just hope that one is no exception. Hope you like the pics,
Cheers,
Dave.

[clubagreenie]

Looks good. Only part I don't like is the black headlight surrounds. Don't know what color I'd do them but...

Is the flat plate that looks like it's where the winch bolts down (first pic) triangulated vertically to the front to stop flex?

[dullbird]

Think you have done a great job well done

[Sandgroper]

Looks good. Only part I don't like is the black headlight surrounds. Don't know what color I'd do them but...

Is the flat plate that looks like it's where the winch bolts down (first pic) triangulated vertically to the front to stop flex?

Yes, you can't actually see in the pics but it is braced very solidly underneath, before I had it powder coated I jumped up and down on that plate, it is going nowhere!

[Sue]

Awesome job, I love it!

We (read the other half) is in the process of building me a winch bullbar for mine at the moment.. can't wait to get it and hope it turns out as good as yours! :)

[Benz]

very nice!

your number plate won't like you much though.

[Sandgroper]

Awesome job, I love it!

We (read the other half) is in the process of building me a winch bullbar for mine at the moment.. can't wait to get it and hope it turns out as good as yours! :)

Thanks Sue! I must say, it is very rewarding and just good fun making up things for the landie yourself, I'm very lucky to be in a position to do it. I'm looking forward to pics of the bar your hubby builds for your landie!

[noyakfat]

Greetings 'Groper,

Give yourself a pat on the back. You've done a great job there and I reckon it looks great. I think it complements the vehicle nicely and the black headlight surrounds suit the other black "bits". I love black accessories.

Well done,
Cheers,
Nige

[Lagerfan]

Nice work, that is an awesome looking bar and looks great on the LE 90 too! Can you make another one for me? :D

A quick question for all the do-it-yourself guys out there but how do these work with insurance and the ADR rules? Do you need to get it signed off as compliant by someone??? In another thread it was discussed that insurance companies may not play nice (not that they ever do) when it comes to any non ADR compilant additions.

[BigBlueOne]

Well done mate, looks awesome

[Sandgroper]

Thanks guys! As far as it being compliant, I looked at the ADR rules online and there were pages and pages of difficult to decipher information, I then googled "winch bar bullbar regulations W.A." And found a W.A. Department of transport site which gave the necessary information in a much clearer way including diagrams of how they should and should not be manufactured. I used this info as a guide when I designed and built my bar. The basic rules were that the bar should not have any sharp edges or protrusions, should not angle forward, it should either angle slightly back towards the vehicle or be straight up and down, and should roughly conform to the shape of the vehicle front end. I built my bar to conform to these standards. I actually spoke to a W.A. Copper the other day about the bar, he seemed to think there were no issues with it the way I described it to him so although he hadn't seen the bar he reckoned I would be fine to have it. As far as insurance goes, I phoned the RAC here in Perth before I built it and they seemed fine with me building it, their only concern was that I should tell them as soon as I build and fit it so they can add it to my cover in case it is damaged in an accident! I had thought of having it checked out by a licensing centre here but no one, including the policeman I spoke to, seemed to think it was of any concern. Since I took these photos I have added a landrover sticker to it, it serves no real purpose other than to the untrained eye of non landrover people it looks now like a standard landrover accessory. I actually took it down to southern landrover this morning and the bloke I bought the landie from took several pics of it and asked me to give him a price on making them for the Xtech, he reckons he could sell them! I actually built it out of scrap and obsolete material from work, if I had bought the materials specially for it I would have probably built it slightly differently, for example the tubular bumper section is made out of 5mm water pipe, I could drive it through a brick wall! The total weight of the bar is 33kilos.

[n plus one]

It's a nice piece of work mate - done yourself proud!

Re ADRs, I'm pretty sure it just needs to comply to standard (ie as you've already done) and you're good. People seem to get pretty worked up about this stuff but its not like a Defender bar needs to be demonstrated to be airbag compliant...:p

[greenhornet]

The bar looks fantastic. Nice job!

[carlschmid2002]

That looks awesome!

[Sandgroper]

a few more pics showing the winch in place and the landrover sticker. The next step will be mounting the winch control box and fitting a couple of spotties inside the bar.