D4 Concealed winch installation

[Bluepippa]

$299 Aldi winch
$600 concealed winch plate from Italy
$100 30m of dyneema rope and fairlead

Now for the fun part, stripping the front of the D4 and mounting the winch.. Before I go to any effort documenting and taking photos, is there any interest out there with others considering this route, if not I will just do a before / after shot... If so I will document each step for the archives..

Wish me luck, all I need now is a weekend without distractions (that won't be for a couple of weeks, so still researching at the moment)

Cheers
Daryl

[LandyAndy]

Looking forward to seeing the project.Prices sound very good.
GOODLUCK and ENJOY.
Andrew

[Orangi]

Yes please

[wombathole]

Hi Daryl,

I'm seriously considering a hidden winch right now. Looking at the options and very interested in your build. I'm trying to work out whether to do it myself, or take it to a shop.

Which winch plate from Italy? why did you make this choice?

I've been reviewing the Devon4x4 unit. But, much more expensive than your pricing... dont know why.
Discovery 4 Winch Mount & Warn Winch (http://www.devon4x4.com/index.php?page=shop.product_details&flypage=flypage_new.tpl&product_id=76442&category_id=1013362&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=14)


Looking forward to following your thread.

andy

[winaje]

...But, much more expensive than your pricing... dont know why...

It's much more expensive because it includes a Warn 9500XD winch. Pity they are not guaranteed after water immersion. Might want to look at the mount kit and source a winch here in Aus.

[Leroy_Riding]

I have more concerns around if a 9000lb winch is really enough for a behemoth like a D4/D3 ?
If I didnt already have a bullbar Id go for a concealed type too, I much prefer the look, and ive seen with and without bar roo strikes. . . either way 90% of the time you aren't driving away even with a bar.

Leroy.

[wombathole]

It's much more expensive because it includes a Warn 9500XD winch. Pity they are not guaranteed after water immersion. Might want to look at the mount kit and source a winch here in Aus.

Hi Will,
Quite right, apologies i didn't explain clearly. Here are the two options from Devon4x4. A kit with the winch, or just the plate. But the plate kit is 900+ pounds. More expensive than this Italy one.

Discovery 4 D44 Bumpers/Mounts (http://www.devon4x4.com/index.php?option=com_virtuemart&page=shop.browse&category_id=1013362&Itemid=14)

[chopper]

Where do you get
30m of dyneema rope and fairlead for $100 ?

[TDV6]

Hi Daryl,

I am in the process of fitting an Aldi winch to my D3, with the dyeenma rope and alloy fairlead yet to arrive, so after a trial fit to the bull-bar I have set about cleaning out the standard grease in the Aldi winch and replacing it with a good quality marine grade grease, for details on how to do this see :- http://www.aulro.com/afvb/projects-tutorials/105107-aldi-winch-replacing-grease.html

I think I may have put too much grease back in as it is a bit stiff to spool the rope off, this is also mentioned in the article.

Have Fun,

Ryall

[TDV6]

Update to winch maintenance.

I took drum off and removed some of the grease then spun the gears by attaching my electric drill, which forced some extra grease to the top, the gearbox was sitting on bench, spindle pointing straight up.
The next job was to remove all weld splatter on the drum using a file etc and then repaint it.

Ryall

[jon3950]

I have more concerns around if a 9000lb winch is really enough for a behemoth like a D4/D3 ?


I think the answer is yes, but it would depend on your usage. I have an XD9000 which I will probably eventually fit to the D4. It was on my D3 and D2 before that. I fitted it to the D3 because I already had it, so it was by far the cheapest option.

For my usage it was just fine. A few light recoveries (usually of other vehicles) but most of its use was dragging broken rally cars around. If recovering the D3 I would use a double line pull to be sure.

If I were buying new, I would go up to 9500lbs but for me anything bigger is not worth the weight penalty. Others who are using them harder than I may think differently of course.

Cheers,
Jon