Terrafirma discreet winch mount installation

[Macadamia]

Well the rain has put a stop to my installation half way though but I've a few questions for anyone who has installed one of these winch cradles. As I found with installing the Terrafirma RAI, the instructions are powerfully lacking, misleading and often plain wrong.

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Anyhoo...
I cannot for the life of me I cannot figure out what the two short M8 bolts are for. The 8x long M10 bolts, 8x short spacers and 4x captive nuts are to mount the place to the chassis. The long threaded spacer I’m assuming is to space the fairlead (optional). But the 2x short M8 bolts I have no idea. My only thought was they are for the fairlead spacer but this is threaded for M10 bolts and these M8 bolts just slide in and out (and also barely cover the hole in the cradle to secure the fairlead). They’re also not to secure the washer water reservoir because the captive nuts on the side part are M6.

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I've also seen this kit both with and without the short spacers. I assume they're necessary?

Anyone with the Runva 11XP in this winch cradle able to confirm if I need to rotate the free spool leaver to get to it through the gap in the bumper?

[Azza_LR3]

Contact their customer services. and ask. If your not understanding the instructions.

Alternatively, scour you-tube, sure their will be a video somewhere to help

[Macadamia]

Contact their customer services. and ask. If your not understanding the instructions.

Alternatively, scour you-tube, sure their will be a video somewhere to help

done and done. negative on the youtube and they're in the UK so I won't have an answer for a while longer. Hoping someone might known sooner.

Also I contacted their customer support is responsive but... poorly.

[matti4556]

Macadamia... I'm not 100% sure on memory if I had a couple of short M8's when I installed mine, but I do remember having some bolts left over. And as you say, they were to do with the Hawse fairlead. Matti.

[Macadamia]

I cannot express the level of frustration trying to bolt the mount to the chassis using the supplied captive nuts - they are just ever so slightly out of spec. But I've got most of it done and just need to cut the bumper.

Here is the install so far. Does anyone see a problem with it? I've run the power cable up into the engine bay and over the radiator. it will connect to an isolator switch that I will be mounting in the space next to the AUX battery (but connected to the cranking battery).

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One question though - the control box has a short ground wire. The instructions say to connect it to the negative terminal on the winch but it's shorter than all the other cables to the winch and thus doesn't reach. Is this strictly necessary (I could only imagine if it monitors currant through the winch?). Can I just ground it to any good ground point on the chassis instead?

[matti4556]

The smaller gauge black wire is the negative wire for the solenoid coils. Without it connected to Earth the solenoids wont pull in. Try extending it so it reaches the winch motor negative terminal or simply connect it to the earth metal frame of the car adjacent to the solenoid box. Hope this helps?
Matti

[Macadamia]

The smaller gauge black wire is the negative wire for the solenoid coils. Without it connected to Earth the solenoids wont pull in. Try extending it so it reaches the winch motor negative terminal or simply connect it to the earth metal frame of the car adjacent to the solenoid box. Hope this helps?
Matti

yep. I just wanted to be sure I could ground the control box to the chassis and not necessary to the negative terminal on the winch per the instructions.

[Macadamia]

well it's done. it's not as pretty as I would have liked, and I had to remove far more of the inside of the front bumper than I was expecting and I would have liked. But it's back together.

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I don't know if it's Terrafirma's poor manufacturing or if the facelift bumper is slightly different shape but it barely fits and that's with a lot of force. The winch mount is pressed hard up against the bottom of the bumper causing it to bulge - hopefully won't stress crack. and because of this it's slightly misshapen causing a bit of a bulge of the plastic in front of the winch (which is structurally weakened by A: the lack of internal structural webbing B: having to remove a large portion inside that was fouling against the winch and C: the hole for the fairlead itself.

TBH I had issues with the Terrafirma RAI not quote aligning and now this - I probably would not recommend.

FYI when I asked about the extra bolts the director said he didn't know but they were probably supposed to be a different size to fit the fairlead spacers. He also said they were changing manufacturer so perhaps some manufacturing issues and I got a cradle not quite to spec.

Oh and I haven't decided yet where to mount the number plate. I have a normal sized one so might look strange on the white section above. Only other option is an ARB number plate hinge (might hide my poor worksmanship.

[matti4556]

Great Job Macca - you will be happy you did it.
I like to see the faces of those I recover with the winch when I free-spool it for the first time - They don't say much because ... you know.... its a shiny Land Rover and those things aren't made for off road!
Go the hinged number plate - will hide all of the "issues".
I got mine from Uneek4x4 - It was about $50 at the time and I see they are still $50 plus postage.
The ARB one is a much bigger frame.
Matti

[Eric SDV6SE]

Looks great Macca

[Macadamia]

just to round out this thread...

I made a bracket bolted onto the bottom/side of my traxide battery tray to mount a winch isolator. It's a 500a Stinger isolator controlled by a switch inside the car. I really liked the manual+switch operated isolator Scott used but couldn't bring myself to pay >$600! The switch circuit is fused - not sure if it needed to be but it's got a 3a fuse there just in case.
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and I ended up going with a slim line number pate mounted above as I couldn't fit a thimble with a flip up number pate. i was also concerned it might come off in river crossing.
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[josh.huber]

You have to be happy with that, that's awesome

[Dagilmo]

That's a really neat install. Very impressive, well done.

[Naps]

Well done with the install...it is a challenge and I shared a lot of your frustration when I installed my winch as an early COVID Lockdown project back in 2020 https://www.aulro.com/afvb/l319-discovery-3-and-4-a/280236-install-carbon-12k-discreet-winch-post3018984.html?280236=#post3018984

Cheers Naps

[Naps]

I cannot express the level of frustration trying to bolt the mount to the chassis using the supplied captive nuts - they are just ever so slightly out of spec. But I've got most of it done and just need to cut the bumper.


Hi ... similar issue with the supplied captive nuts that are bracketed together imprecisely and never line up...I think in the end I replaced them with other high tensile nuts...and yes, loads of bumper cutouts.

Naps