fitting a winch Disco I

[Chucaro]

How you are going about in fitting a winch in a Disco I with factory bullbar and airbags ? Obviously the fitting have to be legal
Is a new bullbar required ?
If yes, has to be made by a certified workshop or can be home made?
The air bag can be disconnected legally?
Cheers

[Blknight.aus]

ARB make an Airbag friendly bar that is winch compatable ,or they make a winch bar that is Airbag friendly... From memory some of the facotry bars have the knockouts in them to take a winch so all you need to do is punch the blanking plates out (not as easy as Im making it sound) and fit the winch.

It is totally utterly in every concievable way illegal to tamper with the airbags (and very entertaining to watch an autoleccy set them off accidentally).

Home made bar work is getting harder to get past inspectors so unless its going to look good enough to fool them I wouldnt bother with that route (unless you know of one that a. doesnt care b. wouldnt know a holden V8 from a series 2.25 diesel that you can bluff).

An alternative is to find a bar set from a rolled disco thats of the right vintage for your liking.

[DiscoDave]

A factory bullbar for a Disco??? A nudge-bar or a light-bar maybe but you can't fit a winch to them (sfaik) as they have no steelwork between the chassis rails. I think you will have to look at an air-bag compatible bullbar from TJM or ARB... and expect to loose about 10-15 degrees in approach angle...
I've just removed the ARB bullbar (airbag compliant winch bar) from my D1 and now I don't hit every damn rockstep when I go offroad!

[Blknight.aus]

soooo,

does that mean you have a disco winch+airbag compatable bar for sale....

be a nice self solving problem if you do..

[Chucaro]

A factory bullbar for a Disco??? A nudge-bar or a light-bar maybe but you can't fit a winch to them (sfaik) as they have no steelwork between the chassis rails. I think you will have to look at an air-bag compatible bullbar from TJM or ARB... and expect to loose about 10-15 degrees in approach angle...
I've just removed the ARB bullbar (airbag compliant winch bar) from my D1 and now I don't hit every damn rockstep when I go offroad!

Ok, which winch will be Ok for the disco then if the TJM & ARB are not good? :eek:

[DiscoDave]

soooo,

does that mean you have a disco winch+airbag compatable bar for sale....

be a nice self solving problem if you do..

I'll be tidying it up and putting it in the Markets section soon... ish. ;)

[Chucaro]

I'll be tidying it up and putting it in the Markets section soon... ish. ;)
Let me know by PM when you are ready.
Cheers

[DiscoDave]

Ok, which winch will be Ok for the disco then if the TJM & ARB are not good? :eek:

My comments only apply to the ARB airbag compatible bar. I don't know if the TJM airbag compatible bar is as cumbersome...
The ARB bar is not a problem for most situations but if you enjoy rock hopping, as I do, then I think they just get in the way.

[Chucaro]

My comments only apply to the ARB airbag compatible bar. I don't know if the TJM airbag compatible bar is as cumbersome...
The ARB bar is not a problem for most situations but if you enjoy rock hopping, as I do, then I think they just get in the way.

No Dave rock hopping is out of question for me with my bad back. I just want the vehicle be cable of reaching safely ( and return :) ) remote places for my nature photography explorations. The winch will be in case that I am alone.
Cheers

[tdiBrad]

Hi,
I have a TJM bar on my D1, its been there for about 7 years. Is steel, T15 (from memory, I think they still make them).

I found that compared to the standard bumper the TJM improves the approach angle, sticks out forward a bit though.

Regarding thw winch, if you have mega dollars, there is a company up at Ballina that make a winch called the Cut Snake winch. It's a beast of a winch (i have seen first hand) and is hydraulic,/electric. :twisted:

WHAT IS A CUT SNAKE WINCH (http://www.bta4wd.com/category29_1.htm)