Fitting ARB Bar and Warn 9.5XP to a Defender

[TimNZ]

Hi all, here's a few shots of me fitting a ARB Bar and a Warn 9.5 XP to my new Defender.

This is what I used:

One of these -

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2008/06/588.jpg

and one of these -

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2008/06/589.jpg

and one of these -

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2008/06/590.jpg

And if like me you have no mates you'll probably want to use one of these :)

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2008/06/591.jpg

I measured the height to the front wheel arch because I wanted to see how much difference there would be in the ride hight after I finished. Once I had the bar and winch on I fitted some OME 761 springs and nitro charger shocks, the ride hight came out to be 40mm higher than standard. Which seems to level the vehicle out nicely, it's now about 5mm higher in the front with about 100kgs of tools in the back. I might look at changing the rear springs when funds permit.

Righto, back to the project.... First thing you have to do is pull out the side rollers and drill some holes in your nice new roller fairlead. You just need to hold it up to the winch bar to mark out where to drill the holes.

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2008/06/592.jpg

Then I pulled the motor casing and stator off the winch to pull the silicon plug out of what will be the drain hole when the winch is mounted "feet forward", and plug up the original drain hole.

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2008/06/593.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2008/06/594.jpg

Then its time to start bolting everything together. It pays to use liberal amounts of this stuff:

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2008/06/595.jpg

Its eaiser if you put these in place before you lift the bar on top of the winch.

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2008/06/596.jpg

Then lay the bar on top of the winch, (again), which needs to be sitting on something to raise it up a bit, the instructions reccomend a 44 gallon drum.

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2008/06/597.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2008/06/598.jpg

Because it's a 9.5xp winch you need to fit 2 packers between the feet on each side of the winch and the bar.

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2008/06/599.jpg

Then place the roller fairlead in place and bolt the winch on.

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2008/06/600.jpg

Finally refit the side rollers with the bolts supplied.

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2008/06/601.jpg

I used this stuff to lubricate/protect the bolts, (it's also food grade!).

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2008/06/602.jpg

All done and ready to go onto the vehicle.

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2008/06/603.jpg

Well not quite, those sharp eyed people out there will have noticed I put the winch on upside down :(

Right ready to go again.

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2008/06/604.jpg

Right, time to fit it to the vehicle, (again), grill and factory bumper off and all ready...

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2008/06/605.jpg

Get the forklift and...

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2008/06/586.jpg

Put 4 bolts through the original fixing points for the bumper, this is a real b@stard getting the nuts to line up!

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2008/06/606.jpg

Now bolt the bottom mounting points on through where the factoy "crash" bar is attached. I had to strech the bolt holes on the drivers side a bit, this was also a real b@stard!

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2008/06/607.jpg

Finally you need to drill holes throught your nice new defender for the top mounting bolts. All I have to do now is wire the winch up, after you pull the winch off again to connect the longer ground cable, (supplied with the winch bar).

All done.... :) (Well appart from fitting the new springs and shocks, sorry no pics as my phone went flat).

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2008/06/608.jpg

Cheers,

Tim

[dullbird]

that looks great, nice job:)

[WhiteD3]

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2008/06/586.jpg



Great post Tim, and your honest commentary was very good too.

When maneuvering the forklift up to the car with the bar hanging on the straps, how'd you stop it from swing around and denting the Rover?

[TimNZ]

Thanks for the comment Dullbird! And all the thanks from everyone else!

Hi WhiteD3, should have mentioned how I did that part! All I did was start with the strops at the forklift end of the tines. I then drove the forklift forward until the bumper was about 1 foot away from the vehicle, then I just took the weight of each end of the bumper and shuffled the strop forwards on alternate tines until the bumper was in the right place. You just have to watch the tines distance to the bonnet when you are driving the forklift forward!

On a note with the wiring, I ran the cables along the top of the passenger side chassis rail, then accross the brace below the radiator. I'm not entirely happy with the cables running under the radiatior because of the heat, but it seems the most logical place to put them.

At the battery end the Positive connection is easy as there is a spare connection point on the battery clamp. But the Negative end is more of a problem. There's a handy looking bolt/nut on the clamp, but this is just the clamping device for the battery terminal clamp. I ended up cutting the factory clamp off the negative cable and fitting another, (temporary at the moment), clamp.

The cable is made up of bunch of fine stranded copper wires, which don't really suit a compression type clamp, (which I've used temporarily). I really need to solder on a new clamp or cable termination with a loop, and use a new battery clamp with a stud or 2, (for the winch connection). I've found the best place to get these clamps from is a car audio place. I'll post a picture of what I mean when I've done it properly.

Thanks,

Tim

[TimNZ]

Oh, and another thing that caught me out..... After I reconnected the battery I jumped in the car to back it out side and shut up the shop. Turned the key, engine started and ran for a few seconds, then stopped. "Hmmm, oh well", I thought and started it again. Same thing happened.
"Must be the engine immobiliser" I think, ok then, hit the lock button on the key fob, then the unlock button. Try to start the car again, same thing. "Oh firetruck! What have I fried playing about with the battery??? Guess I'm going to find out how good LR's road side rescue is....
Phone LR road side rescue, whilst waiting on hold I decided to thumb through the owners manual, (hind sight shows perhaps I should have done this first), where there is a passage explaining it takes up to 30 seconds for everything to reset after a flat/disconnected battery.
Turn the key, car starts, I hang up on LR's hold music..... lesson learnt.

Tim

[Mudhog1974classic]

Hi Tim,

If only you had been back in NZ with that new truck, the pig farm would have broken it in:D

Brett

[Gery]

Hi Tim,

Nice landy. I have ordered a 110 Defender that willl be arriving in Feb 2009. I am just looking up bullbars and winches to decide what best to put on the vehicle. This info has been really useful. It would be good to know how your winch is going - are you happy with it?

Cheers,
Gery

[TimNZ]

Hi Gery, the winch is going very well thanks and I'm very impressed with its performance. I havn't had to use it to recover myself yet, but I have recovered about 6 other vehicles on seperate ocasions. I also used it quite a bit when I was a marshal at a 4wd comp. I'm very happy with the power of the winch, I havn't had to use a snatch block yet and I've done some pretty heavy pulls, (Patrool that was on its axles in wet sand and a Disco 3 over logs with all its wheels off the ground, for example).
I'll be stripping the winch shortly to inspect/re-lube it as I have some dynamica rope to fit to it. I'll post the results on this site.
The only thing I'd do differently is spend a bit more on the shocks, (ie some bilstines), the OME's are Ok, but not outstanding. I'd also like to be able to adjust the shocks to suit the vehicle and my driving. I have since ditched the OME springs, they were far too stiff and the front of the vehicle rode to high, (too much angle on the front prop shaft). I ended up fitting some "rangie pink" springs from Les Richmond Automotive, they were very helpfull and knew their stuff.
I am also going to remount the winch bar at some stage. It sits too far forward, it would not be difficult to move it back about 100mm. I also need to get some 5W lamps for the indicators to stop the "trailer connected" light on the dash flashing.

Cheers,

Tim