Thread: hidden winch on D3/4 with standard bumper and NO roo-bar

Bit the bullet and had a good crack at this today. 87E644F4-9BF9-4081-961A-8DA8AE3D93F2.jpgFound a you tube clip and stripped it down. Pretty straight forward. 20AB79E0-5482-4F43-85C0-8B8D1BFD064F.jpg38B52334-B032-4202-80E0-C82EE66E440A.jpgBefore I sliced and diced the bar I fashioned a bracket and mounted the control box inside the box on drivers side firewall. Figured if I can’t do this no point doing the rest cause buggered if I could see where you could locate it. Fitted easily though without disturbing anything. Mounting the actual winch cradle with captive nuts was a pain and I ended ditching one for just nuts as I could get a spanner on them. D61AEE2D-CE05-41A2-87B8-D5F1286143C4.jpgAfter cutting all the webbing out on the back of the plastic bar with a diamond blade angle grinder and some trimming the bar went back on the for locating fairlead position. I made a sort of jig to mark the position of the height and position of the holes. Put the bar on and marked and drilled and surprisingly was spot on. Grabbed a suitable hole saw for the ends then cut the rest when angle Grinder. You could use a jigsaw I suppose. After that was back on, tape off, number plate cover on and you’d never no I’ve been here. 025AB4E9-7C6F-494D-A853-9A403E0DDE7B.jpg67421BA7-CE17-4004-AB34-7CB617E83015.jpgDC3C26A3-7497-4A71-A0BB-8F65855C3CEC.jpgC8D7CEC0-740F-43CB-AF80-F97BB2F4E2CD.jpgCF2325CB-52E8-442E-B5FD-83127F9F869D.jpgThere is the finished product. Obviously made up new leads to link the winch and control box. The power from (start battery) has a breaker on it and it’s wireless remote. All in all a day and a half well spent.

I got got this 8 months ago as a stock 2014 tdv6, White, black leather and rear diff lock and so far have added.

dual battery
rear 12 volt plug in rear
rock slider/ steps
mitch hitch
compomotive 18” rims with 265/65 ko2
Icom UHF ( stealth install)
tint and rubber mats
roof bars and awning
Gap ID BT tool ( so have three suspension settings)

It looks pretty solid now. Only issue my wife is not a fan of my ( hey I’m 57 ) pensioner car. Yep can you believe that. Does concede it’s seriously comfortable and loves all the storage etc. I just love em period but taken me till know to be in a position the get one. Well see how she goes.

Anyway thought I’d share this having been inspired by previous posts on this thread. Cheers to you for the help.

& cheers to you for a neat job, especially with the fairlead.

Thanks for the write up, I'm considering doing this on my '16 Disco. With the face-plate thing mounted to plastic trim, would this be a problem if winching at a bit of an angle (ie not directly straight) or even to a point much lower or higher that the winch vehicle? I'm worried the plastic will get bent out of shape if this happens. Or is it support by a bracket behind the plastic trim?

Cheers,
Justin

Hi Justin,

It's a bit hard to see in the pics but as you suspected the hawse fairlead (face-plate guide thing) is bolted to the robust structure of the mount behind the bumper bar - you can see it more clearly in this earlier post: hidden winch on D3/4 with standard bumper and NO roo-bar - so no worries with any load on or deformation to the plastic bumper.

David

Originally Posted by JustinSyd

Thanks for the write up, I'm considering doing this on my '16 Disco. With the face-plate thing mounted to plastic trim, would this be a problem if winching at a bit of an angle (ie not directly straight) or even to a point much lower or higher that the winch vehicle? I'm worried the plastic will get bent out of shape if this happens. Or is it support by a bracket behind the plastic trim?

Cheers,
Justin

My fairlead is firmly mounted to the winch mount and sits behind the plastic bumper.  for easy access i've cut the bumper away.  If I want it totally hidden, the numberplate covers the whole lot with 30mm plastic spacers (cut up pvc pipe from the home watering system box. <br><br><br>

Originally Posted by l00kin4

Hi Justin,&lt;br&gt;<br>
&lt;br&gt;<br>
It's a bit hard to see in the pics but as you suspected the hawse fairlead (face-plate guide thing) is bolted to the robust structure of the mount behind the bumper bar - you can see it more clearly in this earlier post: &lt;a href="!m255045!l319-discovery-3-and-4-a/255045-hidden-winch-d3-4-standard-bumper-no-roo-bar-4.html#post2799320" target="_blank"&gt;https://www.aulro.com/afvb/l319-disc...9320&lt;/a&gt; - so no worries with any load on or deformation to the plastic bumper.&lt;br&gt;<br>
&lt;br&gt;<br>
David

&lt;br&gt;<br>
&lt;br&gt;<br>

Originally Posted by Tombie

No issue there at all... it’s up to you...

The equipment onboard may however get you into trouble if it causes inappropriate vehicle behaviour..

Do you not have any concerns that a small impact may result in your airbags triggering inappropriately?
Considering the injury to you and yours this can cause (they go off with the power of an Army Mortar).

Or the consideration that an incorrect trigger will likely write the vehicle off economically?

Many companies now download the SRS telemetry post accident, and this may prove detrimental.

Just things to consider..

Yeah hi Tombie funny you say that because i have been looking at installing ARB bar to my Disco3.The agent here in Katherine NT warned me about installing my self because of this very reason .I only just put out a question on this with replies like Don't be rediculous every one installs their own bull bars ,but like you say and as RJ motors have told me ,just the slightest bump could trigger the SRS if not installed correctly.Im glad i found your replies .Thankyou !

Originally Posted by dirvine

Thanks for your convcerns Tombie. I am unsure if the Devon one is non approved or not, but it has been fitted to a number of vehicles overseas, and there have not been any issues reported. Specifically designed for a D4 I am sure they know their stuff. So I am hopefull all will be OK. Whilst I acknowledge that there could/maybe issues with standard componetry of the D4, if I was as concerned as some people are about safety etc, then I would probably think twice about even getting behind the wheel of a car let along take one one the road in Australia. So I will take my chances like everybody else. If something happens I always have my "B" vehicle for a back up!! or is it my "A" vehicle?

Hi Dirvine ,i think Tombie is right i have been told the same thing by arb Its ok if they are approved and installed by an approved installer ,but i wouldn't go down the road of installing one myself anything that wasn.t compliant,it could possibly endanger members of the public,hell even hitting a Roo if not correctly installed can trigger the srs ,or a dog for that matter.Also you can say good by to your insurance. .Just thought i would add my little bit to it hehehe.

Originally Posted by Laurie 123

Hi Dirvine ,i think Tombie is right i have been told the same thing by arb Its ok if they are approved and installed by an approved installer ,but i wouldn't go down the road of installing one myself anything that wasn.t compliant,it could possibly endanger members of the public,hell even hitting a Roo if not correctly installed can trigger the srs ,or a dog for that matter.Also you can say good by to your insurance. .Just thought i would add my little bit to it hehehe.

Load of rubbish, plenty including myself have fitted their own bar, i have even given a love tap with the bar and airbag did not go off.
Members on here have hit roos and bags have not gone off, the bar mounts have no contact or trigger for the airbags at all.