Thread: D5 winch

Originally Posted by rick130

The GQ farm ute bar was used to nudge the odd recalcitrant bull too.

We used the HR for that.

Originally Posted by johntins

I live 40 k from the Melb CBD. Just last week I had a very near miss with a fallow deer about the size of a pony. Do you reckon the car would have survived that if I'd hit it at 80?

The counter-argument that I used to hear - from my father - was that if you mounted a bullbar on the chassis rails and then hit something big you'd bend the chassis and write-off the vehicle, even if there looked to be only cosmetic damage. Alternatively, don't have a bullbar and do possibly repairable damage to the bonnet and front guards ... anyway I won't be fitting one to my next car.

That said, I hear good things about the Smartbars (which appear to be the spiritual successors to the poly tube bars that people up my way use to swear by), but I don't think that they have a Discovery one.

Originally Posted by Arapiles

The counter-argument that I used to hear - from my father - was that if you mounted a bullbar on the chassis rails and then hit something big you'd bend the chassis and write-off the vehicle, even if there looked to be only cosmetic damage. Alternatively, don't have a bullbar and do possibly repairable damage to the bonnet and front guards ... anyway I won't be fitting one to my next car.

This is actually an issue with modern vehicles and crumple zones.

The Disco is going in for remedial work in the next couple of weeks.
The smash repair bloke reckoned if it was a new Hilux/Ranger/D-Max/Colorado my minor bingle (OE bullbar, grille, plastic bumper and a slight bow in the bonnet where the crappy OE bar bent backwards into it) would be a major chassis rail straighten at a minimum and a very exxy fix.

I thought that was the point of the crush cans used to mount the bullbars on to the chassis? Or is that about stopping airbags going off?

I was interested to note that even though ARB make a winch bar for the Pajero, it doesn't come with the otherwise standard hi-lift jack points and recovery mounting points. They obviously decided the shock loading of recovery and lateral force of jacking would be too much, which is kind of scary.

As a city-dwelling bush tourist, I've long wished there was a removable bullbar option for pushing roos and scrub etc on excursions but isn't a PITA the other 90% of the time.

Originally Posted by Stuart02

I thought that was the point of the crush cans used to mount the bullbars on to the chassis? Or is that about stopping airbags going off?

I think you'll find that to meet ANCAP, EUROCAP, etc the traditional ladder frame chassis has to be able to deform/be a crushable structure.

I'd guess crush cans alone aren't enough.

Re crush cans, I've always had the understanding that you don't snatch, hilift, etc off a bar with crush cans.

Originally Posted by Arapiles

I don't understand the obsession with bullbars. My family are farmers and not one of our vehicles have ever had a bullbar, and I'm talking about every vehicle that's ever been on the farm. A couple of my brothers' work cars have had them, but they came already fitted. Friends of mine who have a station up near Broken Hill also don't use them. So why do I see so many 4WDs with bullbars driving around the city? If you do need a winch, they can be fitted without a bullbar - LR actually have them as an option, like the D5 prototype in the article.

I'm the same,I've hit one thing,a Duck which broke the headlight on my L322 and I do more outback miles than most.I'd rather have a vehicle that stopped and turned to avoid an accident instead of trying to make it survive one. Pat

Originally Posted by johntins

I live 40 k from the Melb CBD. Just last week I had a very near miss with a fallow deer about the size of a pony. Do you reckon the car would have survived that if I'd hit it at 80?

Do you reckon your car would survive that situation because you have a bar?. Pat

Originally Posted by PAT303

I'm the same,I've hit one thing,a Duck which broke the headlight on my L322 and I do more outback miles than most.I'd rather have a vehicle that stopped and turned to avoid an accident instead of trying to make it survive one. Pat

Which is why I would've loved to fit a TJM alloy bar to the Disco, but they don't make them anymore.
The ECB ones look boxy and bloody terrible to my eyes.

I nearly went sans bar at all, spoils the lines of the Disco, but having had some hits that would've sidelined a car without a bar I went for the insurance option.