If they are like most military mogs, they don't have keys, just a push button - quite easy to grab one from direct from the military - but might be a bit risky getting out of the country with it :)
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If they are like most military mogs, they don't have keys, just a push button - quite easy to grab one from direct from the military - but might be a bit risky getting out of the country with it :)
This week I've been concentrating on the front bumper /bullbar. I started working on it, first bending up the top pipe. This is made from 60mm pipe with a 3mm wall thickness - it was very difficult to bend and by the time I had made it, I was stuffed. There are 6 bends in total, and I managed to get it symmetrical first time luckily, or would have had another hard workout. At this stage I decided that the Hella Rallye 4000 spotlight would make really good high beam lights. With that in mind, the front bumper would be about 25mm deeper than the originals, but that only needs to be deep around the lights, after that I could taper it up.
Attachment 39774
The next part was to mount the 7.5 ton winch. The support plate for the winch sits on top of the chassis rails, that made the winch quite high. I made up the winch plate out of some 10mm plate. IT took quite a bit of cutting and fitting to get it right - my plasma cutter struggles a bit on 10mm steel, so I did most of the cutting with the 1mm cut off wheels on the angle grinder. I cut the support plates off the old bumper, and welded them onto the main plate - I was pretty happy with the weld - first time I have welded such thick plate together. I bevelled both sides of the plate, and was able to get good penetration right through.
Attachment 39775
Whilst it fitted , and would be strong enough, If left it there until the next morning. In the morning I was still not happy with the winch taking up so much of the grill, and basically being exposed. So I took it all apart again.
After much deliberation I decided to cut off the front tow hitch ( that's the brown thing you can see sticking out from under the plate in the photo above). I could then lower the winch in between the chassis rails. That way I could hide the winch in the front bullbar, just like on the Defender and Discovery.
Attachment 39776
I had run out of steel, so have to wait until next weekend to get the winch mount made up. I decided to make up the front bumper out of cardboard.
Attachment 39778
And this is what it looked like. After much playing around I came up with a shape that looked good. The bumper continues past the front and provides extra protection to the front mudguards.
Attachment 39777
This is how I left it on Sunday night - this an "artist's impression" of what it will look like thanks to a quick photoshop exercise.
Attachment 39779
During the week, I will get the local sheet metal shop to fold up the bumpers out of 5mm plate. I took them over this morning and they said it should not be a problem, but they may have to make it in a few parts. All going well, I should be able to start fitting the bumpers and all the support plates and gussets next weekend.
Wow, that looks impressive.
I am guessing it will weigh a bit once complete and the winch is in place.
It will, but that's all in the "budgeted weight allowance". It will weigh about the same as the massive channel that was on previously. The winch is quite heavy, especially with the wire rope - comes in at around 48kg or so.
I have been thinking about winches & would like to see if it possible to mid mount one & run it fore or aft as required, it would be a bit more stuffing around using it but being able to recovery either direction would make it a bit more versatile. Did you explore this option early on before adding your rear body to see if it is doable.
I did look at it, but there is not that much room in the middle of a U1250 - the only area would be around top of the transmission, and that would require the camper box to come off to access the winch and quite a lot of bracketry as the chassis dip down a lot in that area. If you run with the spare tyre in the standard place - that won't work. I have another winch at the rear - 7.5ton same as in the front, that gives me both options, in theory I could have worked a way for the cable from the rear winch to exit through to the front - there is a clear passage through the OEM camper box sub-frame just for this purpose, but that would require a fair bit of work to go around the engine - but it is possible. I decided to live with the 55kg penalty ( I could save about 15kg just by using some Dyneema rope instead.
Truly awesome!Quote:
Originally Posted by Iain_B
Quote:
Originally Posted by Iain_B
Interesting mate, thanks for the info. I felt to do it properly you would need an access holes through the floor in the camper for the times you need to access the winch. As you say it is probably a lot of stuffing around to save a few kgs.
Quick update on the bull bar build. I got the steel bent up this week - but the one thing I really needed to continue - the winch support plate - they did not do. I was planning on welding the support out of flat bar, but decided to get the main part of the plate folded out of 10mm plate as it would be a lot stronger. Unfortunately they decided to send it to another engineering company as they were afraid of breaking their hydropress - that's after telling me that it would not be a problem. Anyway, I should get it this week and can continue the bullbar next weekend.
I spent most of Saturday making a cargo barrier for a friend - and only got a little bit done on the mog. During the week I made up a whole load of triangular brackest for the roof rack - and ground back some of the welds to made the fit. I'll weld them in next weekend as well. .
First up the folded bumper parts
Attachment 39945
I had to make sure the bar allows enough space for the grill to be removed - whilst I happy enough to remove the bumper to tilt the cab - I don't want to do that just to remove the grill.
Attachment 39949
The end of the bumper were exactly 90 degrees - but they looked wrong, so I had to cut open the ends, and bend them out a bit to make it look right - this leaves me with a bit of gap to fill, but I'm getting quite good at that. The bumper will protect the front edge of the mudguards.
My el-cheapo plasma cutter made short work of the 5mm plate from the bullbar, cutting out the headlight recess easily. Definitely a great investment. The Hella 4000's fit quite nicely, and I'll use a standard 7" H4 for the normal beams. I picked up a few headlight pod of a Jaguar XJ6 - decent steel pods.
Attachment 39946
Then I cut out the other side
Attachment 39947
This is how I left it this evening, all welded up and the gaps filled in. I welded two temporary bars on line up the two ends, and spaced them out properly, giving me enough clearance to the cab tilt supports.
Attachment 39948
As I expect the cab moves relative to the chassis, hence to the bumper quite a bit, I wanted enough clearance to let it sway around - the tilt support will clear the bumper by 10mm on either side - so unless cab shifts a lot to the left or right when the chassis twists, I should be OK.
Next weekend I'll make up the brackets that support the bumper once the winch mounting plate arrives. I'll have to cut some access points to get spanner into the bolts that hold the winch support in place. Regarding the winch, is it worthwhile making an inspection hole in the top to check the winch cable - I'll be putting one in over the main wiring connections. My TJM bullbar on my Discovery has an inspection hole over the top of the winch, but the ARB one on the Defender doesn't. If I make it big enough - then I can us it to access the bolts on the inside of the chassis rail. I'm planning on using 3 bolts on each side - they are all M14 so would have a combined shear strength way over the capacity of the winch. I also need to weld on some recovery eyes to the winch support plate. I was thinking of getting some made from 16mm plate - one on each side.
