[where else can you get brush packs]

I am currently running two 12v Bowmotors to test there ability to withstand prelonged use with 24 volts running through them ( a customer has been doing this for a year with no problems and brought it to my attention, hence the further testing)

It is a shame that we did not need to winch at the special in Devon (If we had we might have got it right )

Otherwise you would have seen it.

Example:

This was clip was taken on the way to winning this years Ultimate challenge.

The motors in use have surived three events so far, but it is early days. However we constantly check the internal condition and have been suprised and very pleased to find that in fact the motors still look like new inside.

12 on 12 volt the XP all day long, but in this new age we live in where new tricks are being tried every day, the Bowmotor would appear (at present) to have found another edge

Jim

Bad joke of the day : "All this testing is such a drag" told you it was bad

[where else can you get brush packs]

I have been lucky enough to be party to extensive motor testing on rigs to find out what motors are doing what............

Breaking it down quickly..........Xp does out peform the Bowmotor.......

The 7.8's from New Zealand are worse than pants so don't got that route either

However the Bow motor does have other advantages, hence i am running two at present.

But for straight pull on pull the XP wins every time (12V)

Sorry Dave

Jim

Ps: I forgot to add that the early Bowmotors (Not those that we see now) Where superior, they where great infact..............

RIP the early Bow's

[chassis crossmember...]

I remove the lugs that hang down under the chassis and then fabricate a new cross member out of box.

This gives a nice clean underside. I have thought of paneling the underside, but then decided it would probably be more of a hinderence when faced with rocks and stumps.

But thats just an opinion

Jim

Ps: Ask Adrain Turner, he runs a huge alli under tray and i think he loves it

[forum competition]

showroom condition in comparison to:

That was me at the Tay forest challenge last year........ Tell a lie, no it was not it was me at the 4x4 Adventures event in Feb this year......I must be getting old

After most events i scrap up one maybe two wheel barrows of mud when i clean the car.............

After that event i level filled 4 big barrows with mud..........Boy oh boy it was minging

Jim

[gearboxes.]

Having seen you drive Simon i would seriously look at auto's............... You like to work your car hard and auto will take a lot of strain of the drive line when pushed hard.

Also you will be able to find one out a disco fairly easliy.

If you go this route, do fit Two flex plates for extra strength.

Otherwise i would go R380 ( 'Cos reverse is so much nicer than an LT)and buy a bag of "Mechanical sympathy" to use with it

Speak soon

Jim

[Challenger 4x4 competition dates for 2008!!]

As soon as Jim sorts the auto free spool drums I think I'm going to 24v the twin motor!

Just over a month to go Steve

Then it's in cab freespool Heaven B)

Sounds like a good event, i look forward to seeing the results.

Jim

[Outback Challenge Morocco 2008]

Dont worry about learning to drive, Jim has barely got to grips with the basics and can only cope with 2 pedals but still managed it !

Just

[Outback Challenge Morocco 2008]

Note to myself: re-mortgage the house, learn to drive, enter the 2009 event...

Xav,

We are looking to go next year as the Aussies are supposed to be coming over in force

How much fun would that be Awesome.

Jim

[fiber glass bonnets]

There was a firm at the Donnington indoor show (Ironicly this stand was outside ) that was selling fibre glass Defender bonnets that had a similiar styling to the Puma bonnet but with a rather nice cut out with a grill fitted.

But can not rememeber the name of them

Can anyone help as i would like to contact them ?

Jules you would like these

Jim

[SVA result from today]

"even bigger bonus what kind of things does the sponsorship allow you to enter?"

Thers only one Laurie Sternbeck.............

Laurie Sternbeck is the one..................

La, La L,a ................

Jim

[Seats For Challenge Vehicle]

Does that mean you think there cheap ?

The only trouble i can see with the Mesh seat is that they are porbaly flat? Thus no support.?

Anyone found a pic yet?

Jim

[Winches discussion]

Would be very good to see you out and about again..............

But can you wait till after the Tay so at least i have a chance of adding that the list

You are right in what you say, there are no clearly defined Major events, although anything that is well attended and two days or over has to be considered i think? who knows?

It was easy a few years ago

It also has to be mentioned the standard of vehicles now competeing at the Howling Wolf is not to be sniffed at, there are some very specilist vehicles coming through that are very nice...................

More worrying is they are learning to drive them

Jim

[Winches discussion]

Was just wondering who or what decides if an event is a major one or not.

Adrian

Hi Adrian,

Hope your well? Any chance of you coming out of the wilderness?

I think the above question belongs to another thread.......and that Daan is probably very near the truth.......

But ones that spring to mind:

Bulldog trophy

Muddy truckers trophy

Ultimate Challenge

Tough trucks trophy

Santa's muddy challenge

Hound of the Baskiville

The list goes on

Would you disagree?

Jim

[Seats For Challenge Vehicle]

What about the ones that the military have fitted to the wolf WMIK's? think they're exmoor trim (i just looked on their site and it's not listed, but you could ring them).

they're a kind of open mesh type thing. hose-able.

Showing my ingorance.........But i have never seen these, but sound worth a look.

@Hendrik: I am hopeless with pics, but i will try to a grown up to take some for me

Probabley be next week. I'll mail them to you.

Jim

[Seats For Challenge Vehicle]

Forgot to say if you do buy these seats..........

DO NOT BUY THERE QUICK RELEASE MOUNT, THEY WEIGH MORE THAN THE QE2

Make your own from Alli, very easy for a bloke like you and you can make them easily removeable.

Jim

[Seats For Challenge Vehicle]

I use the same seats as Stefan (qt)

I love them, my co driver hates them with a passion i can not begin to describe, or at least he does until i put the hammer down then he loves them again

No such thing as the perfect seat for what we do Steve, just compromise

Jim

Ps: Standard seats take alot of beating until they get wet of course

[Winches discussion]

Thing is, how many batteries would he require to run four 24v motors and how bigger alternator or how many alternators?

Also, as the wazza system fits onto the xp motor, can you run it on an xp winch? Or would the internals wear and brake very quickly like on the 8274, although the xp is a much slower winch and therefore more gentle on components?

The answer to the batteries question is quite a few

But as for the one about the XP ? That is a great question B)

In fact at the last rounds of the Extreme challenge series some guys were using massively modified lowline winches with twin motors linked by the Waza system !

Awesome was the judgement on them at first, unfortunately they started to suffer with reliability issues as the poor old XP winch just can not take the power and the brake tends to give up just a bit quick as well.

However if they get it sorted, it could be a good bit of kit

Jim

[SVA result from today]

Nice one Tim

I bet it feels nice to be near the end B)

Looking good

Keep up the great work

Jim

Ps: How many weeks to Morroco?

[Winches discussion]

Jim,

Whats wrong with tactics??? Beats randomly falling into the nearest bog because 'it's there' - See you at the TAY!

Adrian

Hi Adrian,

Nothing wrong with tatics, stop being so edgy Just saying that event is a bad one on which to judge winch performance as tatics proved more important.

As for the Autograph bit, mate you would have Mildly miffed yourself. Bathtub was on the wind up, it was not Simon he was after poor deluded lad

@ Young Rhys: Hi Rhys, yes we are well aware of the Wazza system. It is very clever and quite cheap, however fails to strentghen the winch internals leaving the winch vunerable to failure.

Of the top twenty teams in Aus our winches are fitted to more than 16 of them and dominated the 2007 season.

I am hoping to get some very good results this year, but only time will tell................

Jim

[Peter and The Ground Anchor]

Can not say better than that.

If you managed to get that to hold at Cradle rock Grass then it did very well B) Ask poor old Alan (Hope you get well soon)

I believe this is a later spec one than the unit Peter found in his ownership, proving that development works.

Good product review.

Jim

[Winches discussion]

Hiya Peter,

As Bish says "No Flaming here"

Great looking winch that works well, whats the problem with that?

Love the fact it can be controlled from inside the cab that really is a very clear advantage over the old system.

I also like the fact you've had the balls to stick to a large low line unit where most would not, thus keeping one of the best bits of the type 'R', the fact it does not restrict the cooling in any way. Please do not get me wrong i think that John and Carls upright unit is also a superb piece of engineering with many advantages also.

I think this healthy competition is good thing for the end user, as is choice.

I wish you well with what is undoubtably going to be a formidable opponent.

Is the price for the just the winch? Or does that include pumps, motors, valve block etc.........

Not taking a cheap shot, geniunely intrested. Yes price is important, but if people understand that what they are getting can not be acheived for any less or made any better they will pay it. Always best to build to a spec, not a price.

I would be suprised if you have not already wet the appittites of at least a fair few people.

Jim

Ps: I hear every week from someone that is going to make a cheaper Twin motor system...........

Then they look at the spec, then they check with there engineers, then they order one of us

[Winches discussion]

I completely agree with you Bull Bar Cowboy................

I have been lucky enough to win pretty much every major title in the UK at least once over and it is not by being the best driver or even having the best car or co driver..............

What i am very good at is making the package work and gell together, thus always making us a dangerous opponent.

The Tay Trophy 2007 is a very bad example of winch ability as that event was won entirely on tatics not the best car, equipment or anything else for that matter........just tatics.

Simon Buck is also very good at getting the very best from his team (truck, driver, co driver, winch) this is a relationship that has been built up over 12 years and shows. they rarely shout at each other and although Cookie (he will love me for saying this) is not the fittest bloke about town, he is very, very good at what he does and rarely makes a mistake.

Winches are and always will be a very personal thing that is the prefered opinion of each individual.

Everybody has there own ideas as to what is great and what is not. This is very important otherwise we would all stop looking for the ultimate solution.

I believe i have found my "Ultimate solution" and just keep improving it.

To that end people have been buying and using this product with many great results and NO failures.

Just this weekend alone Twinmotor winches took 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th at the Ultimate challenge, the uk's only three day event, and 2nd and 3rd at the "Extreme" in France (3 day event, very tough).

This by defintion does not prove that these winches will make you win? But it does keep proving that they are 100% percent reliable and will help you to win events.

Jim

[Ultimate challenge]

Twinmotor in action at the weekend...................

B)

Jim

[Ultimate challenge]

Great event,

Hope You feel better soon Alan, that was a bad roll.

We wondered if spending the night with co driver and damaged ribs was a good idea Jennie's cuddles are far more gentle............So i've heard

Thanks to everyone who attended for making it great fun to do.

Not one sign of any cheating and lots of smiling faces..............Awesome.

Really enjoyed the whole thing.

1st Jim Marsden Adrain Turner Def 100' TD5 Twinmotor 8274

2nd Stefan Prachet Dan Fabb Def 100' evo 2.8TGV Twinmotor 8274

3rd Ben Hollis Simon (not sure ) Def 90 300tdi Twinmotor 8274

4th Foney Jansen Ced (not sure ) G wagen Twinmotor 8274

will get points up soon

Jim

[Winches discussion]

Quote Carl Hurst: "Hot on your heals"

Congratulations on your second place in class.

But if in your shoes i would be concerned, Chris (1st place) Nearly doubled your score

That is not being "Hot your heels" stuff. I also heard that you had to 'double line' your new winch at least once? Is that True?

Hi Peter (Winchtime),

Hope you are well?

Very nice looking unit you have there, i look forward to seeing it in action.

I know your gagging to tell us, so come then what makes it so much better than a standard type 'R'?

Could this be the first hydraulic winch to win a Major title ?

I love all this new winch innovation, it is much needed and perhaps a little late judgin by the way vehicles have evoled in the last season.

Love electric, love hydraulic, both have clear advantages over the other, but it is early days for these new hydraulic units and they need to prove themselves in more than one event.

I am sure that in a years time when they have been in action for all to see that we can make a judgement, but after one event ???????? No not really B)

I look forward to what will be an intresting battle of the winches this year and hope that all involed do not turn it in to a slagging match.

All these units are fantastic peices of BRITSH engineering that the world is watching with great intrest, so lets give them something worth watching.

I have to point out thought that there was only four twinmotor winches entered this round and at least 6 very well sorted hydraulic systems started.........That i found an intresting comparision

But please lets keep this honest and NO Bull as we can ALL learn from each other.

Team Gigglepin 2008

Chris Abel, Simon Wilkinson

Rangerover 200tdi trayback

Adrian Turner Richard Westerley

Def 90 TD5 trayback

Steve Gittins Mark Morgan

Def 90 200 trayback

Jim Marsden Adrian Turner

Def 100' TD5

Mike Smith Wayne Smith (Australia)

Range rover 4.6 supercharged

Rowan Canavan Wayne Smith (Australia)

Nissan GU 6.0 supercharged

These are are sponsered teams for the year and they will using and testing our kit before it reaches full production.

We hope to continue are domination of the Aussie scene again this year as well at home and in Africa, Malaysia and Europe.

We currently have nearly 200 Twinmotor winches in operation on some of the best cars worldwide without a single mechincal problem in over 12 months.

It's a big ask to do better than last year, but we have many new innovations about to hit the dirt that will again transform our winches and keep them on the podium.

Should be a good year

Good luck to all

Kind regards

Jim