Mark

Thanks for the comments guys. I will post some more pictures of the end support over the weekend. SOA 93 - With it in the position shown, there is about an inch (possibly incah and a half) between the rad and the back of the winch. I don't think there is much scope to move it back, and with the front of the bumper being as high as you need for an 8274, taking the winch off will involve removing the bumper too if the gap is any smaller! Cheers Mark

Sounds like a stealth mobile phone aerial for a hand free car kit. If there is no car kit still installed, then it will be fine to remove. Dosn't sound facotry at all. My disco has the remnants of about 3 car kits and probably 2 alams in. I am gradually ripping lumps of cable out as I find them! Hope that helps Mark

I think I prefer the Orange - but I understand your username now!! Is the gold some kind of protective layer or just a bad spray job? Looks pretty capable otherwise! later Mark

Just in case anyone was interested, I thought I would post up a few pix of the 8074 that I aquired at sodbury installed on my disco. When I bought the winch, it looked like this: It was bolted into a mount which also constituted the drum support. On closer inspection the motor was found to be burnt out, one of the solenoids was dead, and the wiring was generally shot. It was also missing the freespool lever. I stripped the whole thing down, and the internals were actually in pretty good shape. The motor that is installed now is on a borrow from a mate, and needed a new bearing pressing into the housing as the shaft was a lot smaller than my existing one. It also needed a small sleeve machining to reduce the id of the bearing even more, since I just bought the nearest easily available one that fitted the od on the housing! I have now aquired a new 5HP motor which will be going on this weekend hopefully... The freespool lever was missing, and having seen one or two pictures of these winches the original lever appears to be operated at the back of the winch. Given that I was burying this in the front of the disco I made my version use the same mounting points but be operated from the front. I am very pleased with how that came out: The drum end support was missing completely, so I started from scratch. I chose to use a proper ball bearing to mount the mainshaft in, so I got the biggest bearing I could find (the version with rubber seals on each side) and worked from that. I used a piece from a lump of aluminium I had lying around and machined a pocket to take the bearing. I also drilled and tapped mounting holes to mate up with the existing holes on the bumper. The aluminium is about 21mm thick and seems plenty man enough for this job. This is a bit of a carp photo, as you can't really see it once it is installed. I will take some better ones when I have it apart this weekend if anyone is interested: Mounting the beast once it was built up was a whole world of fun, mainly because the $crapiron bumper was not designed for a warn high profile winch. This meant some new holes needed to be drilled as this bolts through the front rather than through the base. I also had to remove some metal from both the back edge of the winch tray and from the underside of the slam panel to get the winch to fit in the hole! I deliberatly got a hawse with offset mounting holes knowing that the bumper was already drilled for an offset fairlead. Making my own drum support meant that I could utilise the existing hole. The winch looks pretty much at home in the front of the car, and does not stick out the front much at all, which is always good. It is a very tight fit in there though! I am running the winch off a second battery with an x-eng split charge to charge it. Installing the second battery was very easy, as it is pretty much a mirror image of how the main vehicle battery is installed. The only marginally complicated bit is the split charge relay, but since the second battery is on the same side of the engine as the alternator, cable runs are really pretty minimal. The wiring on the winch is all 35mm^2 flexible cable with crimped ends. I picked up a crimping tool on eBlag a while ago, and was very glad of it! The cable came from our local scrap metal place, so was very cheap! I can't remember where the terminals came from, but I have run out now so need to remember! Control for the winch is via a switch in the cab to enable it, and then either another dash mounted in-out switch or by plugging the remote into one of two sockets on the front grille (one each side). I didn't want to mount a switch directly on the front of the car, so the plug in remote works fine for me. This started out as a budget winch install, and whilst i has not been the cheapest way to do it, it certainly hasn't been the most expensive! All the machineing was done by me on my little myford ml7, which I find very satisfying. However, I must thank various members of the Horsham posse for putting up with me phoning them and dropping into thier workshops for impromtu winch lessons. Mainly this would be Nick (RogueVogue) for his patience and seemingly endless supply of bits of winch and Si (simonr) for the use of his press and generally putting up with me! Bit of a long post know but I figure I like reading this sort of stuff, so maybe a couple of other people might be interested too. Cheers Mark

Green bosch is thier domestic range, and Blue is their Pro range (or at least this was the case a couple of years ago). I have a black and decker 800W which I have had for about 5 years and has been abused and is now rumbling. I also have a blue homebase (powerbase brand) which I have had for about 4 years and has only ever been used for sanding but is still going strong. At christmas I treated myself to a Metabo Grinder from screwfix (picked the most expensive one in the catalogue in the hope that it was good!) and so far has been excellent. I believe metabo is the same company as elektra beckum, so I am hoping it will last. It is certianly quieter and smoother than either of the others. B&Q ones have plastic gearboxes (and gears) so probably not a great idea. Not sure that helps much. but hey... Cheers Mark

Mr Bowyer sells sheathing for winch ropes...

I don't think you are imagining it Chris. But I don't know what they are called or where to get them! Not much help, but I am sure tey exist too.... Mark

You can gas a diesel, but it is used as an additive for performance rather than as an alternate fuel. ie you run on Diesel and Gas, rather than just gas. What are you plannig to achive? Thanks Mark

so it's a bit like velcro then????

Err, none of the above.... Do a search on here and you will find several really good threads on how to buy a decent welder. A good bit of advice is to go to your local welding specialist and buy a refurbed or decent second hand machine - Cebora, cemig, migatronic, butters, murex are all decent makes that will serve you very well. I am not an expert, but I did a lot of reading before i got my machine. The experts have put thier views on other threads so it really is a good idea to have a trwl through a couple of the other good welding threads. Cheers Mark

I bought mine from a place called SED in guildford. I asked for a rubber boot for 35mm^2 cable onto an M8 (13mm) stud and they had them on the shelf. The ones I have are a really good tight fit over the terminal and cable. I think they were about £1.50 each which I didn't think was too extortionate. Mark

Ah, hadn't seen that. sorry for the bm steer..

Rusper is open on the 16th email Paul Wightman if you want to go... Mark

Don't forget the dumbirons are joined together on a lightweight too. It provides reinforcement for the bumper. Mark

Serious abuse? Does trying to drive up a steep hill with the Disc Handbrake still applied count? Yeah, a recon t-box is certainly appealling at the moment. Cheers Mark

OK, I think I have broken my centre diff - I havn't confirmed this yet as i attacked the Transfer box from the wrong end! Having got the speedo housing off it turns out the centre diff comes out from the front... So, Fearing the worst I am researching getting another centre diff unit. Looking in my parts catalogue I can see FRC7926 and FTC5207 with thier associated change points. I presume this is the T-box serial number - if so where do I find it? Can anyone jut tell me what a 91 200 TDI disco should have in it? B) Also does anyone have a centre diff unit lying around on a shelf, since the prices on craddocks seem quite high! Do Ashcrofts do replacement centre diffs? Cheers Mark NB, this is should be something of a testament to hw strong an X-Brake actually is....

Yeah, I have to admit that I did a quick search for them on eBlag but could only find them for the rear door. I am certian someone does them for the front doors too - I was planning to post a link! OK, I found what I was looking for - but it for a series door. sorry series door cards Mark

chequer plate door cards often appear on eBlag... Mark

I have to agree with Steve. The person asking the question seemed to be asking a genuine question, and had plenty of other un related posts. The response was pretty much an honest reply. I suspect it was a plain google hit on the product name that brought him here. A little OTT I feel. Cheers Mark

4th june I believe

Are you sure you want to say that? Why not!!?? Adrian, I am pretty sure you don't want to roll on the next outing!!! Mark

Thar Hole that bish is stuck in looks very familiar!!!

I am pretty sure it would be just the same as a still picture - I wasn't going anywhere!!! Mark

diode pack on the back of the alternator - it is is replaceable then it will probably be cheaper than an entire alternator. I have to admit though, my 91 200 tdi alternator didn't look like it had a replaceable diode pack... Mark

Good pictures steve! Thankfully it looks like you also lost the ones of me stuck withing 5 minutes of leaving the assembly area! Mark