T-Max Winches and Tdi Performance

[Dunc]

Hi Everyone,

Firstly, has anyone used one of the T-Max winches?

After buying the Disco last friday ('P' plate, 300 Tdi), on saturday i bought winch bumper, tyres, snorkel, spotlights, roof bar, diff guards, steering guard, +2 suspension and a new radio!

I'd resigned myself to having to save up for a while to be able to afford the winch to put in my nice new bumper, but these T-Max jobbies are less than £400 so i can have one now. They seem light (36kg) and compact but i'm wondering if there's a downside?

I'm not a winch event competitor, so having the hardest flashest toughest doesn't matter. It'll be for the occasional self recovery, pulling logs & trees and perhaps the odd 2nd vehicle recovery.

Any experiences you've had of it, or any suggestions for an alternative very much welcomed.

Secondly, i'm planning to improve performance on the new beast too.

EGR blanking valve i'm told is a must, plus fuel pump timing and a big intercooler.

Whos is best, J Fearn or Allard?

Anyone recommend some diesel tuners who will gaurantee their work?

Thanks very much, Happy Christmas.

Dunc.

[keithjh]

I use a T Max 1100 , and am quite happy with it not the fastest thing in the world, but has coped well with pulling cars/vans out of dykes, also used it for moving large tree trunks etc, My real only complaint that the wander lead connection was not well made but soon sorted that out.

Regards Keith

[Budgie]

Secondly, i'm planning to improve performance on the new beast too.

EGR blanking valve i'm told is a must, plus fuel pump timing and a big intercooler.

Whos is best, J Fearn or Allard?

Anyone recommend some diesel tuners who will gaurantee their work?

Its the injector pump fueling that you need to alter not the fuel pump timing.

Allisport are also a good place to try for the larger intercooler and they, like the others, will set it all up for you as well.

I don't think you'll find any diesel tuners that will gaurantee thier work cos they don't know the state of the engine when you bring it in. They gaurantee and band new engine that they put together!

If your getting a larger intercooler fitted then leave the injector pump alterations until this is done so they have standard settings to work from.

[Dunc]

Its the injector pump fueling that you need to alter not the fuel pump timing.

Allisport are also a good place to try for the larger intercooler and they, like the others, will set it all up for you as well.

Thanks very much, hadn't thought of Allisport.

[Andy]

hey i'm going to break my forum habit of a lifetime & start with a useful post!

i've got a Tmax 11,000lb winch on my disco. cant fault it so far, its a bit slow as said above but its never failed to recover me or anyone else. one of my normal laning buddies has a husky on his disco, the Tmax seems to be just as powerful as that.

as for performace, i got a full width intercooler from www.straightforwardsupplies.co.uk (at least i think that link is right). at £199 its a lot cheaper than the tuning specialists. you need to modify the pipe work, i extended it with 2" zorstpipe.

then i tweaked my injection pump. i used to have a link to a brilliant forum thread, on LRE? cant remember now. forum has shutdown anyway. i've got it saved as a txt file though if you want it emailed. takes a bit of trial & error but you can get them to go well.

mine passes the MOT fine. I run 32" tyres & reckon with all the stuff on/in it i must be nearly 3T. can still out drag a stock disco UPHILL.

[LR90]

hey i'm going to break my forum habit of a lifetime & start with a useful post!

i've got a Tmax 11,000lb winch on my disco. cant fault it so far, its a bit slow as said above but its never failed to recover me or anyone else. one of my normal laning buddies has a husky on his disco, the Tmax seems to be just as powerful as that.

as for performace, i got a full width intercooler from www.straightforwardsupplies.co.uk (at least i think that link is right). at £199 its a lot cheaper than the tuning specialists. you need to modify the pipe work, i extended it with 2" zorstpipe.

then i tweaked my injection pump. i used to have a link to a brilliant forum thread, on LRE? cant remember now. forum has shutdown anyway. i've got it saved as a txt file though if you want it emailed. takes a bit of trial & error but you can get them to go well.

mine passes the MOT fine. I run 32" tyres & reckon with all the stuff on/in it i must be nearly 3T. can still out drag a stock disco UPHILL.

Andy,

try this http://forums.lr4x4.com/index.php?showtopic=31

you might findit familiar.

Oh, and welcome

[Andy]

yep very familiar, didnt realise it was still online anywhere.

[Dunc]

hey i'm going to break my forum habit of a lifetime & start with a useful post!

Brilliant stuff, i'm very grateful.

Over on the LRE forum, a couple of folks have recommended Allisport for the intercooler as they give you the gen for fueling tweeks too.

I'm off to consult the technical archive now!

Dunc

[Dunc]

I'm off to consult the technical archive now

What were the diagrams he refers to?

Dunc

[Shaun D]

Hi Dunc,

I've got a T-Max 11000 on my Disco, I'm very pleased with it although I think mine is a bit noisy (sounds like the brake is rattling inside the drum). It certainly seems to pull very hard and with a snatch block is practically unstoppable, I say practically as it was once beaten by a piece of beech hedge I was trying to pull out, but as the 8 inch dia tree I had stropped the towbar to was starting to pull over I don't think it was the winches fault!

I have had to mend one as a friend of mine plunged one into some Slindon slurry and it wouldn't work when it had dried out. I stripped the motor and washed the cr*p out then sealed it up with silicone sealer when I put it back together. I'll do this to mine when I get a chance and would recommend that anyone doing deep wading should do the same.

I rarely use the hand control as mine is wired for internal switches, I also hid the control box behind the grille which I think looks much better than mounting it above the drum and of course lets you see the cable better.

Hope this waffle helps, Shaun

[Dunc]

Hope this waffle helps, Shaun

Thanks Shaun, it surely does.

[Andy]

for diagrams i found the following links useful.

http://dodgeram.org/tech/dsl/more_power/Power_ve.htm

http://www.cs.rochester.edu/u/jag/vw/engine/fi/injpump.html

once you pluck up the courage to take the top off the pump it really is simple to work out what they mean.

i found the advice didnt work for me as they suggest it though.

with 18psi of boost my diaphram is set to about 1 o'clock, the starwheel is the same, smoke adjuster i think is about 3 turns UP from standard (lost count). max power screw is about 3 turns in, but i lost count there too. i need a new air filter in mine to realy see how it can go as it smokes a bit on full power. i would adjust the fueling but i know the filter is old. so i'll do that first.

[Les Henson]

Bearmach sell re-conditioned T-Max winches for a couple of hundred quid.

Les.

[Andy]

Thats handy to know, probably a useful source of spares for when mine breaks.