Winch and Bumper - on a budget ?

[tweetyduck]

i want a full bull bar bumper pref with head light grills/mesh and a winch. Can anyone make any suggestions to what will suit my requirements. I just needs it to get me out the carp on my trip so nothing too fancy just something that will work and not break the bank. Would i be able to get something for £1000 or even less (possibly fitted?)

On top of the winch any accessories i might need would also be helpful. Links and pointers are always welcome. I might also need help on wiring it up.

Thanks,, as always i know nothing about this subject so need some help.

p.s.Some money is set aside for some professional winch training along with offroad training,,,but thats for later.

[landroversforever]

http://www.douglassmotors.co.uk/4x4/Defender_ARB_style_Winch_Bumper_Bar.html

Is that any good for the bumper? gives alot of protection, and must be lighter than a genuine ARB bumper .

[tweetyduck]

that looks fine

I wanted some headlight protection but I can weld that on or fit the proper covers. This might just be exactly what i'm looking for.

Thanks a million.

[Maverik]

nice looking bumper...

[FridgeFreezer]

A few thoughts:

1 - £400 for a bumper?

2 - Why do you need bull bars / light guards? Are you planning to crash into a lot of things quite gently?

3 - How much does that colelction of girders weigh?

[tweetyduck]

having hit a rather large bird of pray, head on, in Australia with its belly being too full of a Roo Dinner to get out of my way, I want a much metal infront of me as i can get. Feeling is if i do hit something bigger the more the better. You could say the same of a roll cage and thats still on the cards......

Seriously though thats the only suggestion off anyone so far......and as i said i'm open to ideas

[dirtyninety]

That bumper is freakin huge and ugly and heavy and everything i wouldn't want!!!

You say £1000 thats IMHO A LOT of money to spend on a bumper and winch, well for overlanding perhaps not in a winch challenge situation.

Goldfish winch

[FridgeFreezer]

A roll cage is an entirely sensible idea, Land Rover bodies are not overly rigid and move about a lot on rough tracks (my bulkhead is now cracked and my door hinges are all worn out because of this), so just from that point of view it's a reasonable idea. Add to that the extra protection of occupants and it's a very sensible addition.

Bolting 100kg of extra iron to the front bumper is a different thing altogether, I thought the idea was to keep excess weight etc. to a minimum. Most bull-bars will bend if you hit anything with a bit of force (they're only really nudge/brush bars), at which point the damage is nice and evenly spread over a larger area and you then need to get the big hammers out to straighten the things.

A weld-in winch tray costs all of £35 last I looked, even in 6mm steel won't weigh much and will help deflect anything too serious from the front end.

[Mo Murphy]

Save yourself a load of money and weight and just buy a secondhand Tirfor.

Mo

[Bush65]

In Aus, I wouldn't want to do a trip without a decent bull bar.

Neil was lucky he only hit a bird no larger than an eagle. Emu and roo strikes are common and result in a lot of damage, often putting an end to trips and stranding people in remote areas (stranded people can and do perish here).

I've seen pics of a badly damaged vehicle in (from memory) Germany after hitting a small deer.

Swerving to a avoid our wildlife often leads to severe injuries or loss of life.

[Retroanaconda]

A roll cage is an entirely sensible idea, Land Rover bodies are not overly rigid and move about a lot on rough tracks (my bulkhead is now cracked and my door hinges are all worn out because of this), so just from that point of view it's a reasonable idea. Add to that the extra protection of occupants and it's a very sensible addition.

Bolting 100kg of extra iron to the front bumper is a different thing altogether, I thought the idea was to keep excess weight etc. to a minimum. Most bull-bars will bend if you hit anything with a bit of force (they're only really nudge/brush bars), at which point the damage is nice and evenly spread over a larger area and you then need to get the big hammers out to straighten the things.

A weld-in winch tray costs all of £35 last I looked, even in 6mm steel won't weigh much and will help deflect anything too serious from the front end.

Is the theory that the roll cage stops the chassis twisting, and therefore relative movement of the body panels is reduced? I guess also that if the roof is fixed to the cage (via a through roof hoop fixing etc.) that this will help as well?

[FridgeFreezer]

The chassis is OK on its own, it's the floppy aluminium box on top that waves about alarmingly.

[Retroanaconda]

So how does a roll cage that surrounds, but is not attached (bar the roof through-joins mentioned above) to the body strengthen it at all?

Or are the roof-through mounts enough?

[PaulMc]

having hit a rather large bird of pray, head on, in Australia with its belly being too full of a Roo Dinner to get out of my way, I want a much metal infront of me as i can get. Feeling is if i do hit something bigger the more the better. You could say the same of a roll cage and thats still on the cards......

Seriously though thats the only suggestion off anyone so far......and as i said i'm open to ideas

I think you're right in wanting some serious frontal protection on an overlanding trip.

A collision with a medium/large animal can disable your vehicle and leave you to become a victim

Have a look at this thread -

http://forums.lr4x4.com/index.php?showtopic=50080

There's some pictures I posted on there of a 110, with an ARB Bull Bar Bumper, that had hit a cow at 60mph and survived the experience (the 110, not Daisy )

.

[FridgeFreezer]

So how does a roll cage that surrounds, but is not attached (bar the roof through-joins mentioned above) to the body strengthen it at all?

Or are the roof-through mounts enough?

Looking at most expedition style cages, they are external, bolting through the body on plates so add extra support there, as well as taking any roof-rack loads. I'm planning to brace to the roof and bulkhead as well to keep everything a bit more rigid, if only to stop reduce the rattling and squeaking

[JST]

winch wise we have run a TDS goldfish from Goodwinch for over 2yrs on the back of RV3 then RV4 and its worked a treat and is certainly upto the requirements for self recovery and its excellent value for money. We run a modified one with Bow2, deep drum and freespool. i also run a standard TDS 9.5 on my training vehicle (with wire rope), faultless to date and its had some hard use.

[HPLP]

I have one of those douglas/arb style bumpers modified to take a superwinch H14 PTO winch. Just finished it this evening in fact.

You could easily buy one of those bumpers new or secondhand and buy a winch with the balance.

H