winch bar stuff...agghhhh, its doing my head in!

[uninformed]

i'm building my winch/tube bar. i have a mile marker that has a 9 inch or 230mm drum, the roller fair lead supplied is only 7 inches or 180mm between rollers. as it will be mounted about 50mm from the winch i feel it won't let the wire rope spool properly. where can i buy a 9 inch roller fairlead in QLD.

i will also build a roll bar for the tray which will be bolted to the chassis what is the correct tube to use so it will actually sustain a roll over? i guess this tube can also be used for the bar work.

some pics of the center section/craddle

cheers, serg

[turps]

If you where to run rope. You could use stainless rod bent to the right shape to form a hawse fairlead. Seen a number of cars with widened drums with this. May be able to just wdien the one you have. Just cut the ends off and get a new top and bottom roller made up. Shouldnt be to hard. Think all they are is abit of tube on a bush over another steel rod that is bolted on the end.

[bru21]

to sustain a roll assuming you have a medium to heavy truck not a suzi, 44x3 or rather 50x2.5 is adaquate providing the following are met 100%

x behind cab in say 11/2"x1.6mm going from the centre of the bends to the corners at the bottom or the chassis if it is pulled in bellow the cab.

a cross bar from left to right if there is a bend at tray height (good idea anyway). good to join in the centre of the x if possible or run in the same plane.

back bracing needs to be from the corners of the bends where the x mounts to the chassis WITHOUT BENDS AT ALL. this cannot be stressed enough. i can pull a bend out of 50mm tube out a fair few degrees with my 70kg stature, and can bend more the same way. i just fit the tube into a towball hole and pull/push. make them straight.

arb sell fairleads i don't know how big but they are $150 odd. but reall as its been said above just widen it. might have to meke the top and bottom rollers bigger diameter in order to get h/t bolts long enough to fit, look into this first then get some tube machined. should get change form $100

cheers bru

[uninformed]

thanks bru, with regards to the "tube" for the roll bar, is it just chs pipe from my local metal supplier or is it something a bit higher grade.

i've seen a lux on the coast with a roll bar. it comes off the chassis rails, (meeting these at an angle), in a straight line to its first bend at the outside of the tray then bends back in a little to follow the cab shape, across the top and back down the other side. others i've seen start ontop of the chassis go straight up about 4-6 inches and then bend out towards the side of the tray. whats the best way to meet the chassis and attach to it.

with the x brace and cross bar i guess you would run the one from passenger side chassis to drivers head in one piece, the other way in two pieces and the cross brace in two pieces. is there any benifit in running a cross brace just above chassis rails

cheers serg

[gut42]

i to am building a tube winch bar for a gq to retain a warn highmount, i was wanting to know how to blot it to the chassi some close up pics would be great.

[uninformed]

mines a bit of a barstard bar...not a tube bar and not a bull bar. here are some more pics. all coments welcome.

if i could have made it from plywood it would be done by now. as a chippe i'm use to being able to build something like this in a day.....ha. steel is a different animal to timber...

cheers, Serg

[uninformed]

one more

[bru21]

thanks bru, with regards to the "tube" for the roll bar, is it just chs pipe from my local metal supplier or is it something a bit higher grade.

i've seen a lux on the coast with a roll bar. it comes off the chassis rails, (meeting these at an angle), in a straight line to its first bend at the outside of the tray then bends back in a little to follow the cab shape, across the top and back down the other side. others i've seen start ontop of the chassis go straight up about 4-6 inches and then bend out towards the side of the tray. whats the best way to meet the chassis and attach to it.

with the x brace and cross bar i guess you would run the one from passenger side chassis to drivers head in one piece, the other way in two pieces and the cross brace in two pieces. is there any benifit in running a cross brace just above chassis rails

cheers serg

normal steel is fine just mild pipe (not tube)

the first option is the best.

any plain vertical sections need an x to stabilise, so the second option would need an x at the bottom too which then becomes too narrow and won't do much. its all about froming perfect triangles. no area should have 4 sides.

the x is in 1 & then 2 pieces. join it neatly one of my absolute pet hates is tube that is not in line across a join. if you can't do it by eye use a piece of scrap 50x50rhs a foot or two long and weld 2 short 150mm long bits of angle to each end to use as a jig for welding. i must used mine heaps.

from the end it will look like this L_ <--- O place tube in here
[ ] clamp from top to bottom

[uninformed]

ok, back to the winch bar...... i'm not that happy with my design.

i really like the looks of the full tube bars that i've seen. mostly on lux's and patrol's, haven't seen any on a defender yet.

so far the craddle that i've made will weigh about 23kg, thats not including adding the tube for the sides and the frame work for the skid plate, so its adding up.

i have drawn a 1-1 scale drawing (see pic) of the front of the truck as it is, with the current craddle and where i think the front tube would be. i will gain 5 degrees of approach angle going from 40 - 45 (from vertical)

the way the craddle works currently the winch base is about 20mm higher than the BOTTOM of the chassis horns. if i go to a tube design it will push the base of the winch up about 90mm so it is (base) just above the TOP of the chassis horns. how will this change the forces when winching???? if at all.

i'd really appreciate if anyone could post pics of there tube bars, pics of the frame work for the winch and how they mounted them(winch) and mounting pics for the bar itself. any specs to go with, like size of tube - eg nominal bore and wall thickness.

also if not pics the location of the winch base to the top of the chassis horns, weather higher or lower.

i know this has been done to death but as i've already spent about 20hrs getting this far i'd like to nut it out before i go crashing into another pile of steel and time....

all feedback is great and here's to me getting my shit together and getting it right

cheers, Serg

ps. i feel a bit retarded at the moment