Outer Limits 4x4 Board

Is there any difference between the mounting system of the winch and non winch bars? Eg. thinkness of plate used on uprights, etc

Thinking of modifying my non winch bar to take my high mount, like the one in the attached pic, which looks like a non winch bar, as it is misssing the part over the fairlead.

You know, since i currently work for arb, i wish i knew the answer for that. On almost all of the bars, the mounting system to the frame/chassis is exactly the same between winch and non winch. There is extra support though between the 2 mounting joints on the bar. There's a lot of support in there, mostly angle iron left to right as you look at it head on. ARB's for the most part aren't intended for high mounts though. They're must stronger in a low-mount setup. On a suzuki, if you used a high mount, you might risk bendng something downwards....

Someone here must have done something similar...

What size winch you got?

Old Warn Highmount (looks same as 8274 but no freespool) 8000pd

I'd say find someone else who has done it and used it first before trying it. I know you can modify it for a low mount, but i'm just not so sure about the high. I guess you could mount it lower and brace it higher. Only the cruisers use a high mount from memory anymore.

The bolting position would be similar, low or high mount, but the horizontal surface on the bar has to be trimmed to clear the gearbox. It really shouldn't twist any different (excluding the flat section vs L section)

Whats the different betweena high or low mount winch?

I have never quite figured this one out...

Aren't you wanting to run comps? If you are you might want to ask around a bit on how you'll go with no freespool on your winch. having to "reverse" out cable would take an awfully long time.

While you've got the bar off the car just add in some extra bracing.

Most comp modified hi mounts actually pin the clutch lever, to stop it from unloading during winching. Will just have the cable out onto the bar before the stages, and wouldn't take that long to spool out a few extra meters. High mount free spool is quite difficult anyway due to the gearbox still being engaged. Got to price up a custom bar, pity that cheezy's doors are closed to the public.