Outer Limits 4x4 Board

G'day all

Am in the process of buying a LWB Vitara to modify and play with in the bush and on the beach . At the moment we have a Prado that has a Warn XD9000 winch on and I am thinking about putting it on a Vitara once we get it.

Has anybody out there got an XD9000 on their vitaras and how did it fit?

The Vitara/s that we are looking at do not have bullbars, so the first thing I will be buying is a decent winch bar (either an ARB winch bar or tube bar made by either Snake racing or Overkill). I'm sure either of the tube bars could be made to fit the XD9000, however the ARB unit I think is only made for up to 8000lb winches.

Also, I'm wondering whether the battery and alternator setup for a Vitara would handle something like the XD9000?

Is this complete overkill putting this winch on a Vitara? I like to be self sufficient when I'm 4wding, so a winch is always a necessity for me . Maybe I am best selling the XD9000 and buting a smaller unit?

Any advice from you more learned Zuki owners would be appreciated.

Cheers
Goldey

It should fit the ARB bar ok but just grab an ARB catalogue and check the differing winch dimensions. I looked at this sometime back when looking for a winch for mine and I'm pretty sure the outcome was that the 9000 would fit. I picked up an 8000lb winch in the end and just run it with a single Optima yellow top battery and the standard alternator.

Thanks CJ

Well, we bought the Vitara on the weekend, woohoo!!
Gave it a major clean and noticed that the bonnet was closing a bit skewed. Turns out the drivers side where the battery sits is being held up by about half an inch. It looks like the new battery that was put in a little while ago may be the wrong size as it has stopped the bonnent from closing down neat onto the drivers side guard.

Is there a particular battery that you have that will stop this happening? I'd imagine that the bonnet sitiing hard on top of the battery will shorten the batteries life considerably. (it does have rubber protective shields on each terminal of the battery).

Regards
Goldey