Legalities of fitting fair lead and best way to fit for cable.

[mudnut]

I am designing a winch cradle, and I am wondering how far forward the fair lead can protrude past the front each of a factory Nissan alloy bar. I am also wondering if having the cable from the winch is better spooling from the top of the drum or the bottom?

[MudRunnerTD]

Bolt the fair lead straight to the front of the bar. It's a guide.

Always spool over the top of the drum. Especially on a Lowmount with an internal Drum brake. Imperative.

[mudnut]

Thanks MR, I thought there was a problem with the fair lead sitting out so I was going to bolt it to the cradle so the rollers were just a bit past the aluminium face.

[the evil twin]

Bolt the fair lead straight to the front of the bar. It's a guide.

Always spool over the top of the drum. Especially on a Lowmount with an internal Drum brake. Imperative.

Hiya MudRunner

Top? I thought it was the bottom or have I misinterpreted your post

All Warn low mounts are fed on from the bottom AFAIK. If you want to change the orientation you need to change the motor mount as well so that the drain hole is still on the bottom at the 6 o'clock

[mudnut]

My winch doesn't have drain holes so I was thinking of running a pressurised system, linked to the diff and gearbox breathers.

[MudRunnerTD]

Hiya MudRunner

Top? I thought it was the bottom or have I misinterpreted your post

All Warn low mounts are fed on from the bottom AFAIK. If you want to change the orientation you need to change the motor mount as well so that the drain hole is still on the bottom at the 6 o'clock

Glad your here ET. Out with the family, you are right and I am wrong. Spool from under is correct.


** walks away bubbled by his error :(

[mudnut]

So to be correct, this is an aldi winch, with an internal spool braking system, so which way should it be?

[happygu]

Underneath, so it near as straight a pull as possible

Mic

[happygu]

Is it wire rope or synthetic cable?

[mudnut]

I have wire cable. Can't fit synthetic as the brake can get pretty hot.

[threedogs]

Wouldn't it be relative to which way your winch spools. looking at hand controll when it says "IN" it will turn a certain way [to wet to try now here]
You cant change the way it spools , hope this is making sense.
Poly block one is reversable.

[happygu]

Wouldn't it be relative to which way your winch spools. looking at hand controll when it says "IN" it will turn a certain way [to wet to try now here]
You cant change the way it spools , hope this is making sense.
Poly block one is reversable.

Can't use the poly or aluminium blocks with wire cable.... now we just need to convince Mudnut to swap over, and then he can use these style fairleads, and they won't stick out out so much

Mic

[happygu]

I have wire cable. Can't fit synthetic as the brake can get pretty hot.

Usually, the drum only gets hot when spooling out under load, as that is when the brake is being used. I have just used sleeving to help prevent any problems from the drum melting the synthetic rope

Mic

[mudnut]

Yeah, yeah. Dyneema is the go, but I just want to get this thing up and running. I have thought of using a sleeve over the rope, but that will be waaaaay in the future, as I still have road tyres on the Old Trol.

[mudnut]

There isn't much room to mount the winch, as it will hang sightly out from under the bar. I was thinking of incorporating the cradle with the bar mount, but the bar mounts are fairly thin, thus having a bit of give when shunted. I will need to butcher the bar a lot. has anyone got picks of a winch mounted with a factory bar, please?

[04OFF]

Wouldn't it be relative to which way your winch spools. looking at hand controll when it says "IN" it will turn a certain way [to wet to try now here]
You cant change the way it spools , hope this is making sense.
Poly block one is reversable.

Do you sell/use the Poly Block fairleads 3D ?


Any feedback on them, such as ,are they reversable because the wear quickly etc ?

[happygu]

O4OFF

The poly blocks can't be too bad, otherwise ARB wouldn't sell them, as they do normally pitch their gear as high end.

I have aluminium, and i haven't used it yet, as i have only just put synthetic rope on. I was told that the friction of the rope causes the aluminium to heat up and this heat can then damage the rope if you stop winching and let the rope sit on the hot spot. I would presume that the poly block wouldn't hold as much heat, so would therefore be better in that regard.

I bought Masterpull rope, which was a little more expensive than the generic dyneema, as the guy where i bought it from, had had his on the front of his GQ for years and was still using it. I looked at his setup, and he had the aluminium fairlead , so i thought if it was good enough for him, it should be for me too.....

Mic

[happygu]

Oh and the aluminium fairlead i have is reversible too

[Irish]

This is probably a really dumb question, but your fairlead is a roller fairlead yeah?

[04OFF]

My alloy fairlead had a mirror finish when i installed it, after 6 days on Moreton Island, it looked like it had been dug up from the Titanic.

I like the idea of Poly because it wont tarnish, but never seen or talked to anyone thats got or used one, ive still got my alloy one on my car right now, i just had it powdercoated then painted , so im expecting it to wear and look ordinary after a few uses.



When i had to recover my car from its little sleep on its roof, my winch rope was pulling at a nasty 90 deg angle to the fairlead/bullbar, plus the rope was getting dragged through sand before entering the fairlead, both the rope and alloy fairlead stood up well.

[threedogs]

@ 4OFF the poly was $120 but it is reversable.
Cuppa changed his Roller fairlead to an alloy one,
plus removed and replaced the SWR in favour of Dyneema style braid,
on a weight saving exercise and ended up removing 15kg from the front of his Ute. Thats a lot IMO
Plus nothing sticking out the front too far now.

[macca]

Doesn't it depend on which way a low mount winch fits between the chassis rails or the height if the fairlead in the bar?, motor on left spools in at the bottom and motor to the right it spools in at the top?

It gives you options to suit your install, the winch will work fine either way, just look out for the water drain holes. They need to be at the bottom, I have ruined a winch by not letting it drain... ouch!!!!

High mount is a different story, be major to change the spooling rotation with one of that style winch.

[04OFF]

@ 4OFF the poly was $120 but it is reversable.
Cuppa changed his Roller fairlead to an alloy one,
plus removed and replaced the SWR in favour of Dyneema style braid,
on a weight saving exercise and ended up removing 15kg from the front of his Ute. Thats a lot IMO
Plus nothing sticking out the front too far now.

Thanks mate, so guessing you dont have reports from anyone currently using a poly then ?

BTW, I cringe when i see pics like the one you posted (on the right), the one with the dyneema rope going under the leading/lower edge of the bullbar, even if it only got dragged on dirt, the bottom edge of the bar will alsmost certainly damage the rope. :eek:

[mudnut]

To fit the winch without major surgery to the bar and mounts, I may have to hack 10 to 15mm out of the bottom of the radiator support panel or cut a slot in the very top of the winch. I will have to modify the upright strut as well. I was told that welding old aluminium will give an inferior weld.