Anyone know much about mounting winches?

[deeman111]

Hey all,

Today i finally got my ass in gear and decided to mount the winch that has been sitting in my shed for a month or so. Quick rundown... car is a brand new Toyota Fortuner, with the genuine Alloy winch compatable bar. The winch is a Domin8r 12000lb (yeah i know its cheap chinese crap, but i couldnt justify the $3800 Toyota wanted for a Warn winch when i dont plan on using it all that much)

I mounted the winch up and noted that it sits low enough that the rope has to come over the top of the winch to get to the front of the car, and not under the drum like specified in the winches manual.

So im guessing there is a reason they say you cant run the rope over the drum, but i cant think what it is. Any ideas if it is safe to mount it this way?

http://i271.photobucket.com/albums/jj151/deeman111/winch1_1.jpg

http://i271.photobucket.com/albums/jj151/deeman111/winch2_1.jpg

I have a hawse fairlead to mount up and all the electrics still. But i figure ill do that once i know i wont have to pull this all out again

So is the general thought that its safe to run like this, or do i need to start looking at modifying the mount
Thanks for the help
James

[dmanvan]

think you will find it is related to pressure on the drum and thus through the vehicle. over top will give pressure down underneath pressure up.... (dont really want pressure down when you are trying to get unstuck?)

[S85FI]

You only have to be stuck once and no matter how cheap a winch is its no good if it don't work. Just watch the rope rewind videos they explain why it can't go over the top.

[deeman111]

Here is the winch that is supplied by toyota, can be either cable or rope. That one mounts over the top. Shame i cant find anyone who has a winch on the Fortuner/Hilux

http://www3.toyota.com.au/hilux/~/media/toyota/vehicles/hilux-ng/images/accessories/hilux-winch.jpg?h=400&hash=17B3E65EF49566F8C2AB5826F022F443EDEA131E

[S85FI]

The main reason for over under the top is most controllers have a arrow to tell you if it is winding in and out. If you're over the top the drum will roll out the cable when it should be winding in. There is another reason and that is how the first few coils bind in on the drum when you first feed in the cable.

I havent wound in a new cable for years but there the things i do remember.

I aso use a blue tooth controller which gives me 30m from he car. Again that has arrows for direction of wind in and wind out.

No idea if that picture is for display or not but check the controller and drum coils for winding direction.

See if you can get manufacturers specs on it.

My experience with drum winches from 4-5 ton up to ~120t recovery units and same as above.


Edit :
Mate was asking the same question tonight about different brands and we went through them. The reviews were poor I thought. Apples with apples certainly wasn't a consideration.

Also top wind vs bottom wind I explained that to my mate as above (obviously if the winch is designed in that direction) with winch controller direction as he is looking for a 2nd hand one... Go new I say.

[deeman111]

I should probably clarify, im not rewinding the rope backwards onto the drum to make it sit on top (and hence reverse the winding direction). I have simply flipped the whole unit over (so the bottom left mounting bolt is now in the top right etc). It will still wind in when the in button is pressed, and the brake is still running the correct way under tension.

After reading a bit i'm thinking the "must come from under the drum" is for when it is mounted on a horizontal mount, as coming from over the top is a bit more leverage and stress on the body. As this is mounted vertical, from my inexperieced eye, the forces applied will be the same either above or below the drum.

Cheers for helping me out