Winch Fairlead Poll
- Thread starter mountainpete
- Start date
p1michaud
Expedition Leader
Reviving an old thread.
Experiencing deja vue!
This past weekend I installed a Warn winch 9.5XP complete with synthetic line on a TJM winch compatible 80 Series Landcruiser steel bull bar. Funny enough I've encountered the same alignment issue between the roller fairlead supplied by Warn and the aluminium aftermaket hawse fairlead.
Unfortunately I have not found an Australian supplier of off set hawse fairleads unlike North America where I've found three: Viking Off Road, Master Pull and OK Off Road. So as an interim measure I've re-drilled the roller fairlead mountings holes by 15 mm to get proper alignment and prevent the rope from being cut.
Cheers,
P
Experiencing deja vue!
This past weekend I installed a Warn winch 9.5XP complete with synthetic line on a TJM winch compatible 80 Series Landcruiser steel bull bar. Funny enough I've encountered the same alignment issue between the roller fairlead supplied by Warn and the aluminium aftermaket hawse fairlead.
Unfortunately I have not found an Australian supplier of off set hawse fairleads unlike North America where I've found three: Viking Off Road, Master Pull and OK Off Road. So as an interim measure I've re-drilled the roller fairlead mountings holes by 15 mm to get proper alignment and prevent the rope from being cut.
Cheers,
P
Peter_n_Margaret
Adventurer
Alternative winch mount.
I use an aluminium fair lead.
But I mount my Warn 16.5TI winch either front or back in a purpose made trailer hitch arrangement.
Mostly when we get bogged, it is because we went somewhere we should NOT have gone and going BACK with a front only winch is a bit hard....
OR I can attach it to any part of the vehicle via 2 pieces of Dynamica and a 3.5M extension power cable.
This works an absolute treat. The winch always points in the direction of the winch point.
Theoretically (not trialled yet...) I can use the winch to put the vehicle back on its feet if it falls over....:Wow1:
Cheers,
Peter
I use an aluminium fair lead.
But I mount my Warn 16.5TI winch either front or back in a purpose made trailer hitch arrangement.
Mostly when we get bogged, it is because we went somewhere we should NOT have gone and going BACK with a front only winch is a bit hard....
OR I can attach it to any part of the vehicle via 2 pieces of Dynamica and a 3.5M extension power cable.
This works an absolute treat. The winch always points in the direction of the winch point.
Theoretically (not trialled yet...) I can use the winch to put the vehicle back on its feet if it falls over....:Wow1:
Cheers,
Peter
p1michaud
Expedition Leader
I should make a correction, I meant Slee Off Road not Viking Off Road in the above statement.
Well after contacting all three vendors, it looks like Master Pull has the proper off set for my needs with the Ramsey MPF-400. I've placed my order and will report back once it arrives and gets installed. :elkgrin:
For future reference the off sets for the fairleads are as follows:
Slee Off Road - 1" off set
Master Pull - 1/2" off set
OK Off Road - 3/8" off set
michaelgroves
Explorer
I use an aluminium fair lead.
But I mount my Warn 16.5TI winch either front or back in a purpose made trailer hitch arrangement.
Mostly when we get bogged, it is because we went somewhere we should NOT have gone and going BACK with a front only winch is a bit hard....
OR I can attach it to any part of the vehicle via 2 pieces of Dynamica and a 3.5M extension power cable.
This works an absolute treat. The winch always points in the direction of the winch point.
Theoretically (not trialled yet...) I can use the winch to put the vehicle back on its feet if it falls over....:Wow1:
Cheers,
Peter
While I like the versatility, I must say that arrangement leaves a lot to be desired from a basic safety point of view. The winch itself has too many degrees of freedom, so it is more likely to slip lengthwise or in some other unpredictable way; any inspection of or adjustment to the winch or the spooling has to be done right up there among the cables; and a cable breakage on either side is likely to propel 40kg of winch through the air under 16,000 lbs of tension... It's kinda like operating a chainsaw one-handed - you'll probably get away wth it almost all the time.
Stumpalump
Expedition Leader
I have never has a roller setup last very long. Sticking out on the front and used to push a fallen tree or rock in the trail is one thing but just hitting banks and ditches bends them all up. The rollers bind and stop spinning so they get deep cuts in them or they seperate near the corners and the cable binds up in the gap. The synthetic is so slick that it slides right on the aluminium fair leads and you only have to worry about polishing nicks out of it. Emery cloth and wet sanding makes it like new but bent rollers and housings are a PITA or imposible to fix. Good steel rollers fail and now you can even get them with plastic rollers and aluminium housing so you can ruin them faster. I would not want to run a synthetic line thru a damaged roller so a spare aluminium hawse may be a good trail spare if you use a roller. Rollers on synthetic ?..........What a sales pitch.
Peter_n_Margaret
Adventurer
Michael, it does not "slip" in any direction, and it does have a remote control....
Cheers,
Peter
I Leak Oil
Expedition Leader
Peter, while I agree with Michael to a small degree that it "looks" unsafe, it may be perfectly well thought out and executed. No one here can tell for sure just by looking at the picture.
My question though, are you noticing any significant voltage drop by running the electrical that far out? Are you concerned about running over the electrical components once the vehicle gets moving?
While it is an outside the box approach I believe the benefits of a conventional mounting configuration would outweigh the benefits of your current setup.
(Edit)Almost forgot: Aluminum hawse..or Delrin hawse..because rollers WILL lock up and you'll end up with a pseudo hawse anyway.
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michaelgroves
Explorer
"Unsafe" is a relative term. It looks unsafe and it is unsafe compared to a rigid mounting, for at least the three reasons I mentioned. Safety is just another factor to be traded off against some other benefits, so it's a value judgement as to whether it's a good trade-off or not. I personally would regard rigging a winch that way to be very foolish unless it were the only way to get the results required. As Peter said, if your vehicle is on its side, maybe you do what you have to do. But don't let's make out its a safe way of rigging a winch!
Back on topic: For synthetic line, I prefer an aluminium hawse to a roller fairlead because it's lighter, but I have used a roller-type for close on 10 years without any problems. If the rollers don't rotate, it doesn't matter (it acts like a hawse), and maybe I just have a well-designed roller fairlead, but there's no issue with it snagging in the corners. (I'd have difficulty in making it snag; I can't imagine ever winching at an angle that would do it naturally).
Back on topic: For synthetic line, I prefer an aluminium hawse to a roller fairlead because it's lighter, but I have used a roller-type for close on 10 years without any problems. If the rollers don't rotate, it doesn't matter (it acts like a hawse), and maybe I just have a well-designed roller fairlead, but there's no issue with it snagging in the corners. (I'd have difficulty in making it snag; I can't imagine ever winching at an angle that would do it naturally).
Peter_n_Margaret
Adventurer
The voltage drop in the 50mm2 "extension cord" at 400A is about 0.5A, so that is tollerable.
I don't drive AND winch with it when there is a risk of running over it.
It is an ALTERNATIVE to conventional fixed mount use. It can also be used in a fixed position, front or rear, as well, and that is the whole point.
What other alternatives do people have for winching at 45 degrees or more from straight ahead?
Cheers,
Peter
01tundra
Explorer
I was running a composite fairlead, until my new Viking rope melted through it (due to winching angle) and eventually broke once it got through to the steel mounting plate.....now I'm back to an aluminum Viking fairlead.....no more composite anything for me when it comes to winches 
!
Previous composite fairlead -
Of course I was stuck so bad that my Warn 9.5XP was nearly stalled prior to the winch rope eating thru the fairlead and breaking -
You can kind of see here where the rope ate through, it's right at the passenger side mounting bolt on the fairlead -
New Viking aluminum fairlead -
!Previous composite fairlead -
Of course I was stuck so bad that my Warn 9.5XP was nearly stalled prior to the winch rope eating thru the fairlead and breaking -
You can kind of see here where the rope ate through, it's right at the passenger side mounting bolt on the fairlead -
New Viking aluminum fairlead -
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p1michaud
Expedition Leader
Partial success
Well I've purchased the Master Pull Ramsey MPF-400 aluminium fairlead and fitted it to the TJM front bar.
The temporary solution, re-drilled roller fairlead 13 mm +/- 1 mm.
The new replacement:
Roller fairlead vs. aluminium hawse fairlead:
The Ramsey MPF-400 installed:
The improved approach angle:
Finally a cheap and temporary hook storage solution:
The one problem I encountered was that the hawse fairlead mounting holes were larger than the winch mounting bolts thus leaving the hawse to move arround a bit but I'll be using the same solution as Howard70 in this same thread. No biggie, just trying to keep others informed. Otherwise the hawse alignment with the bumper cut out is perfect with a good 3/8" clearance away from the sharp metal edge of the bumper cut out.
Cheers,
P
Well I've purchased the Master Pull Ramsey MPF-400 aluminium fairlead and fitted it to the TJM front bar.
The temporary solution, re-drilled roller fairlead 13 mm +/- 1 mm.
The new replacement:
Roller fairlead vs. aluminium hawse fairlead:
The Ramsey MPF-400 installed:
The improved approach angle:
Finally a cheap and temporary hook storage solution:
The one problem I encountered was that the hawse fairlead mounting holes were larger than the winch mounting bolts thus leaving the hawse to move arround a bit but I'll be using the same solution as Howard70 in this same thread. No biggie, just trying to keep others informed. Otherwise the hawse alignment with the bumper cut out is perfect with a good 3/8" clearance away from the sharp metal edge of the bumper cut out.
Cheers,
P
Master-Pull
Supporting Sponsor
I spliced that rope, I recognize the markings on the packing as mine. I hope you like the Superline XD, mine has performed flawlessly over the past year that I have been abusing it on the front of my jeep.
-Alex
-Alex