Has anyone fitted a winch to a standard alloy bullbar?

[patrol4500]

Hey All,

I have a 99 GU wagon and was looking at getting a new ARB winchbar for it. The thing is i really don't need a steel bar as the alloy one should provide enough protection for what i want at the moment, and after looking at prices i almost shat myself. My question is has anyone modified, or Know of anyone that has modified a factory alloy bar to take a winch?
I spoke to the blokes from TJM down here ages ago and i think he said it could be done but wasn't an easy job. My only other option apart from buying a new one is to look out for a second hand one, but they are few and far between in Tassie, and to get one freighted over here probably wouldn't be real cheap either. Any thoughts or experiences in this at all would be appreciated.
Here is a pic of the bar on my Patrol.



Cheers, Dan.

[Spider Truck]

Mate, Nissan used to do a factory winch cradle for the standard alloy bar. You just need to cut out the middle slat in the lower grill looking bit, and it sits in the cradle behind it. As the cradle mounted between the chassis rails, and housed the winch, and also backed up to the std bar for the fairlead, the bar did not have to support any weight.
Tigerz11 also doa universal winch cradle that you could have modified to suit the std bar. You will just have to cut a section out for the cable and fair lead.
OR...............
You could go to a manufacturing place and have them make up a cradle for you. Their not too hard to do. Look on the tigerz web site and you will see what they look like.

Good luck, let us know how you go.

Cheers.

[patrol4500]

Thanks for that spidertruck, that is very helpful i wasn't aware that there was a cradle you could get for this bar, however i thought something along those lines would be needed to mount a winch in there, i will look into it and see if i can source one or have one made. Will let you know how i go with it.

Cheers, Dan.

[Casnat]

I made a cradle myself. Not too hard.

10mm steel plate for the base. 6mm angle (welded back to back) for sides and 6mm plate for front to mount fairlead. High tensile bolts all round. Uses existing bolt holes.

The hardest part is drilling all the holes through the 10mm plate! Killed a few drill bits!

Photos follow (over a few posts)

Trev

[Casnat]

2nd lot of photos

[Casnat]

lucky last

[Spider Truck]

If you find a ood metal shop, they can put the holes in for you.
Plasma cutters are great toys. hehehe

[patrol4500]

Nice work Casnat, that looks really neat mate, and doesn't look too hard to make either. Thanks for your input mate, much appreciated the pics explained it well too.

Cheers Dan.

[patrol4500]

Originally Posted by Spider Truck

If you find a ood metal shop, they can put the holes in for you.
Plasma cutters are great toys. hehehe

Yep they are a great toy those plasma cutters, Just so happens today after many many months of looking i may have found a second hand steel winch bar for a decent price here in tassie. I am going for a look at it tomorrow, and if it's any good i will grab it. I am told it's a Nissan bar, but should be a darn site easier to fit a winch to than modifying my alloy one, I will let you guys know how it turns out.

Cheers, Dan.