Which Winch

I have an Ironman winch which I had installed on my Patrol in May last year. I've had a full Ironman suspension kit on my Navara and have upgraded the coils on my Patrol to Ironman as well. Very happy with the winch which works well. I haven't had to use it in anger as yet but then again I'm of the opinion that the best way to use a winch, is to avoid putting yourself in a spot where you need to use it(if you can). Appreciate this is not going to be the case in a lot off situations, particularly for those who love crawling thru the mountains and mud but I'm more of a desert traveller so it's an easier consideration. The difference in price is appreciable.

I've been very happy with the quality of Ironman products and their service.

Cheers

Mick

G'day Troll 81

Just make sure that whichever winch you buy fits onto the ARB bar. ARB make their bars so that WARN winches can be fitted to them easily. I have a BRAWN winch fitted to an ARB Bar with difficulty.

Cheers

The Ironman winch will do everything you'll need to do with it.
Cheers Craig..........

To anyone

What happened to those Hydraulic winches that work utilising the power steering oil. Some bloke in Sydney was making then some time ago, I hav'nt heard of them since


.

Before I made the post I should have done a search.

A hydraulic winch is driven by a hydraulic motor, the fluid pressure coming from a hydraulic pump driven by the main engine of the four wheel drive. Hydraulic winches offer the fine control of electric winches with the endurance of PTO winches.

Traditionally, the hydraulic pump was driven from a gearbox or transfer-case PTO, but a recent development is to make use of the power steering pump already on the vehicle. Such a winch should not be expected to have the wind-in speed of a PTO-hydraulic unit under heavy load, but it should be considerably cheaper. Because the steering system is being modified, it would be prudent to check with the vehicle manufacturer re warranty, your insurance company re cover, and road-authorities re legality.

As of 1999 TJM had begun assembling power-steering driven winches locally.

Hi Troll,
I have an ironman 12000lb purchased from Repco, 3 year warranty. I believe this is also the same winch ALDI sell from time to time.
I have had some experience with it and this is what I can say.
I purchased the winch and immediately pulled it down to check it. It looked ot built well, sans the dogey electrical lugs on the main cables, however they are yet to fail.
Cable to controller broke a wire inside, probably due to me 3YO son using it as a tow rope. Easy fix. I have a 100 series TD with an ARB bar, the bar has the mount on the bar and one that sits horizontal that is mounted behind the Airbag zigzags so i thought this would be the strongest. Have had need to use it a couple of times, first no probs but second i actually bent this mount and it twisted the winch as the mount bent. I assumes the worst as the winch made all sorts of horrible grinding noises and when I got home I pulled the winch off to inspect. To my amazement there was not a single mark on any of the gears so I regreased and reassembled and then installed it on the mount on the actuall bullbar. Havent used the winch since but it winds in and out nice and quiet and smoothly so it is OK.
Just be careful not do d the bolts up too tight on the elec connections and ALWAYS use a spanner on the back nut on the connections to make sure you dont strip the bolt or spin it off the connections inside the winch.
Overall I would recommend the winch and believe that apart from the few downfalls above it is an excellent winch, if anything the motor may be a little on the too powerful side allowing the winch to maybe pull a little more than the suggested 12,000lbs

regards
Ray