Fitting Winch To 110 TD5.

Thought this would be pretty straightforward but came across a few issues. Thought others may want to see how I did it.

First off, took off the front bumper and radiator grille. I should say that this has had a winch on in the past as it was a Scottish Electricity vehicle for a good portion of it's life. It also had a trendy winch bumper fitted when I bought it. The front panel was already cut for a winch.



Then I fitted shackle swivels and shackles to the bumper. That's why I removed the bumper as the swivels have to go in from behind. You can't do it with the bumper fitted.



Then refitted the front bumper.



Dropped the winch into the bumper for trial fit. This showed two issues:

1. The holes in the bumper winch plate didn't quite line up with the ones on the bottom of the winch.

2. The left hand side stay bar for the slam panel fouled the solenoid housing.



While the winch was still in trial fitment mode I chopped up the radiator grille to fit around it.



Had to remove the front panel to get at the stay bar bolts. At this point I enlarged one of the holes on the winch plate with a drill to give me some "wiggle room" and tried the winch again for fit. It did this time so I whipped it out again and carried on with adjusting the stay bar.



Adjusted the position of the left hand side stay bar by unbolting it then bolting it back in with the bottom of the bar on the back of the bracket and spaced back further with an oversized nut slid over the bolt. This meant that I had to place it behind the water hose as in the picture, which put the hose under a little tension. I used a piece of rubber hose I had lying around to wrap around the stay bar where it contacts the water hose to protect it from wearing.



Then fitted the fairlead and refitted the front panel.



Finally I bolted the winch to the winch plate permanently, threaded the power cables along the back of the winch and through the gap between the radiator and bodywork on the right hand side and flipped them out over the front so I could easily connect the extension cables. Then I refitted the radiator grille and that was me for the day.

This is the first time I've ever fitted a winch to anything and I don't think I've done too bad a job. I do intend to do something better with the radiator grille in future, like maybe replace it with mesh. Any ideas on this would be welcome and any pointers as to where I might have gone wrong with the job in general.

All I have left to do tomorrow is route and connect the power cables. I'd be grateful for any advice on this. For instance, is there a commonly accepted way to route and secure the cables? What is the best way to get the cables into the compartment under the seat?

Have you tried plugging the remote in? i had to cut more of the grill for it to fit.

Also i drilled a hole into the front of the battery box for the wire, but at the back of the box (at the top)there is some holes already there which look like they will be ideal which i wish i used, because there is far too much wire and mine is just a mess in the box now.

I fitted the exact same winch to mine 2 weeks ago

Thanks Jack. I hadn't thought of that about the remote. I'll check it tomorrow when I do the wiring.

I was thinking that with the extension cables attached there would be too much left over to loop up in the battery box. I don't have any suitable tools to shorten them though so may just leave that for another day too...

If you have two batteries you might struggle for room, if you try the holes at the back of the box means you wont have loads of spare wire.
I see that you have attached the extension wire on already, i did that aswell thought it was much harder like that because its quite narrow. i unfastened the extension cables then ran the original wires along the top of the chassis - it'll reach to around the outrigger, cable tie it all down. now attach the extension cables, tape them all up again!!! then into the battery box

Mine isnt a td5 either, your battery box could be different to mine. i dont know

Finished the winch installation today and everything works.

Checked the remote wire fitted without fouling the rad grille - no problems there.

Routed the cables along the chassis rail to the back of the battery box and fed the wires in through the spare hole there. Drilled a hole in the front of the battery box just under the passenger seat for the isolation switch. Spare cable (not much really) looped and fastened to the chassis rail just behind the battery box.

Good stuff.
Sounds like you had an easier job than i did

Old thread resurrection!

Earlier in this thread I mentioned that I might do something with the radiator grille in future. Well, the future is now and I've been working on this:



Thinking it will look a lot better painted black but suggestions welcome.

DefenderPilot said:

Old thread resurrection!

Earlier in this thread I mentioned that I might do something with the radiator grille in future. Well, the future is now and I've been working on this:



Thinking it will look a lot better painted black but suggestions welcome.

Click to expand...

I'm hoping this is a work in progress and that you're not covering up the radiator.

It is a work in progress. Although covering up the radiator at this time of year, and given my latitude, shouldn't be a problem.

DefenderPilot said:

It is a work in progress. Although covering up the radiator at this time of year, and given my latitude, shouldn't be a problem.

Click to expand...

In Finland we used to cover up radiators at below -5C in case it got down to -15C or less. In these areas I'd let the thermostat do its job.
Anyway, very tidy winch install. One day maybe I'll be installing one too.

Grille now with extra holes and added blackness.

I like it mate, was thinking of something like this myself. I would paint the rest of the chequered panels on the body as well

Thanks. I'm going to do that as well. Sometime. Took quite a bit of prepping to get a good key on the chequerplate. I think this will do until the summer comes back, then I'm going to make another in a single piece with more ventilation. This one is in three pieces because that's all I had lying around.