I bought a genuine Land Rover MkII hydraulic winch system complete with hydraulic pump, spool valve, oil tank and most of the pipework, a few weeks ago. Does anybody out there have any fitting instructions for this thing or can anybody offer any tips on fitting it.

It looks like the front of the winch bolts on top of the bumper and the rear of the winch is supported by a round bar running the width of the winch (this is missing), which in turn is clamped by U bolts to a mounting bracket which is bolted to the front cross member. Is it designed to work with a standard bumper or a special heavy duty type? It looks to me like a standard bumper is not secure enough to hold the winch steady.

Does the system really need a 5 gallon tank (I am guessing the large capacity is to help keep the oil cool) or can I get away with fabricating a smaller one - say 1 gallon and perhaps fitting a small radiator on the return pipe to keep the oil cool? I'm thinking a series III heater matrix might be suitable. I would estimate that the whole system, including steel cable weighs around 100kg and I guess 5 gallons of oil would weigh another 20kg; The Rover already has enough trouble hauling it's sorry ass up the hills.

Its a fairly simple system and very usable. The diagram in the parts book is pretty good, at showing the layout. The oil tank fits in IIRC n/s rear wheelbox behind wheel. The winch mounts to bumper, and to brackets fixed to front X member as you mentioned , I used the standard bumper, and had no probs. dont think heater matrix will do the job, as flow if restricted will create pressure. two main hoses to winch motor, back to spool valve, plus I think leak off pipe. Then there is supply to pump. mounted to pto, and high pressure to spool valve. Its been about 18years since I had one. Usually driven with transfer in neutral and a fast idle in 4 gear . they have quite a good operating speed range, and you can hold tension without any problems , cant do that with electric or mech winches. just about last forever. Check gearbox for water contamination of oil, and thats about it. HTSH

I think i have pretty pictures somewhere if your still looking

Hi
I'm french and apologyse for my poor english...

I was searching for some informations about this Land Rover mkII hydraulic winch and found your messenge.

I don't have any fitting instructions but I think I could help you : my 109 SIII fire engine have one of these winches fitted.
So I can shoot some pictures to help you to fit it to your Land...
I'll do that this afternoon if I could find time.

Regards

Arnaud

The pictures :

front :





Under :





The pump :





The spool valve :



The rear pipes :



The oil tank :

anyone know where one of those winches are for sale

I have one of these winch totally complete that I would be open to offers on. It still looks like new. It's the first series winch tho not mk11. Not much changed just has bigger opening where the rollers for the cable are.
PM for more details, will put up on eBay and gumtree when I get time

Leealanstevens said:

I have one of these winch totally complete that I would be open to offers on. It still looks like new. It's the first series winch tho not mk11. Not much changed just has bigger opening where the rollers for the cable are.
PM for more details, will put up on eBay and gumtree when I get time

Click to expand...

Is your hydraulic winch still available?

Does running a winch affect one's ability to use an overdrive?

Cheers.

Lighiche said:

Does running a winch affect one's ability to use an overdrive?

Cheers.

Click to expand...

The overdrive fits in the usual pto position up on the rear of the transfer box , there is however a bottom pto available that bolts to the bottom of the transfer box, that enables the pto hydraulic pump to be driven from there . Land rover say that it is not possible to fit the overdrive and have a hydraulic pump driven from the bottom pto . This is incorrect as i did this to a series 2a 88 that i built in the late 70's which had a RV8 fitted as well . The vehicle is still in use today , not by me as Isold it , but I built it with a new chassis that I had galvanised . (such things were not available off the shelf at that time). It is however a tricky job to do , getting the nuts on studs and then tightening them up . HTSH