Winch on a series 3

I'd quite like a winch for my Series 3. The type of driving I like to do is more or less trying to drive up the side of mountains which don't have any paths This has resulted in me getting myself in to some pretty awkward places which have taken hours to get out of. I either have to 1) stop driving up these places, which will be boring! 2) get rid of the landy and get a Suzuki as my mates just bounces over the mud when mine just sinks, which is also not what I want to do or 3) buy a winch to make getting out of these situations much easier.


I've had a search on this site and not found much info about specific winches and wonderd if there was any real reasons not to go for a cheaper winch from the likes of Ebay? This seems to have pretty decent spec but is considerably cheaper than most 4x4 internet shops.
ELECTRIC WINCH 12V RECOVERY 4x4 12500 lb WINCHMAX BRAND on eBay (end time 12-Dec-09 17:34:07 GMT)

I'm guessing that with almost 6 tonnes of pulling power it will haul a 1500kg swb Series 3 out of thick mud relativly easily and theres always the option of doubling the wire over, what you reckon, strong enough? A good buy?


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i wouldn't expect the winch to last too long looks cheap as in build quality......


i have a cheap winch i am going to fit to the rear of my landy when its finished

you would be better off with a turfor as for sinking into mud what tyres are you using? i have a 109 and i can get that through mud SJs get stuck in

might get a decent fairey capstan winch for that much

When I done a search I saw alot of posts about these Tirfor winches. From what I can see on the net there basically a manual, ratchetting action winch are they? I've got a similar kind of winch in the garage which I've used for hoisting engines for engine swaps. I once tried to use it to straighten out a mates Ford Escort after he'd driven in to the back of a Discovery with a tow bar. I hooked it to a sturdy metal gate post and pulled on it sideways. It dragged the car sideways on tarmac! The reason I've not really thought about using it to winch my Land Rover is its incredibly slow to use and set up. Are these Tirfor winches any good?



These are the tyres I've got fitted,



Well actually its Flamingos on the front and Olympic Super Mud Pluggas on the back but there tread design and shape is very similar.


My Land Rover seems to be just as good off road in everything else but when it comes to the mud, and I'm talking about mud, up steep hills that you slip and slide in trying to walk up the Suzukis lightness seems to do it well and it just goes over the top of it.

them ones you have on the front are the same pattern as deestones personally i don't rate them as the don't seem to self clean very well, but the olympics shout have the sae pattern as the firestone SAT, i have SAT replicas on my 109 (7.50 r16) and the 88 i was driving the a couple of months ago at beeston in norfolk was shod with the same and both got through everything i chucked them at, including mud where newer landies and an SJ were struggling

I've just been looking at Capstan winches. The reason I'd not thought about them is we had a Defender 110 in work (I'm a mechanic) a while back with a Capstan winch and it was PTO driven via Hydraulic pipes. And being my Series hasn't got a PTO I didn't even bother looking for them!

But now I've noticed the Series Capstans are driven off the start handle dog on the crank pulley.


LAND ROVER CAPSTAN WINCH SOLD WITH NO RESERVE on eBay (end time 12-Dec-09 21:00:26 GMT)

I assume I'd need to make/get hold of a shaft to go from the crank pulley to the shaft with the UJ on it? And this shaft is driven constantly by the engine but the capstan only turns when that lever is engaged?

they are like rocking horse poo in working order

Do they go wrong much? What are they inside? Looks like it would be some sort of worm gear.

most of them have been poorly maintained (utilities vehicles were mainly fitted with them)

So what of this one on ebay? Would you expect to have to strip it down/pay lots for it?

i would want to strip it and make sure its in good order before i fitted it anyway, but i wouldn't bet on it staying at a low price nearer the end of the auction, the rivet counters will be watching it and they pay willy money for period equipment

to disengage, the lever moves the shaft out of the crank pulley drive dog so it only turns when you want it

got mine off ebay £170 with all the bits, have seen em go for £700ish pic attached of inside

lol rivet counters! Any guessitmates on what the end price will be?

I'm deffinitly thinking a winch is the way to go. I like to try my luck! Give it a go and if I get stuck then ahh well we'll just have to dig it out. Makes exploring a bit less tiresome if getting un-stuck is a much easier job than it is at the moment. What would you lot do?

Hmmm an hour to go... Do I bid on the capstan that may not work or do I go for an electric winch at double the price... Hmmm

StuntmanAd said:

Hmmm an hour to go... Do I bid on the capstan that may not work or do I go for an electric winch at double the price... Hmmm

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far more chance of a leccy winch not working

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Got a winch (now discontinued) from these guys and it's been great. The one I got was a 10,000lbs electric one for ~£230 brand new.

All I've done to mount it was get a 6mm sheet cut to fit between the wings of the Series III and drill through it so that the back is bolted down by the same ones which hold the bumper on and then the front mounts for the winch go through the plate and the bumper. All it had was 4 large screws to hold the winch on. Then got hold of a couple of old bits of angle iron and put a couple of holes through those to hold the roller fair-lead that came with it and another couple of bolts through the bumper.

Winch sits nicely between the wings. Proved its worth today pulling a Merc out of a shoot I went to, have to say also those tyres (remoulds from Bronco 4x4) are incredible in snow and especially on ice. Towed another car out of the shoot up a 1 in 2 slope on compacted snow / ice which people were having trouble walking on and didn't slip at all.

Thats what I like to see, a cheap solution to a costly problem. No winch bumper need here then!

I'm not going to be buying one quite yet due to my diminishing financial situation but its deffinitly a job I'll be doing soon

StuntmanAd said:

Thats what I like to see, a cheap solution to a costly problem. No winch bumper need here then!

I'm not going to be buying one quite yet due to my diminishing financial situation but its deffinitly a job I'll be doing soon

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Nope, the plate manages quite nicely. Last Christmas went off roading with fenby1976 and because my S3 wasn't MOTd at the time I put the bumper onto my sisters Defender 90 and it did flex slightly as I ended up pulling the dead weight of his S3 at one point.

If it does bend / break too much then I'll probably just get another plate, after all I got the plate for £6 from these guys. They've been fantastic for bits and pieces of metal / nuts and bolts.