A Good Day

[MrVideo]

I have for a while now been considering gearing up my '96 Discovery for more rugged adventures. After reading about Will's misadventure and seeing the awesome photos of the recovery, I began to make a list of the things I wanted or more importantly, what I needed if presented with any type of situation. Of course after reading that we're due for another big quake and living on the fault line got me thinking about disaster recovery.

All this led to today, where I attended a winching seminar at the 4 Wheel Parts store in Oakland. Pete Cate is the manager there and he was well versed in winching and recovery techniques. I learned quite a bit and refreshed myself on the rest of the information. In the end, they raffled off a Smittybuilt XRC-8 8k Lb winch which I won! :D They also sold all the demo items as used, so I bought a high-lift jack for $73 and a Warn Accessory Kit for $170. Not bad, I saved over $750. :D :cool: :D

Now I have even more decisions to make and maybe someone out there could assist me on some of them. I now have to save for a bumper/winch mount, Probably should have a 2nd battery but I don't know how to tie it into the alternator and I'd like to have a DC to AC converter. And where to store that jack? I've seen some mounted on roof racks but I don't have one of those.

I'd appreciate any comments or thoughts on how you went about this process. I will update on my progress if there is any.

Thanks for your time.

[PCRover]

Congrats on the new Winch and accy's!

The two most common winch bumpers are the ARB and the Rovertym.

Rovertym



ARB



You will be drawn to one or the other by personal desires.

You can mount the Hilift on the front bumper if you like, or some mount it to the rear tire.

2nd Batteries are simple to install if you just parallel the existing one with a like battery. I can assist with more info if you want to have the ability to separate them. Here is my Disco Dual Batt install.



Keep your eye out for a used bumper as they show up now and then on the Rover forums.

[MrVideo]

Gary, Where did you relocate the washer reserve? Or did you just eliminate it? On the 2nd battery, I've read good things about those yellow top. Any problems? Great examples of bumpers, lots to consider there.

I know where my economic stimulus check to going :)

[PCRover]

I did not have any problems with my Yellow, just do not use a RED as they seem to fail quickly unless used soly for starting. Now I am a big BLUE Optima fan, they cost a little more but have the extra terminals for accy's to connect to easily. There are other good choices for batteries, some swear by the Exide and other the Oddysey.

I added a smaller water reservoir next to the 2nd battery as seen in this picture.



Some put the second battery in a D1 up by the PS reservoir I believe. My install required some custom mounting brackets etc. so it is not for everyone.




Gary, Where did you relocate the washer reserve? Or did you just eliminate it? On the 2nd battery, I've read good things about those yellow top. Any problems? Great examples of bumpers, lots to consider there.

I know where my economic stimulus check to going :)

[RON CT110]

Congrats Jim; lucky dog you are for winning the winch!

If you get your bumper/winch/battery setup done by next Morg, let's have a winch practise session!

I agree with Gary on Optima Blue; terminals are a plus;go Blue!

[MrVideo]

Thanks Ron,

Work, work, work...it's baseball season and every weekend is booked in May. June MORG is looking good, the Angels/A's game will be on Fox, so I'm free.

If all things align and the funds hold out, I'd be up for some winching practice.

[MrVideo]

Sometimes it's better to be lucky than good! Last weekend, I was killing time during a Giants game and I went to Craig's list on my iPhone. I searched the auto parts section and saw a OEM brush guard with a winch base for my Rover. I of course was interested, but why was it only $200? Turns out a divorce was the reason and now I have a nice black Discovery brush guard that I'm planning to install Wednesday. I'll have to wait to install the winch until I get new springs and shocks, but talk about a $ saver :D

This really has my head spinning as to how fast can I get this next phase completed and when can I test my new setup?

Still haven't spent the check the feds sent yet...

[RON CT110]

Double lucky dog!