Fitting Runva winch without removing ARB delux bullbar - Prado 150 Diesel

[Spark45 Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Spark45]

Hi guys,

Time for me to add a winch but want to clarify on the install...

I'm looking at the Runva 11xp premium winch which I understand fits, and I have the ARB Deluxe bar on 2010 Prado TD.

Everything I've seen before on youtube etc. when you see people installing winches the bullbar is off the car, so I assumed this had to be done.

I was crawling around underneath the front the other day for some cleaning and realised that once you remove the bash plate under the bar there is heaps of room to get in there! I mistakenly assumed it was closed off by the frame of the bar and you could only install winch from the 'back' of the bar after removing it.

Seeing how much space is there I called my local ARB store and asked if the winch can be installed without removing the bar, and he said "yeah you should be able to" no problem.

A bit miffed honestly. This has what's delayed me getting one . If I can lift it under and bolt it on from underneath without removing the bar I'll give that a got myself ASAP.

I'm sure it's easier to do with the bar off, if you have the lift and know how to get it on and off, but I don't.

Can anyone confirm if you can just lift a winch up from the bottom and bolt in without having to remove the bar?

[Bailey84 Member Find all posts View Profile Close Bailey84]

Can anyone confirm if you can just lift a winch up from the bottom and bolt in without having to remove the bar?

Yes you can fit the winch without removing the bar. I installed the same winch in the same bar without removing it.

If I remember correctly you do need to maneuver it a little to get it in (i think i had to turn it side ways to get past some of the support brackets but nothing drastic).

The winch bolts on from the front so you may need a friend to do the bolts up whilst you are holding the winch in place.

I simply got underneath the car and, for lack of a better description, bench pressed the winch into place and the wife did the bolts up from the outside.

[Spark45 Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Spark45]

Awesome mate, thanks.

I assume you had to rotate the gearbox, right?

Any trouble connecting the wiring after you bolted it in or all easy enough to reach everything once it was mounted?

[Bailey84 Member Find all posts View Profile Close Bailey84]

Yeah I had to rotate the gearbox several times... I took the winch out every time I rotated the gearbox. Which was probably two or three times maybe four actually!!!

In the end I had to remove a bit of the original bumper that was still hanging down under the headlights just so I could get my hand on the clutch lever. I also purchased a low profile handle from Runva. It made it a lot easier to get hold of the lever but it is still a pain to get at. I probably should see if i can rotate the gearbox now it has the low profile handle.

Yeah, wiring was easy and I have changed it a couple of times and haven't had to remove the winch (I couldn't make up my mind where to put the controller box, eventually hid it behind winch and added an extension cord for the controller to the front of the vehicle and also rewired it from the aux battery to the main battery). Once you take off the bottom plate under the bar you can easily access the wiring.

Just noticed your is the premium winch, mine was just the plain old 11xp... But assume they are very similar.

[Spark45 Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Spark45]

Yeah I was going to go the premium one. It has the ip67 water rating and a few 'new and improved' design bits so I figure why not.

Size wise shouldn't be a problem.

11XP is:
540mm x 163mm x 221mm

Premium is:
574mm x 160mm x 200mm

34mm wider, it doesn't seem like that should be an issue? Smaller elsewhere as well.

About the gearbox rotation, you obviously didn't just rotate it 90 degrees then? Is it tilting back towards the radiator or towards the front of the truck?

To access the clutch lever are you reaching through the holes on the top of the bar, or through the slot on the front of the bar?

Thanks again for your time mate.

[Bailey84 Member Find all posts View Profile Close Bailey84]

34mm wider, 20mm deeper. It doesn't seem like that should be an issue?

That should be no issue at all, there is plenty of room in there.

About the gearbox rotation, you obviously didn't just rotate it 90 degrees then? Is it tilting back towards the radiator or towards the front of the truck?

I think the clutch is either directly on top up or had to be rotated back towards the radiator so it was just off the top. I will check when I get home tonight.

To access the clutch lever are you reaching through the holes on the top of the bar, or through the slot on the front of the bar?

I am reaching through the front slot in the bar. Which makes me think i must have rotated the gearbox towards the radiator a little...

Thanks again for your time mate.

NO worries mate, being helpful is what we are here!!

[Spark45 Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Spark45]

Cool mate.

If you could let me know about the clutch lever position I would really appreciate it.

Sounding really good though.

Found a place on ebay that I can pick up from their warehouse near me, going to go ahead with it I think.

[Bailey84 Member Find all posts View Profile Close Bailey84]

It is definitely rotated towards the radiator but I would say it was only one bolt.

Looking at the handle on the 11xp premium you might get away with it being straight up.

[Spark45 Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Spark45]

I didn't look that closely at the dimensions before but you might be right, with the different mounting position and style the handle is 20mm lower overall than the original XP.

Great

[Spark45 Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Spark45]

Picked up the winch, all installed easy.

Loads of room to get it up there without coming close to anything else. Seriously could have fit 2 in there.

I rotated the gearbox an even 90 degrees, so it's very direct access to the clutch lever.

The only little annoyance at the moment is the top of the stock plastic bumper touches the top of the lever. it goes back and forth fine but you scratch your fingers a bit.

Just need to trim off a bit of bumper and it's all good

[Bailey84 Member Find all posts View Profile Close Bailey84]

Haha, yeah there is actually a lot of room underneath once you get the winch in position.

I ended up trimming the bumper a little so you didn't scratch your hand every time you moved the lever.

Good to hear it fitted, now time to make sure it works!!

[Spark45 Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Spark45]

Only been tested as much as running it in and out in the carpark at home so far, but it's a start

Heading to the tracks on the weekend, will get it pre-tensioned and find myself a little trouble to winch out of.