So my Lucky8 winch tray arrived today. Has anyone installed one yet? The LR winch kit has a few more electrical install components (tied into the car electrical system) . The Lucky8 system seems to be just tied into a +,- battery connection. Is this going to be ok? Why does
LR have all these extra connections and are they necessary?

 

Yeah, I'm going to advise you to get someone to install it. 3rd party Land Rover service team if you have one. Dealer if not. If it's arrived and you still haven't watched all the videos to see what it is, I would predict that you are going to be surprised with not just the complexity but also the risk. There are a lot of legends on this forum who have done it themselves, but with one exception it is a LONG, unforgiving process. If you really have experience with Land Rovers, exceptional McGuiver skills with electronics, and intimately know your way around back yard automotive mechanics - then go for it. ONLY if you are well prepared for what will totally brick (aka cause your insurance to "total" your Defender), have a lot of patience, and time on your hands. Or are desperate for cash. The later is likely not true because 1 - you bought a Defender during a crazy shortage and 2 - you're buying a winch/winch kit.

Either way it will look cool so post pics! And good luck.

 

Like I’ve printed on here before, I installed 5 winches on the front of JK Wranglers, both OEM and aftermarket bumpers. It was a non-event, a few pleasant hours out of my day usually.

So I should be raring to go with the LK8 winch tray, right?

Yeah, my appointment at a local LR specialist is Monday. Tray and Zeon 12S, and since it’s up there anyway I’m having them install the smaller rear calipers also; otherwise, I’d do that myself, but it will be nice to drop it off and then go pick it back up and be done.

I watched a few of the PowerfulUK videos, and followed TrioLROwner’s install thread on here and decided, no way. :-)

That said, if you look at those vids and that thread and still decide to go for it, good for you. It can definitely be done by a DIYer. Just takes a long while and poses electrical risks that I’d just as soon avoid. My electrical/electronic game is weak.

 

If you’re handy, you can get it done.
The LR oem kit is able to tell the car when the winch is operating and actually disable the winch under certain conditions like when the vehicles start stop system turns the motor off when you’re winching. If the engine then starts again while your winching, it will over load the battery cables.

 

I did it. It took about 25-30 hours over a weekend. I’m not very technical and you will need a 2nd set of hands when lining u the tray to bolt\ to the body with the winch already bolted in.

 

It took me 3 years to restore a Series IIa. I've owned a '94 Defender. I know my way around a crescent wrench, but I threw in the towel on the winch! I've done the tow hook install, the rear ladder/Lucky8 ladder install, and a few other small things. I'm old enough to be ok when I see my limits!

@Ericlockheed - I had a cutoff switch installed in my engine bay to totally isolate the winch when not in use. I'm sure it is over-kill, but I've read enough about battery drains on this forum that I went the extra mile.

 

Hovdebo:

I hope you are able to review the landmark 5 part video series from PowerfulUKLtd. That, and the posted JLR instructions, were very valuable to watch and study before I attempted the installation.

I tried to leave a thread trail in this forum to fill in those points of interest which were not captured or not clear in PowerfulUK video series. I did suffer some surprises and make some mistakes, which I made sure to document. Let me know if you have any questions about what I wrote.

Since tackling the JLR OEM winch install (and executing some experiments in my effort and sharing multiple documentations of the effort), I have been very much looking forward to someone on this thread installing or having others install the Lucky8 winch.

I met and discussed in person with the Lucky8 folks their approach to the winch install. They accomplished the four things I hoped they would:

1) make the winch tray less wide, which enables the bumper curvature on each end to be taken out of the cover and cutting requirements, thereby enabling a flat, simple, finishing cover to be used. To achieve this, Lucky8 does not support use of the wi-fi enabled winch -- something I also removed from my install as I think it is very unnecessary complication. To support this approach, you will see in my thread the addition of a manual control connection outside the vehicle.

2) maintain the use of at least the original crush cans and ensure the mounting is at the same location as the JLR winch tray.

3) ensure that modifications could be made to access the winch rope when winding it back in, so the lay of the rope could be managed -- in other words don't attempt to hide the winch to the point that hands coud not assist in the winding in of the rope. In order to make it possible to reduce the amount of bodywork necessary to be removed, I shifted the manual control module away from the top of the winch, into the engine bay.

4) Eliminate the need for the H cover which is so central to the finishing of the JLR installation.

I chose NOT to utilize the JLR automated cut-out of power to the winch, tied to the use of the starter button. Again, this seemed to be unnecessarily complex. Instead, like others on this forum, I installed a manual power cut-off under the hood. Thus, only when the vehicle is already on, parked and the hood raised do I power up the winch. I never power up the vehicle and manually run the winch control at the same time, as my trained and experience use of winches is to ensure adequate flow of electricity BEFORE making them live to use. The cut-off is shown and described in the thread I posted.

Whatever you decide about who does the install I very much look forward to you sharing your process and results.

Enjoy !!

 

Why can’t one of the manufacturers build a “standard “ winch bumper to trap lace the Oem bumper. Warn, arb etc have made a simple bolt on with a brushgard for years. I personally like the look and it is nice to have access to the winch when needed for maintenance, tangle etc.
any insight why this doesn’t exist?

 

All about pedestrian, cyclist in case of an accident.
So the winch tray will be behind.

I like this one, can be used with almost any winch

 

Sarek has done it, but the work to date is custom -- not yet a standard catalog for sale.

https://www.autoevolution.com/news/l...ks-165794.html