Roller fairlead (Smittybilt) not fitting ARB (1 Viewer)

[SoCal_80]

OK, first things first. I searched and found that many times holes have to be drilled to mount the back portion of the fairlead to the bumper, but i am having issues also with the vertical rollers themselves. Correct me if i am wrong, but the idea is to remove the rods that are currently in the roller and replace them with the bolts from ARB and then use those bolts to attach the roller to the front "lip" of the bumper, right ? If that is correct, my roller seems too narrow and the vertical rollers don't line up with the holes in the lip of the bumper if that makes sense. I can not re-drill holes but would end up having to open up the existing holes to more of an oval shape on the fairlead to allow them to line up (as i am assuming i nor anyone else wants to drill into the bumper itself). Any help would be appreciated and or a lead on a fairlead that actually fits or fits better.

Thanks!

 

[rdang]

I put the Costco Champion fairlead on my ARB and it didn't fit either (almost though)... I don't think it's that important for the vertical bolts to go in through the top, well, that's what I was told anyway.

 

[80t0ylc]

Did you buy a Warn fairlead? When I got my ARB back in 2001, I got my Warn fairlead at the same place. I had to drill holes to mount up winch and fairlead, but had no fitment problems like you're talking about. Yes the correct method is to remove vertical pins and rollers and use the bolts that came with the ARB as the new pivot pins for the vertical rollers. And they should line up with the holes in the supports on the ARB. For winching at any side angle it's important to have the added strength of these supports. Also, those bolts are # 3 and 4 for holding fairlead to bumper. On mine the bottom two bolts that hold fairlead on are the bottom bolts that hold winch on bumper. Here's a couple of pics of mine.
Edit: Just looked at the title to this thread again and realized that your fairlead is a Smittybuilt. Might be worth it to contact them and explain your situation. Winch mounts are no place to cut corners. Hopefully they'll work with you. Good luck!

 

[Trailbus]

The fairlead that came with my T-Max line up close enough to run the bolt through. Even so, I didn't install these bolts on mine & haven't had a problem yet. Most fairleads come with only 2 holes in the front & I figured that must be good enough for the engineers so it's good enough for me.

 

[SoCal_80]

Thanks guys! It looks like i will try to mount it with just the 2 bolts and see how it goes.
On a side note, are you/we saying that a Warn fairlead will bolt up properly and all i need to do is redrill two holes on the front ?
Thanks again!

 

[SoCal_80]

Did you buy a Warn fairlead? When I got my ARB back in 2001, I got my Warn fairlead at the same place. I had to drill holes to mount up winch and fairlead, but had no fitment problems like you're talking about. Yes the correct method is to remove vertical pins and rollers and use the bolts that came with the ARB as the new pivot pins for the vertical rollers. And they should line up with the holes in the supports on the ARB. For winching at any side angle it's important to have the added strength of these supports. Also, those bolts are # 3 and 4 for holding fairlead to bumper. On mine the bottom two bolts that hold fairlead on are the bottom bolts that hold winch on bumper. Here's a couple of pics of mine.
Edit: Just looked at the title to this thread again and realized that your fairlead is a Smittybuilt. Might be worth it to contact them and explain your situation. Winch mounts are no place to cut corners. Hopefully they'll work with you. Good luck!

Last question...By looking at your photos, the fairlead should be mounted fairly high and the wire rope should always be touching/rubbing against the lower roller, right ?

 

[80t0ylc]

Last question...By looking at your photos, the fairlead should be mounted fairly high and the wire rope should always be touching/rubbing against the lower roller, right ?

When fitting the fairlead, before marking holes to drill, I positioned fairlead as high as possible, under lip of side supports. Bolts that replace side pivot pins would then fit correctly as designed. This also determined where winch top mounting holes would be drilled. What this does, and this is just my own opinion, was to make center of fairlead opening line up with where wire rope exits off spool. In other words, to make it as straight a shot as possible for wire rope's path through fairlead. I used the logic that most pulls would be straight ahead and this way rollers on fairlead would only get heavy pressure on off camber pulls. Now, with a full spool, wire rope will rub on bottom roller. But, as the cable spools out, you can see the wraps on spool disappearing and you get to that sweet spot I'm talking about. That's where your best winch performance is: first wrap on spool and should be pretty much a straight shot through fairlead.

 

[SoCal_80]

When fitting the fairlead, before marking holes to drill, I positioned fairlead as high as possible, under lip of side supports. Bolts that replace side pivot pins would then fit correctly as designed. This also determined where winch top mounting holes would be drilled. What this does, and this is just my own opinion, was to make center of fairlead opening line up with where wire rope exits off spool. In other words, to make it as straight a shot as possible for wire rope's path through fairlead. I used the logic that most pulls would be straight ahead and this way rollers on fairlead would only get heavy pressure on off camber pulls. Now, with a full spool, wire rope will rub on bottom roller. But, as the cable spools out, you can see the wraps on spool disappearing and you get to that sweet spot I'm talking about. That's where your best winch performance is: first wrap on spool and should be pretty much a straight shot through fairlead.

Thank you again for your help! It looks like i just need to get a Warn roller and call it done.

 

[80t0ylc]

Thank you again for your help! It looks like i just need to get a Warn roller and call it done.

No problem. The Warn part number is: WRN 5742 for my fairlead.

 

[SoCal_80]

Thanks!