DV8 Bumper Safety Concern with winch!!! (1 Viewer)

[carve]

I just got around to installing the winch in my DV8 2014+ GX460 bumper. The hole in the fairlead-mount is the same size as the hole in the fairlead, and the fairlead is also centered on the winch drum instead of mounted a couple inches below it. This means the rope will be dragged across this sharp edge at a steep angle! What a serious pair of design flaws! Any ideas? I guess I'll have to just take an angle grinder and remove a bunch of material from the fairlead mount bottom edge. Partial solution, but it doesn't resolve the issue of it being mounted too high, plus will leave a pretty rough edge. Ideas? I think they need to recall this thing!

 

[sedonut]

Looks like a poor design. I'd return the bumper.

 

[carve]

Looks like a poor design. I'd return the bumper.

Would if I could, but nothing else will fit the fascia cut lines now, so I'd need a new front fascia, too

 

[Hehena]

Get another aluminium fairlead mount and install it on the inside... idea is to sandwich the bumper between the two.

 

[carve]

Get another aluminium fairlead mount and install it on the inside... idea is to sandwich the bumper between the two.

Yeah I'm actually considering doing that, too. I may also get a welder to move the mount down a couple inches, and to also weld on some reinforcements. What a ridiculous two oversights. How'd they now catch that in the prototype phase? Workmanship and fit & finish are both excellent, but this is ridiculous. There are a few other oversights, too: no recovery points, the windshield washer tank is exposed, the skid plate bolts should be on the side rather than underneath, and the fairlead hole in the grille is only big enough for the absolute smallest of fairleads, and the directions suck. I don't recommend this product. Try the Victory 4x4

 

[BigSwede]

Just round off the edge with a file or something. Seems like an easy fix to me.

 

[carve]

Just round off the edge with a file or something. Seems like an easy fix to me.

Nah- it'll never have the gradual radius or smoothness of the backside of the fairlead. I'd also need to cut it down 1/8" or so.

 

[re_guderian]

If you just matched the radius of the back of the fairlead, wouldn't that work? That's not much different stress that a lower, larger opening would put on the cable near the end of the spool when it's pulling to an anchor point above, and rubbing on the upper backside of the fairlead, no? (imagine pulling to a vehicle/anchor that is much higher than the front of your rig).

 

[Washingtontaco]

This is unfortunate. My Victory was similar until I cut it for boxing and roller fairlead. It's very surprising how little the design phase goes into these bumpers. Most folks won't catch this.

Good eye and warning!

 

[carve]

This is unfortunate. My Victory was similar until I cut it for boxing and roller fairlead. It's very surprising how little the design phase goes into these bumpers. Most folks won't catch this.

Good eye and warning!

Woah- I was just saying "we should've waited for the Victory". Do you have a pic? Who's designing these things!

 

[Washingtontaco]

Woah- I was just saying "we should've waited for the Victory". Do you have a pic? Who's designing these things!

After your post I looked for my picture I took that I shared with my engineer friend. Unfortunately I couldn't find it. Essentially when the 1st wrap of line on the dum the line would barely clear the cut out, subsequent layers on the drum would drop below the cut out. Most folks have 90-100' feet of line on the drum from the manufactures, 4-5 layers of rope on the drum. There are other design and production flaws with Victory but those are on the Victory bumper thread.

 

[r2m]

View attachment 2878989View attachment 2878991
I just got around to installing the winch in my DV8 2014+ GX460 bumper. The hole in the fairlead-mount is the same size as the hole in the fairlead, and the fairlead is also centered on the winch drum instead of mounted a couple inches below it. This means the rope will be dragged across this sharp edge at a steep angle! What a serious pair of design flaws! Any ideas? I guess I'll have to just take an angle grinder and remove a bunch of material from the fairlead mount bottom edge. Partial solution, but it doesn't resolve the issue of it being mounted too high, plus will leave a pretty rough edge. Ideas? I think they need to recall this thing!

That was a good catch before actually needing to use your winch!
Aside from the cost of a new synthetic line, there's the real possibility of personal harm if that line were to break and someone was near to wherever the recovery vehicle was being pulled from. I know the line itself will not snap or spring back, it'll just fall, but if you're trying to right a tipped vehicle and someone is in a poor location and the line snaps...

 

[carve]

I ground off a bit over 1/8", and ground a nice radius on the back edge. I finished it off by filing and smoothing it out with 220 grit sandpaper for a smooth finish. I need to pick up some paint for it tomorrow. This fixed the rope grinding against that sharp edge, but I'm still not happy about the rope angle. I may get a welder to relocate it, but in the mean time, I think I'll try to use a snatch block when winching at close range. This will not only reduce the angle on the rope (because I'll have to pull out 2x as much line) but also cut the tension in the rope in half for any given winch job. I've emailed DV8 suggesting they do a recall on this thing before it kills someone. My guess though is they'd just try to blame the rope.

 

[carve]

People from the future, wondering what I did: Here are my cutlines (about 1/8" lower, and then freehand for the edges).

 

[jiggletits]

That is a trash-ass design, both functionally and aesthetically. I would take it off, send it back ... or trash it... chalk it up as a loss. Take your own advice, that needs to be recalled by the manufacturer. Are those rivets holding that bumper together? Was this like a $450 bargain bumper?

Grinding that edge down and sanding creates clearance but is in no way sufficient for contact with your rope. There is reason hardware for synthetic ropes is highly polished. If it comes into contact, you are going to destroy your rope with heat and friction. Your rope angle will change with use, and it may get steeper if your rope builds up too much on one side of the drum.

It's super-duper life-threatening dangerous having hardware at the end of a compromised synthetic rope with 8,000+ lbs of force on it.

 

[jiggletits]

Get another aluminium fairlead mount and install it on the inside... idea is to sandwich the bumper between the two.

This is your best bet if you insist on keeping that bumper.

I'd be hitting "DV8" up for a new fascia in addition to a full refund, at minimum a whole new bumper that wasn't designed by a retarded toddler.

 

[carve]

This is your best bet if you insist on keeping that bumper.

I'd be hitting "DV8" up for a new fascia in addition to a full refund, at minimum a whole new bumper that wasn't designed by a retarded toddler.

I've been hitting them up since last week. I personally like the aesthetics, and the build quality / fit and finish is good...and the hardware is actually REALLY good- very overbuilt. Those aren't rivets holding the grille and lights on but 5mm allen bolts. It's the design details that're the problem. There're these two EASILY avoided winch problem, the parking sensors now detect a faint return ALL the time, the windshield washer tank is now exposed and vulnerable, and the instructions SUCKED- many important details were left out.

Another fairlead mount on the back side is a bad idea at this point because it'd make the rope angle even worse, and I've dramatically reduced the chance of the rope hitting the slot, or of SEVERE friction if it ever does. A 2nd fairlead would just make things worse for me now, but might be a good option for those who down't want to grind out the fairlead slot.

I have excess clearance to the rope now in case there's build up on one side, and the finish is FAR smoother than that 90* corner...but I agree that this is a flawed design and will ultimately hurt someone if they don't do a recall. I noticed these problems literally within a minute of putting my fairlead on, so my questions are...
1) How'd it make it past prototype phase like this?
2) Why the hell am I the first person to notice this? The prototype of this has been out for a year, and first deliveries were six months ago. I asked the same question on GXOR Facebook, and others have the exact same problem, so it's no particular to my brand of winch not playing well with this bumper.

 

[jiggletits]

If you like it, rock it.... But there is a reason most bumpers are fully welded steel. Those little nuts and screws that look like rivets, sticking out everywhere with multiple plates of steel stuck together... That will deteriorate quicker over time. Just more cracks, gaps, holes, and potential spots for corrosion to start.

Again, If you like it, rock it... but it's not a good build quality, that is very very obvious. They build it that way because it is cheaper to manufacture, cheaper to ship and ultimately provide a bargain bin bumper. You get what you pay for.

 

[carve]

Those little allen bolts just hold the grille and turn signals on. Anything load-bearing uses these ridiculously oversized M12 grade 8 bolts...and lots of them. I'm actually happy with the build quality and fit and finish- it's the design oversights and details that suck.

 

[ducktapeguy]

I've been putting off installing my DV8 bumper for a couple years. I thought about selling it but decided to just use the winch mount part as a hidden winch mount. I remember reading this post about the problems with the fairlead being in the wrong position and wanted to see if I could fix it. At first I was just going to cut and reweld the fairlead lower to fix the problem, but in the future I still may want to use the center portion of the bumper so moving it was out of the question.

In the original configuration, the winch sits way too low, as mentioned by the original poster.

It also sits way too far forward for my liking. Maybe it's for easy access to the free spool lever? Or just bad design? I don't know, but I don't like the idea of that much weight being cantilevered that far out, and being so close to the fairlead mount it magnifies the problem with misalignment

My solution was to relocate the winch higher and further back using an universal winch plate modified to fit.

This puts the force in line with the mounting bolts on the frame and fixes the problem with the fairlead.

At some point I may add the center section of the bumper and add some custom side wings to make something like a hybrid DV8/CBI style covert bumper. For now I just plan on using it like a hidden winch mount. I'll still need to do some trimming of the front grill and still need to figure out how to reinforce the front corners to prevent flexing, but at least now it's somewhat useable.