Photos of the Dennys Winch Challenge

Preparing for the Winch Challenge
Last year we travelled down to Ohakune to watch the Winch Challenge and decided that it looked like enough fun to have a go. When the organisation of this year’s event got underway, we were keen from the start. This year’s event nearly didn’t happen - the NZ4WD mag had decided that running the 2002 event was too big a commitment and instead asked the Auckland Club to host it – at quite short notice. A lot of people chipped in and the event got underway – great to see plently of Landrover Club faces there on the day!

At Ohakune we had thought that a fairly basic Rangie with a good winch would get around the course capably, so Chris and I decided to enter using the BodgeRover [we stood to lose a lot more if we rolled Chris’ 90]. The theme for the Bodge entry was Budget with a capital B. As we started to make the list of things the Bodge needed it became apparent we were a little under prepared – after all it didn’t even have a winch!

The first thing on the list was to get the engine running properly. The carb on the Bodge’s 4.4 P76 V8 flooded on downhills so badly that it stalled at the lights if you braked too suddenly. Not good. After a lot of research into Holleys, Quadrajets and LPG, we managed to stumble upon Ross Calgher Motor Racing in Waitara - who races, services, and rebuilds Rover V8s. It was obvious after a couple of minutes on the phone that he knew what he was talking about so we whipped off the inlet manifold and sent it to him in the post to have it rebuilt to suit twin HIF6 SU’s [exactly the same carb set up as the 90 by the way]. Not only did it now run well on angles but it revved much more freely and had heaps more power [good riddance to the Stromberg WW POS!!]
The next thing was a winch. Having seen last years event we knew the winch was as important as the vehicle. We wanted reliability and speed. We couldn't afford a PTO so a Warn 8274-50 [the high mount 8000 pound winch] was purchased. Within an hour we had voided the warranty by giving it to Andrew Findlay [Club Member and engineer]. Andrew did a great job of strengthening, sealing and tapping the winch [for air pressurisation and cooling]. We used an old ARB air compressor with a pressure reducer to run low pressure dry air through the motor to try and keep it cool.
We had a winch but we needed to get it mounted on the Bodge – a bullbar was on the plans but the $$$ weren’t. So a second-hand cow-catcher was found for $100 in Wellington. Alan Donaldson kindly freighted it to Auckland so we could see what we had purchased. I am being generous when I say it was damned ugly. We took to it with the angle grinder and Rob Louis [Club Member and welding guru] did the honours with the welder. Suddenly it had became a solid and – if I do say so myself – a good looking winch bar. The bar had to be substantially modified so the winch could sit high up towards the radiator with a good approach angle.

The Bodge Rover already had Rangie Spares body lift, but needed new springs to cope with the additional weight of the winch and bar. We fitted some OME 764 springs (220 pound 17”) to the front, and some Rangie Spares Orange springs (180 pound 18”) to match the lift in the rear.
Jules Lee [Club Member] of Two Offroad generously helped us out by supplying and installing a Rangie Spares snorkel to the Bodge. This sits up close to the body on the passengers side which helps avoid trees, and was definitely needed for the wading involved in the event. Tim Warburton [Club Member] got the starter motor reconditioned and generously loaned us a front ARB locker. We already had a rear locker so now things were looking good! We decided to use my 34” Jungle Trekker II’s in the event. While we did have Chris’ 35” Simex Extreme Trekkers in the shed, we were running standard 10 spline axles and CV’s and we were worried about breakages. If you have ever tried to lift a 35” Centipede on a steel rim you would know that they are VB HEAVY! The 34”s on their alloy rims were each about 30kgs lighter. The Bodge already had Rangie Spares flares to accommodate the bigger tyres.
We also needed lights for the night stages. Some twin beam Hella Tractor lamps and some spotlights we got for free were bolted to a roofrack. We bodged up some wiring and made a quick disconnect using a trailer plug. After testing we also installed a reversing light.
A rollcage was made [securely bolted to the chassis] and some expanded mesh welded on to stop things joining us in the front seat. Unwanted bits of bodywork were removed with the angle grinder and rear quarter bars were fitted to protect the rangies rear end. The exhaust had to be modified to fit and so we just removed the second muffler [sounds good too!].

We were running out of time. At 6am the morning before the event Rob welded us up a mount for the ground anchor and some detachable horns to hold winch cable on the bullbar.
Our plan had been to have months of practise, however there was more prep to do than we had foreseen and our practise options were only two short runs before the event.

The event:
We went to scrutineering rather nervously. The things that were really looked at by the scrutineers were fuel lines, brake lines, security of electrical connections and any broken strands on the winch cable. We scraped in on all counts, but they were all things we hadn't really looked at so it was luck not preparation!
We set up camp at the base camp and spent hours oggling the range of extremely well prepared trucks. It was obvious that our budget was small compared to what some of the competitors had spent on their vehicles – but we knew that was going to be the case. What was surprising was the jump in standard of 90% of the NZ trucks since last year [obviously the Bodge is in the other 10%]. The NZ teams had gone all out on the $$$ front [it was at this point that I realised they must be pretty serious J].
The time came for the first stage – a prologue at Manukau. Numbers were drawn to see who you had to race – in true form our luck was running pretty badly – out of 28 competitors we drew an Aussie! We were a bit taken aback [which had nothing to do with the 37 X 13.5 Boggers it was running] but at least it was a Rangie. We waited at the start line, adrenaline pumping, and double checking everything. As our luck was running pretty true to form as we moved to the starting line a storm broke overhead with lightening and a torrential downpour. Start! Away we went, the V8 making a nice noise winding up through the gears. We followed the course [mostly] through the waterhole, at high speed through the watersplash, into the axle twisters and then into a little bog. Disaster! The Bodge stalled and started missing. We tried to get out of the bog but the engine was missing so badly it wouldn't do it. Winch! Out of the vehicle, out with the ground anchor, start winching, but we had to stop to allow the Aussies to get past through the same bog – although they did a good job of getting past us they did leave us a little hello in the form of a dent in the front bonnet! The time ran out and we winched out and crawled back to the staging area very deflated.

Unfortunately we had only done rudimentary waterproofing, covering the coil and dissy with silicon grease. Obviously this wasn't enough. A water bottle got zip-tied over the coil, and a milk bottle went over the distributor. A coke bottle made a water shield, and more silicon grease was smeared over everything. It looked like a corner dairy.
The next day was at Waitoki. The first stage we lined up badly for the winch section and pulled ourselves outside the taped area. No points for that one.
The first river stage went well with no mistakes in driving or winching until the final bog hole (in sight of the finish!) With the bonnet underwater the motor died. Our waterproofing was still not good enough.

The next two stages we made hard work of – having to double line the winch sections and running out of time before the DNF time. I managed to hit a big Pururi tree in a rush of adrenaline and excitement, tastefully bending the new bullbar. If it hadn't been on there would have been a lot more damage. The winch sections were very greasy and we both wore soccer boots for that extra competitve edge – if we only could finish a stage they might help….
By now we were getting focussed on doing things right – taking our time and trying not to make mistakes. The next stage had a sidle, and a winch section where a Nissan had apparently rolled end over end backwards! I drove the sidle quickly; we set up for the winch section and finished in good time. Our first points!
That night we cleared another section in good time although there was one hairy section where we had the two passengers side wheels in the air at speed - the closest we were to rolling all weekend. We were starting to feel a bit better about things by now - we had a routine going – re-spooling the winch after every stage, checking the cable and re-stowing all the gear.
The Sunday was at Woodhill. The day was brilliant, and the first track was one I recognised – starting with a long sandy hill climb. We flew up the hill, and weaved our way through the tight sections between the trees. We winched three times, and still made it with minutes to spare. We were pumped.

The next stage didn't go so well. We had difficulty winching the winch section, having to double line everything and the winch was stalling out. We DNF’ed and in the staging area the Bodge died and refused to start. In fact it was totally dead with no power at all – anywhere! A tow start got us to the next stage, where we died again and could not start the stage. Frantic troubleshooting found a faulty electrical switch, which we removed – but we were too late to start the stage. Bugger.
Onto the next stage which seemed to have half the landy club watching. I fluffed an easy climb and had to use the ground anchor – then winch a little hill. Despite the bad start we managed to complete the stage in time!

The next stage the gremlins came back. We had trouble starting, and the Bodge got to the winch section and died – with the winch taut half way up the hill. The winch was not getting power – and neither was the starter. After a recovery we tried to figure out the problem but it was too much for our electrical skills and when the problem kept recurring we reluctantly retired. We haven’t yet traced the problem but it looks like our earth wires aren't up to it. The next day some more experienced competitors told us that all the standard earths on the winch and electrical system need replacing and routing directly to the chassis - not the body or shock turrets, and the standard winch earth wire supplied with the winch needs replacing with something about 100 times thicker. The high resistance of the standard earths causes poor winch performance and the current can burn holes through the rangie body causing earth failures. One to know for next time!
The last 3 stages at Patetonga we were on the sidelines as spectators. It was good to watch other competitors and see how they did things. That night we found out we had finished 22nd despite all our problems.

The event was a great experience, and excellent fun. We learnt a tremendous amount and our driving, winching and vehicle preparation have all improved as a result. The people involved; competitors, organisers, and all the volunteers have all been fantastic. We would especially like to thank all the people that have given us help and encouragement in preparing for the event. Jules Lee of Two Offroad, Tim Warburton of Bramble Downs, Rob Louis, Andrew Findlay, Blair - everyone who helped us out, a huge thank you.

Things we’d do better next year:
1. Better waterproofing of the electric's!
2. Run heavier earth straps directly to the bodywork from the winch and everything else, and pay real attention to the load carrying capacity of the cables.
3. Get some plasma rope! Steel cable is much harder work [understatement].
4. Run less cable on the winch to get more pull from the lower layers.
5. Install a kill switch inside the cab in case of a rollover and maybe some other additional safety precautions.
6. Have dual winch controller switches on the front by the winch AND inside the cab by the driver.
7. Have a support crew in a vehicle with spares [yeah dream on…].

Things we’d put on the wish list:
1. Maxidrive axles which are a lot stronger – which will allow us to use the:
2. 35” Simex Extreme Trekkers.
3. A lighter truck. The Bodge needs a diet – I am thinking Rangie Ute with a fibreglass bonnet!
4. A faster winch [24 Volt alternator anybody?]