Ironman winches

[powerguy]

Just some comments on my experience with Ironman products. I have an IM bull bar on my 2015 D Max fitted with the 12000lb IM winch. The bull bar is a bit flimsy and the holes for the stone guard bolts didn't line up so the dealer simply drilled through and fitted spring washers and nuts on the bolts rather than use the captive nuts fitted.
The winch is sort of ok but I replaced the wire rope with synthetic as the wire kept springing off the spool whenever the gears were disengaged making a birds nest. The rope is attached via a bolt through the side of the spool and there is not a lot of metal there to thread into. It was M6 and I snapped the head off the bolt with stress when winching from that side. The remote was cabled and wireless but the wireless failed after 2 years and water had got into the "sealed" receiver block in the winch relay body. This was not waterproofed and had no drain holes. All the fasteners were zinc plated steel and began to rust including the nuts on the electrical connections.

Overall I would not recommend this brand for anyone wanting more than a cosmetic accessory.

[geeves]

on 2015 trucks there are very few choices for the bullbar as it has to meet airbag and frontal impact rules. Drilling out the captive nuts to fit a different nut and bolt could easily void that certification. Is the bolt even the correct size? These include an actual crash test so its very expensive to certify a bar. With the wire rope was it installed correctly? It needs to be tensioned normally by winding it on under a small load the first time. However synthetic is so much nicer to use but what type of brake is in the winch? If the brake is in the drum then winding out under load can melt your rope. My Supercheap whinch is a drum brake and has never caused an issue. That bolt is a pretty standard way of attaching the line