In line winch for a W907 Sprinter & ECB Bullbar

 In-line Winch Concept

I have long held an idea of using an in-line winch for my sprinter rather than mounting one permanently up front on my ECB bullbar. The key drivers for this idea were fourfold:

1. The location of the W907 forward seeking radar in the centre of the ECB bullbar.
2. Routing lengthy heavy gauge 12v wiring from the vehicle battery in the passenger foot well.
3. Having an option to winch from the rear.
4. Using 240v low current power from the inverter rather than 12v high current power.

The intent was to have a winch available as a contingency rather than using it regularly.

My concept combined a winch mounted on a steel plate anchored back to the tow points on the bullbar via slings and shackles. The power supply would be via a simple extension lead from an inverter GPO and the control via either hard wiring or remote control. The winch would be limited to approximately 1600W. I had had difficulty finding a suitable existing 240v hoist winch.

During my ongoing searching I recently came across a 12v portable ATV winch made by Vevor which is intended to act in-line. The power input requirement was 1650W. I must admit that I had doubts about the componentry but the price was compelling and the opportunity to give it a try seemed inevitable.

The winch unit case weighs 15kg

Two anchor webbing straps inside the case as well as the free wheel clutch control

Winch anchor point shackles

Drum layer rated line pull

I have purchased a unit and made some power input and control line modifications and had an opportunity recently to conduct a test. It works! It pulled 1143kg on the third layer and peaked at 1500kg on the second layer. Not massive but may help get me out of trouble especially if I use a snatch block to achieve ~3000kg. The rope is only 10m long but that’s sufficient to get me out of a ‘situation’ even if it has to be done stepwise. I also have a 15kg land anchor available just in case.

Third layer

Second layer

Land anchor in transit mode

Land anchor in ready mode

Modifications

Power Input

The original 12v input was via short jump start leads with alligator clips to a 50A Anderson plug. The main problem, of course, being that to drive the 1650W motor the current needs to be in the order of 1650/13=126.923 amp so I purchased 6m long 2awg jumper leads, added an in-line 150A midi fuse block in the positive lead and replaced the alligator clips at the other end with a 120A Anderson plug. The extra length allowed sufficient offset from the under-hood vehicle battery connection points to the in-line winch location (~3m ahead of the vehicle. I also made up a short lead for the winch unit to allow a 120A Anderson plug connection.

Supplemental 120A connector

Modified jumper leads

Jumper leads and control cable packed away

Standard battery jump start terminals

Control lead

The original lead was 1m long which wouldn't reach the driver’s location so I extended it by 6m. The unit has a remote control unit but I disliked the associated lag whereas the hard line control has immediate effect.

Power leads and control lead supported by the bullbar

Hard wire control at driver’s door

Rigging Arrangement 

Single Part

The winch includes two 2000kg webbing straps which anchor back to the bullbar using 3.25t bow shackles.

Bullbar tow point

Two Part

I double up the supplied webbing straps at the rear of the winch and add 2t shackles at the front of the winch to attach two 2t polyround slings and a 3.25t bow shackle to connect the hook to.

Vertical separation of the winch rope

Vertical separation of the winch rope at the snatch block

This arrangement negates the tendency for the winch to twist under load which occurred when I tried anchoring the winch to one side of the bullbar and the hook to the other. The twisting made the drum spooling problematic. Yet another example of the value of function testing.

Induced twisting

Conclusion

I have always been a bit nervous of venturing into soft ground as a predominantly solo traveller. Having a mechanism to provide some supplementary motive force without standing in line (hand tirfor or chain block) eases my mind a bit. The recovery board method worked well last time crossing the loose gravel Gascoyne river bed but you never know.

Addendum

Bug Wall sliding door screen

 Hello folks,

My original sliding door flyscreen gave up the ghost during my big loop in 2025. I had been hoping someone would produce a magnetic closure type for some time. I came across another Sprinter which had just what I wanted during my recent Mundatharrda 2026 adventure, although it came from USA. 

I did some digging around and bit the bullet for a relatively expensive solution compared to the like for like replacement from Dove Camper Conversions here in Perth. They do make them ‘handed’ for right hand drive.

The installation instructions were good and supported by a video. Herewith the end result. I do like the magnetic closure.

Mundatharrda 2026 post script

 Hi folks,

An update on La Bestia engine light issue:

She ran just fine all the 450km back to Perth so I wasn’t too concerned but didn’t want to switch her off just in case. Got her booked into my local Mercedes Service centre straight away, next day in fact. They performed the diagnosis and found a faulty NOx sensor so replaced it. All good.

I also asked them to perform a Active Brake Assist software patch that I had found out about on a US Sprinter forum:

• Please quote the following Service Measure when booking in the Sprinter for service at the Dealer: TIPS GI54.71-N-075662 

This ABA issue has existed since delivery. Ironically, the forward seeking radar shuts itself off after distance/time not seeing a vehicle in front. Rather silly for a 4x4 vehicle in Australia. No one here could tell me why. Even more silly was the fact that it would wake up again automatically after detecting a few vehicles in front but not if you just ‘turned the vehicle off and on again’. Fortunately I had chosen not to have adaptive cruise control fitted so my cruise control remained unaffected. Those with ACC however lost that function as well. Clearly someone/group in the US stomped up and down enough to get a software fix. 

The service centre here knew nothing of this fix even though, to my mind, it deserved a safety recall. Anyway they found the reference and have loaded it. I will only truly find if the problem has been rectified on my next remote adventure. Let’s hope so.

In addition to the service work they did a quick clean of a vehicle that had just come back from the very red Pilbara region of WA. Not a deep clean but certainly saved me some effort. They also provided an Uber each way from home 9km away. Quite handy for someone who lives alone.

Now for the big shoutout… ALL the above was carried out Free Of Charge even though the vehicle warranty lapsed in January 2026. Why you may ask? Because I had done extra services there before and after my big loop in 2025 and had spent a significant sum with them to date (Vito and Sprinter) and they agreed that the ABA should’ve been a safety recall.

Well done Mercedes Benz Perth!

PS Back to Vittoria and my motoaddict stuff this weekend