Replacement for towing eyes

[Perspicacious]

The Defender manual reads, "The towing eyes at the front and rear of the vehicle are designed for on-road recovery only." Fine design work in an off-road vehicle Land Rover.:confused:

Opposite Lock sell this tow hook: Tow Hook - Black With Bolts An (http://www.oppositelock.com.au/index.php?next_page=product/product_detail.php&product_id=6750&category_id=608)

TJM sell the tow hooks at the bottom of this page: TJM - Serious 4WD Equipment > Products > Products Parent > Ox Recovery Equipment (http://www.tjm.com.au/Default.aspx'tabid=69)

Are there any others available?

Any suggestions of where/how to fit the replacement? I am very reluctant to start drilling holes in the chasis.

[miky]

Tow hooks?? Mmmm.

Suggest you do a search for Jate Rings.
There are several threads about adding tow points.

Search is your friend :)

[Perspicacious]

Are Jate rings rated to a particular weight? I cannot find any information indicating they have a particular rating (and I have been searching).

Without bothering to get all of my recovery equipment out of the shed to check the precise details, all of the rigging is rated to about 5 tonnes--bow shackles, snatch strap, tree protector, equaliser strap etc. My creeper winch is only 2.5 tonnes static pull, which is enough (just).

A typical snatch involves 2x 2+tonne 4WDs joined by what is effectively a very large rubber band stretched about as far as it will go. One of those 4WDs will be bogged. The potential energy in a fully stretched snatch strap is enormous. The thought of a jate ring giving way mid snatch fills me with dread. The bloke on the wrong end won't even have a chance to figure out that he has died.

That is why I only use rigging with a proper weight rating. Despite searching I cannot find any jate rings which indicate a proper weight rating. Vague assertions of "very strong" are not good enough for me.

[101RRS]

I have two of those hooks as I think one is a bit light on for heavy snatching - I use a bridle between them and they work fine.

Garry

[KarlB]

Jate rings (LR Part No RRC3237) are British military equipment and are not formally rated but are generally consider by the military to have a max load of 3.4 tonnes (see Sheppard, Tom (1993) The Land Rover Experience. Land Rover and GT Foulis and Co.). With a 3.4 tonnes safe working load they should only ever be used in pairs, for snatch recover, using an appropriate bridle. There are a range of Jate ring copies on the market, some of which are probaly as strong as the forged originals, but others are of questionable strength.

Despite its common usage for vehicle recovery, snatching is inherently risky and should be the LAST recovery option. The forces in snatch recovery can be very large and loads exceeding 8 tonnes is easily (and commonly) achieved.

The use of only rated recovery gear is essential. Problem is, it is not the rated hook that is questionable, it is how it is fixed to the vehicle and the part of the vehicle it is fixed to. I have seen rated hooks poorly welded to the chassis, others bolted without high tensile bolts, and most importantly, hooks attached to quite thin parts of the mild steel chassis. It is interesting to consider that properly engineered tow bars with their multiple attachment points to the chassis still are only rated at 3.5 tonnes.

[Perspicacious]

It seems to me that this is a great weakness of the Defender. Don't get me wrong, I love my truck.

Having only recently acquired the Defender I am looking to get the essentials sorted. Proper recovery points are an essential as far as I am concerned--do dangerous things as safely as possible.

Despite very diligent searching of the internet (aka the Font of All Knowledge) I have not been able to find any information about proper load rated recovery points for the vehicle. As KarlB points out, "8 tonnes is easily (and commonly) achieved" in a snatch. That will cut a man in half if something goes wrong. And there won't be time to duck.

Not having recovery points is not an option. There is nothing wrong with getting into to trouble (that is half the fun) but the the thing that sorts the men out from the boys is the ability to get out of it. Preferably, in style:D

I am starting to think about getting somebody to weld 4 recovery hooks on to the chasis.

[Chucaro]

.........
I am starting to think about getting somebody to weld 4 recovery hooks on to the chasis.
I would drill the 2 holes for the bolts before weld.

[KarlB]

The basic chassis on 'recent' defenders is 2 mm mild steel. It is reinforced or stiffened at various places. Where the front lashing eyes are affixed is one such place and this is a suitable place to locate a pair of Jate rings. On pre-Puma defenders, the rear lashing eye locations were also reinforced and are suitable for Jate rings. The chassis at this location on Puma defenders is not reinforced and is not suitable for recovery, though many people still use Jate rings attached here, without apparent failure. Properly welding a recovery hook to the chassis is not a simple task to do and requires some one with expertise in such structural welding. I am not a welder, but it is my understanding that to do this 'properly' may require preheating. It is also not much point to weld the hooks onto 2 mm mild steel. Inappropriate welding may in fact weaken the chassis and Chucaro's suggestion for drilling and bolting may be safer.

A properly designed bullbar or strengthened front bumper, properly fixed to the chassis rails should be adequate for affixing recovery points at the front. You should always snatch using a bridle to spread the load on the chassis. Real problem is recovery from the rear. Most people simply use the tow bar, often with a recovery receiver hitch but, as I said in an earlier post, the tow bar is only rated at 3.5 tonnes.


I believe that the situation is really no better with Land Rover's Japanese competitors.

[lardy]

Great Thread pics would have been special but lol

[mark2]

There is another option to consider.

There has been a thread on a system which involves bolting special recovery brackets to the radius arm bolts on each side and (I think) using a bridle system.

This method always involves some debate, but the physics of it are such that if the vehicle is retained in the mud, sand etc by the axles (usually the case) then pulling on the axles (rather than the chassis) will impart far less stress on the suspension components and, tend to lift the axle out of whatever is holding it. The radius arm bolts are some of the strongest bolts on a Land Rover. A downside is having to dig down through through the mud etc to find the recovery points.

This is a link to the system:
http://www.yican.com.au/ADR/TechADR.html

[Bigbjorn]

Get some eye bolts (lifting eyes) from your local chain, cable, and rigging shop.