Series III Front Recovery Point

[C00P]

Hi Folks,
Have been trying to come up with a scheme for installing two front recovery points on my Series III to be used with a long bridle (probably my recovery extension strap).
I've scanned through everything I could find on this forum and have seen a number of references to attaching points to the bumper bar.
The photos show my setup at present. The standard bumper bar, which appears to be made of 3mm plate is attached top and bottom by extension plates through which two bolts pass and through the front of the chassis. These bolts also pass through the base of the bullbar which is made of 6mm plate. The base of the bullbar is bolted to the top of the bumper bar in about 6 places. The bullbar appears to be home-made, but is quite substantial.
One scheme I have considered is to place two heavy plates about 20cm long and the full width of the bumper on the inside of the bumper and bolt a couple eye-bolts or similar rated recovery devices through the bumper and those plates. This would transfer the entire load to the bumper bar, and I would therefore be relying on the attach points of the bumper to withstand the load. I don't think they look strong enough, although if they did tear out, the bumper bar would also have to be torn off the bottom of the bullbar before anything came completely loose.
Second idea was to through bolt some hooks onto the side of the chassis just underneath the bumper bar and just above where the springs join on. Dunno if the chassis, which I believe is about 3mm steel, could withstand the load any better than the bumper.
Third idea was to buy a length of rated chain, thread it through the gap where the springs join the chassis, and join the ends with a bow shackle. Do this on both sides, and then put the bridle between the two shackles.
This is easy to implement, but if the chain lets go, then there is a lethal lump of metal on the end of a stretched snatch strap- this could spoil our whole day. The chain has to tolerate being pulled hard up against sharp edges of tough spring steel- and the outcome of this could be a bit unpredictable. (This is my current default method- as yet untried.)
The most complex idea is to strip the front of the vehicle and get some thick plate welded to both sides of the chassis rail, and then bolt the recovery hooks through that. I'm no welder so I'd have to pay someone to do this, and it would cost a bit, and it might also be overkill.
I've attached some photos so people can see what my current set up looks like.
Anyone else here got any other ideas? What have other Series III owners done?

Regards

Coop
General View
Bumper General.jpg
Bumper top and bullbar base attach point
Bullbar base.jpg
Bumper bottom attach point
Bumper base attach.jpg
Bumper details
Bumper detail.jpg

[KarlB]

I just used Jate Rings when I had a sIII.

Cheers
KarlB

[C00P]

I just used Jate Rings when I had a sIII.

Cheers
KarlB

Yes, I've read about them and seen images, but where do they fit? Are they rated? They don't look all that strong, although it's hard to tell from the pictures.

Coop

[Blknight.aus]

I just run a loop of chain around the front chassis member behind the spring shackle on both sides. The ends of the chains go onto the pin of a bow shackle and the recovery gear hangs from the bow. in 15 odd years It hasnt hurt anything yet.

[KarlB]

Yes, I've read about them and seen images, but where do they fit? Are they rated? They don't look all that strong, although it's hard to tell from the pictures.

Coop

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. They were originally designed for transporting Land Rovers by helicopter. 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 (or what ever) 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.

But back to Jate Rings: they are like very large D shackles with the 'bolt' passing through the chassis leaving the curved part straddling the chassis. They replace the standard lashing eyes. They look like this:




Slightly modified versions are available that allow for steering guard attachments etc. They look like this:



There are various flat bar welded versions of unknown quality like this example:




There are various options for purchase in Australia. There are (non-original) welded ones from Land Rover Tuning (see http://www.landrovertuning.com.au/shop/catalogsearch/result/?q=jate&x=21&y=11) and original ones from Les Richmond Automotive (see Les Richmond Automotive), for example. They would certainly be cheaper to import (do a Google search on the Part No. to find suppliers). They are often listed on UK Ebay (eBay - one of the UK's largest shopping destinations). Have a bit of a search on the net.

Cheers
KarlB

[C00P]

Karl,
Thanks for that comprehensive reply.
I've seen them advertised and described as either 85mm wide or larger at 95mm (3 1/4" or 3 3/4" respectively). I understand that for safe operation they should be flush to the chassis- any gap and the load on the bolt tends to bend it rather than shear it.
Problem is, I've measured across my chassis to see which ones would fit at the mounting point, and my chassis measures 87mm. I assume you fitted some to your Series III at some stage. How did you overcome this problem? Or was your chassis a little smaller?
Did you just grind them out 1mm on each side? (I see that the wider ones have had this done).

Coop

[C00P]

Got the JATE rings today and tried to fit them. Had to file a little off the inside to get them over the chassis, no probs. I was hoping this would be a simple job, just file them out a little and bolt them on. No such luck.
As you can see from the picture, the depth of the rings is insufficient to reach the existing holes which I had assumed were put there for the purpose.
Before I set to with the drill and drill new holes, I'm wondering how others arranged this. The structure at the front of this part of the chassis includes some internal cross members. If others have done this, where did you drill the holes? Just ahead of the ones shown here, or further forward? Pictures of existing fittings would be useful, if anyone has any.

Coop
JATE location.jpg

[p38arover]

I have some recovery or towing loops that came off a Workshop front bar - they were standard LR parts. I could take some pics if wanted.

They are like this:

[C00P]

Thanks p38, but my bullbar doesn't permit me to fit those. I'm after photos of JATE rings fitted to Series III- I know others have done this, but I've not seen any pictures or descriptions of where they were fitted.
Cheers,

Coop

[S3ute]

I have some recovery or towing loops that came off a Workshop front bar - they were standard LR parts. I could take some pics if wanted.

They are like this:

Hello.

I have a set of these D hooks (pictured) which I had intended to fit onto a standard bumper (S3). The rear two bolt holes line up with the existing bumper mounting bolts and presumably the front bolts have to be drilled into the bumper.

Just wondering if there is any particular special consideration required to the materials etc used for the bolts and mounting points?

Cheers,