Rear Recovery Point for Surf

[jt3000]

Hi, I have been searching around on the site for a good indication of what the best rear recovery point would be on my surf. was thinking about either a hook on one of the towbar end brackets just back from where the bar is welded on. But thought it might also be easier to remove the towball and mounting plate at the two bolts and install a bow shackle. Any thoughts from guys that have done this? The towbar and brackets look reasonably grunty for a straight pull but its not well braced against lateral movement.

[bruntonjm]

there are a few options available... you could have a plate made up with the hook bolted to it, which you then swap over with your tow bar when you go off road, otherwise under an engineers supervision weld a plate to the main bar on the towbar and bolt the hook to that. The problem with putting a shackle through where the towbar bolts through is often the hole is too small hope this helps... otherwise have a look on trade me for a rear bar with a hook and towbar already...

[hippy_]

Talk to Tom

[jt3000]

Thanks for that (who is Tom?)

Will probably make up a 10mm flat tongue that i can either bolt a hook to or with an eye for a shackle. Can then swap out the tow ball tongue when going off road.

[rokhound]

I'd be beefing up the way that whole setup where it mounts to the chassis. As you say the lateral strength does not look good and the 4ishmm (I'm guessing) plate looks like it has already had sideways movement.
Is that second hanger bracket only bolted to the draw bar plate? if so, and obviously the other one is bolted to the chassis rail, you are have a bar that can quite easily rotate backwards when any force is put on it.

[tomsoffroad]

Thanks for that (who is Tom?)

I'm Tom Im with Rok on this one. Your idea of replacing the tongue will work but you wouldn't want to do any heavy snatching.

[jt3000]

I'd be beefing up the way that whole setup where it mounts to the chassis. As you say the lateral strength does not look good and the 4ishmm (I'm guessing) plate looks like it has already had sideways movement.
Is that second hanger bracket only bolted to the draw bar plate? if so, and obviously the other one is bolted to the chassis rail, you are have a bar that can quite easily rotate backwards when any force is put on it.

At either end of the tow bar there is a flat extending back parallel to the chassis rails which has two vertical hangers (each side) welded up off it that both bolt to the rails. There is a diagonal angle brace at each end of the bar also which bolts to the chassis. I would be more comfortable if the angle brace had a couple of bolts fixing it to the chassis but it looks pretty good for a straight pull (all up 6 bolts to rails and would be two 12mm high grade bolts at the hook attachment point). Might take the whole bar off and go talk to an engineering shop about welding ing some diagonal struts for lateral movement. Am not looking for trouble but am likely to end up winching myself out of a hole at some point and its more than likely available anchor points wont line themselves up to suit me.

[jt3000]

Thanks for that (who is Tom?)

I'm Tom Im with Rok on this one. Your idea of replacing the tongue will work but you wouldn't want to do any heavy snatching.

Gidday Tom. You do this type of work i take it? would a bit of angle bracing sort me out?

[zukmeista]

Gidday Tom. You do this type of work i take it? would a bit of angle bracing sort me out?

Here is the thread full of all the cool stuff he does.
http://www.offroadexpress.co.nz/Forums/viewtopic.php?f=67&t=27391

[jt3000]

awesome stuff. Will have a crack at the tongue piece mentioned above and will post a pic, then take the truck in to have someone look at the bar. I know a welder or two but it might be good to get some pointers on a bash plate as well. Where are you based Tom? Are you interested in small jobs like this? The brownie point bank balance is a little low at the moment so cant splash heaps of cash around.

[mudlva]

personally i would look at rebuilding the whole bar as the current bar has to many pivot points etc
the concept of using a plate bolted to the existing round rear bar is that on a heavy pull you could well rip the bolts out of the channel the the tongue pushes into

if you think of snatch recovery in "straight weight" only the bar needs to take around 8 ton in holding strength. i would not think the current set up is up to that type of usage. have a word with Tom and if budget cant quite get there, hold on to the coin and save up until it does.

the issue is that if it lets go it will take your mate out, as that bar, when fling through the air will be lethal.

[jt3000]

I'd be worried about the tongue piece as a potential missile but failure of the whole bar probably would not be sudden as not all the bolts would fail at once. It is more likely that it would fail a couple of bolts or buckle the flat brackets rather than tear completely off the vehicle.

I take your point though that the tow bar setup is not a great one for snatching off. will definitely get it in to an expert for some advice.