Front Bar and recovery hooks

[RJ]

Hi All,

I have just purchased our first 4WD and keen to hit the mud. We have bought a 1992 Pajero SWB 3.0 V6. All stock standard with the slipped diff and hydraulic suspension lift. I have been trying to locate information on placement of recovery hooks. I have located what appears to be a plate which can go in place of the tow bar for the rear on trademe, and was wondering if anyone had tried these as yet. Also I was wondering what all you pajero drivers are doing for hooks on the front, if you don't replace the factory front bar. Now I may have answered my own question here as it maybe that we have to replace the front bar. Any info or photos of good setups would be appreciated.

Cheers
Rod

[xj]

rod drives a Pajero, rod drives a pajero ...... you'll get latte spilt on it before you get mud on it!!!

http://www.plcuk.co.uk/search.php?mode=results might be some help here.... somwhere...

or here...... http://www.pocuk.com/

But this one you will want to read...... http://forums.overlander.com.au/viewtop ... f0cd0e2150 .... wonder what other pajero owners on this forum have to add...

[NJV6]

You can just see my rear one here.....



It is like you say - mounted to the centre where the tow loop originaly was. Got some 10.9 grade bolts but 4 x 8.8's would no doubt suffice. I have heard of the whole rear crossmember getting distorted if you are silly but I have done alot of towing (usually Toyota's, Nissans and Jeeps (Just for you XJ )) and think to bend it you'd have to be killing something.

For the front is a bit harder. I built a new bar. I was going to run a bit of channel steel between the two chassis rails and mount them to that but then got the winch so built the whole bar.



I have since modified the bar to recess the winch into the grill but haven't refitted it yet. It has tow points on both sides just above the chassis mounts.

All taken from.....Project Pajero

[WACKO]

i had a loop on the rear in the centre with a big ass bow shackel on it that i used as my rear. i used my factory hook on the drivers side for a few years (about 3 i think) with no problems but when i went on a trip with another club i put a rated hook on the passengers side after removing the tiedown eye thing. i cut it off then drilled the mounting holes for the hook in the bottom of the chassis rail. i also had to open up the hole in the bash plate slightly but it all looked good in the end.

you can kinda see it in this pic...


Sam

[xj]

The only issue I could see with mounting where the towball was, is that the bracket to bolt to is welded onto the chassis cross member..... your putting a lot of faith into someone elses/a robots, welding. Whereas with bolting it into the chassis rail the forces are pulling directly on the chassis, not off of a weld.

[RJ]

Just checked around the tow bar, yep there is a fair bit of weld there. There are holes in the back end of the chassis with about 45mm centres. These areas might be a tad stronger than the tow bar setup. Sounds as though we will be getting a new front bar to cater for the front recovery hooks. Have just been quoted $1k + GST, which I didn't think was too bad.

[xj]

try some of the us sites for references too, if your interested...... Mitsi Montero or Dodge Raider. Dunno if theres anything to help ya there, but ya might be interested in having a browse. Got a feeling they may have been pre your 1993.

$1080+gst for your ARB bar sounds pretty reasonable. Got quoted $1800+gst for the Wrangler one, cant be that much difference, they would want to be hoping its not a typo...... keep the quote......

[LOWDWN]

ive fitted a hook on each end of chassis rails, made the most sense to me, had to drill half inch holes, but got there, cut factory ones off, looks tidy

[RJ]

ive fitted a hook on each end of chassis rails, made the most sense to me, had to drill half inch holes, but got there, cut factory ones off, looks tidy

Hi Lowdwn, when you say you fitted hooks on the ends of the chassis, are you talking about the front and/or the rear? I will try and fit some on the rear at the ends of the chassis rails. There are already three holes at 45mm centres. I am not to keen on drilling any more holes so will be keen to get some hooks that fit those. AS for the front I will check it out today but am guessing you removed the towing eye and factory welded hook and renewd with rated recovery hooks, drilled and bolted on to the ends of the rails.

NJV6 thanks for reference to your "Project Pajero" page, a great source of information. I really didn't want to re-invent the wheel here.

Cheers
Rod

[LOWDWN]

ive fitted a hook on each end of chassis rails, made the most sense to me, had to drill half inch holes, but got there, cut factory ones off, looks tidy

Hi Lowdwn, when you say you fitted hooks on the ends of the chassis, are you talking about the front and/or the rear? I will try and fit some on the rear at the ends of the chassis rails. There are already three holes at 45mm centres. I am not to keen on drilling any more holes so will be keen to get some hooks that fit those. AS for the front I will check it out today but am guessing you removed the towing eye and factory welded hook and renewd with rated recovery hooks, drilled and bolted on to the ends of the rails.

Rod

yea the 2 holes on a rated hook are set distances, and sady i had to drill 2 holed at the rear as one bolt hole would line up and the other was 5-10mm out, a pain i just drilled them using the hook as a guide, the front yea i started by grinding off the uye(passangers) and hook (drivers) very easy and drilled 4 new holes , using a pilot and a high speed steels dril bit (evacut) wasnt as much of a mission as i thort it was going to be

[NJV6]

Remember doing any sort of mods to the chassis such as drilling a hole and you should be up for certification if they notice it.

I didn't drill into the chassis as it seems to have enough holes in it already and drilling another one would make it weaker. They should of course be sleeved right through to the other side of the box section.

[RJ]

Yep I noticed there are heaps of holes already in the chassis. I will check with the shop tomorrow and see what there thoughts are. I was hopeing that there were rated hooks available that had about 45mm centres so that I could at least utilise the holes at the rear of the chassis as they are now. I guess it is now time to weigh up a new front bar or drilling into the chassis to get some hooks on the front!!

[RJ]

Update and further to the decisions on hooks. The rear was simple in the end, a plate and hook fitting to be bolted in place of the tow bar arrangement. The front hooks. Xj and I had a good look and found two holes on the inside of the front chassis rail on both sides. So we will bolt two hooks facing in towards each other. This maybe viewed as slightly over the top but I have also decided to use a bridle on the two recovery hooks on the front.

If I can load them successfully I will load a couple of photos once completed, just in case anyone is interested.

[xj]

ill hope to get those 4 plates made up for you tomorrow after work.

[RJ]

No panic champ, its your birthday this week, so take it easy. We could always do it next Saturday and put off doing the lawns!!

[RJ]

Hi all. Just an update of the hooks on the Pajero, for those who are interested or looking for some ideas.

First the holes we found on the inside of the chassis rail

The plates and hook courtesy of xj, cheers champ

The finished result of two plates either side of the rail and hook bolted on. One on the inside of each rail, which will be used in a bridle system.

And lastly the rear plate and hook

All completed, just a few minor alterations to the stone guard and grill on the front and possibly change the bolts on the rear hook plate.

[xj]

Those grade 8 ones on the rear are 12mm aye mate? Should be fine. Looks good enough to drag you up Thommos over the next few weekends!!!!!!!

[RJ]

Yep, keen as with Bells on.

[xj]

DIXXXIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE.... we dun git us ah veargin..........................

[MikeH]

I know this is a little while down the track, but...... nobody mentioned anything about using crush tubes in the holes drilled through the chassis. If they are not used there is the liklihood of the chassis compressing and then the bolts will have movement and the possiblity of damage under stress.
I hope my 2 cents saves some damaged pride or injury.

[xj]

I know this is a little while down the track, but...... nobody mentioned anything about using crush tubes in the holes drilled through the chassis. If they are not used there is the liklihood of the chassis compressing and then the bolts will have movement and the possiblity of damage under stress.
I hope my 2 cents saves some damaged pride or injury.

A very valid point, but not pertinent to the way it was done. Didnt mention cruch tubes because we didnt drill "through" the chassis per sey, therefore they werent necessary. One side of the chassis rail was drilled through, thats all. The two plates sandwiched the one side of the rail that was used.

[MikeH]

I failed to think of that option. When I worked on mine, it was near impossible to get to the inside of the chassis rails so I had to go right through.

[RJ]

I failed to think of that option. When I worked on mine, it was near impossible to get to the inside of the chassis rails so I had to go right through.

Hi MikeH, we managed to get a spanner down there. But there wasn't much room. They have worked a treat. Without any lift, well except the hydraulic one, and on 31 AT's, I have been dragged and snatched out of a few places. I recently did a check on the front tow hook arrangement and came to the conclusion that they appeared to have handled everything to date.