good quality tow hooks

[Bushrash]

Hey
Just wanting to get a few ideas on where to buy quality recovery hooks for my safari,,,i have a good selection of tow hooks that have been taken off jappanese trucks and buses as in the trade which are heavy duty as hell but talking to a local club member says they have to be rated for club use,,,, although he has seen many rated hooks straighten and none of the oem truck hooks cause a problem,,, it seems would rather get some rated "good quality ones"any ideas on where to get good ones???
Also with the gq safari is it ok to use some heavy angle on the sides of the factory winch bars with a heavy plate on the back and good grade bolts to mount these hooks??
cheers

[Bulletproof]

Hey
Just wanting to get a few ideas on where to buy quality recovery hooks for my safari,,,i have a good selection of tow hooks that have been taken off jappanese trucks and buses as in the trade which are heavy duty as hell but talking to a local club member says they have to be rated for club use,,,, although he has seen many rated hooks straighten and none of the oem truck hooks cause a problem,,, it seems would rather get some rated "good quality ones"any ideas on where to get good ones???
Also with the gq safari is it ok to use some heavy angle on the sides of the factory winch bars with a heavy plate on the back and good grade bolts to mount these hooks??
cheers

My advice is .
Stick to the factory hooks found on Nissans ,Toyota etc

They have nothing stamped on them but are far superior to all this after market stuff with 10,000 stamped on the side.

I had one of these and it straightened and demolished a nissan safari

Cheer Richard

[Bushrash]

Thats was my thoughts but not sure how ill get on if i join the local club?? if they are not rated ,,,,they are twice the size of the 10.000lb ones

[rangimotors]

http://4wdbits.co.nz/ProductDetails.aspx?productID=85
check out the link above, i wont argue with bulletproof, but it is also true most clubs will not allow factory hooks or ones without a stamped rating. the snatch master hooks in the link above work well and being that i use snatch master snatch straps as well i would be surprised if the hook straightened before the strap broke.
the factory hook mountings seem to be the weak point rather than the hooks themselves.

[Jerry]

rated hooks are designed to be straitened, factory hooks tend to snap turning them into deadly missiles, most clubs require rated hooks and they are cheap as well, manafacturers only rate them as tie down points and will not certify them

[Sadam_Husain]

Somewhere on here theres a thread JTop did when he tested all the different brands of hooks he could find on a test rig. From memory some bent, some broke, some stretched the bolts and I think the pintles stalled the test rig.

His testing was done by applying a fixed load (tonnage) untill the hooks failed as apposed to the snatch forces that hooks are subjected to under snatching but its very interesting reading all the same if you can find the thread.

Your caught between a rock and a hard place, clubs want to see hooks with a rateing stamped on them and 8.8 bolts but as bulletproof says the old toyota (never had a nissan so dont know about those ) unrated hooks are pretty good, all my old 40 series cruisers I've had over the years had them and I never had a hook problem after years of abuse

Pays to play it safe though and dont snatch too hard coz the more the force the more the damage that can happen

[Bulletproof]

This a pic of the hook that straightened.

It was chrome plated and had 10,000 lbs stamped on the side and was sold by the Nelson 4 wheel drive club as an acceptable hook.

I have been 4 wheel driving for many years with quite extreme recoveries and as Sadam Hussein has said, I have never seen a toyota hook fail.



Richard

[Jerry]

yep thats what they are designed to do, factory hooks are likely not to do this ie snap instead. if you are straigtening a rated hook then there is a skool of thought that you should be digging/winching etc instead rather than try and pull the hook off.

What about a rated pintle hook?

[Sadam_Husain]

Some factory hooks stand up really well but theres also factory mounts and stuff to concider too, I think Surfs and Safaris with internal captive nuts on the hook mounts are known to fail as well as the odd mount ripping out of a chassis

Disclaimer: Photos stolen from Jerry

[DaveM]

If you use a factory Nissan front hook, it will eventually break at the weld.
There are no factory rear hooks, I use a hayman Reese setup for the rear, and rated 10000lb hooks on the front. As said, the rated hooks are designed to open, so they are the weak link, rather than turning the hook into a missile

[Bushrash]

mmm is a hard one not really sure which way to swing,,,,,, anyone got any photos of how they hae mounted there hooks on safaris?? cheers

[DaveM]

Just mount the hooks on their side, coming off the sides off your winch extension

[Bushrash]

[/quote]

Some factory hooks stand up really well but theres also factory mounts and stuff to concider too, I think Surfs and Safaris with internal captive nuts on the hook mounts are known to fail as well as the odd mount ripping out of a chassis

mmm thats nasty huh ,,,,with mounting off the winch rails ok to mount hook sideways or bolt some heavy angle and mount upright?? cheers

[DaveM]

Mounting sideways seems ok, did this on my GQ with no problems, thats the way I've seen most front hooks mounted on these.
I put one on each side

[coxsy]

this is how mine are

[Bulletproof]

this is how mine are

I like that for 2 reasons. It is easy to get at and see and also the hook is facing up

Cheers Richard

[NJV6]

I see someone mentioned factory Nissan Hooks.

Not sure about Terrano's but the front one's on Safari's will break and I have seen a number do so. I will not snatch out a Safari using the factory front hook.

If you are straightening rated hooks (which as Jerry points out they are DESIGNED to do) then an alternative method of recovery should be used.

The Cookes Chrome came out the best in JTop's testing.

[Sadam_Husain]

The Cookes Chrome came out the best in JTop's testing.

Did you find that old thread somewhere, have you got a link to it?

[rangimotors]

gotta agree about the hooks facing upwards, i also reckon the closer you can get the hook to the centre of the vechicle the better, nothing worse than crabbing all over the show when snatching

[turoa]

I like to use pintal hooks

[KiwiBacon]

rated hooks are designed to be straitened, factory hooks tend to snap turning them into deadly missiles, most clubs require rated hooks and they are cheap as well, manafacturers only rate them as tie down points and will not certify them

How does a badly made hook from china qualify as "rated"?
I drew one up and ran it through my computer's FEA program, these hooks cannot take the 10,000lb stamped in them.

Just because something is written, doesn't make it true. I'm concerned there are clubs basing policy around products like this.

[NJV6]

Did you find that old thread somewhere, have you got a link to it?

I found this one. What I find interesting is the tow ball snapping at 8 ton, substantially up on some of the rated hooks that also snapped.

I have carried out several hook tests on a test rig.
The bighorn hook with 10mm bolts snaps the bolts around 5 tonne
Drilled out to take 12mm bolts the hook snaps, nowhere near the drilling, at around 6 tonne
The Black Rat Black hook snapped around 5 Tonne
The Black Rat Chrome hook straightened around 5 Tonne
The Supa Cheap Ridge Rider Black hook snapped around 8 Tonne
The Bush Ranger Black hook straightened around 5 Tonne
3/4 shank towball snapped around 8 Tonne
The Snatchmaster hooks from Cookes straighten around 9.8 Tonne, this opens a new can of worms as the M12x1.75 bolts broke first.
Pintle Hook/Nato Coupling stripped the 10mm mounting bolts ie Patrol, around 12 Tonne
Pintle Hook with 12mm 8.8 bolts stalled the test rig around 20 Tonne
The Pintle tests were a straight on pull, an angled pull would load 2 bolts more with a leverage factor accross the mount face
All these tests were a increaseing load pull, not a snatch which could lower the results.

So where do you stop? The snatchmaster hooks being ideal as they straighten at a high load but the supplied bolts not up to the job. So snatchmaster hooks + 1/2 inch grade 8 bolts, then you'd need a pretty good anchoring point to take 10 ton.

How does a badly made hook from china qualify as "rated"?

Interested in your comp program. Bear in mind all the ones even the cheap chinese ones tested did 5 ton which is near enough 10k pounds.

[Bushrash]

some interesting results ,i guess the hook is only as good as what it is mounted to ,,,i can candle a hook straightening ,snapping would be a concern

[KiwiBacon]

How does a badly made hook from china qualify as "rated"?

Interested in your comp program. Bear in mind all the ones even the cheap chinese ones tested did 5 ton which is near enough 10k pounds.

Remind me next week to find it again, it's posted up in another thread on here many months back.

The chinese hooks start to bend before the rated load, but they'll bend a certain amount before they actually let the rope go.
I believe something should take it's rated load without damage, these cannot. They'll eventually fatigue and snap if used to their stated capacity.

[Bushrash]

So the snatch master products here in nz are they distributed by cookes nz??the wire rope guys??,,,i have av account with them

[shiney]

Bit rough bringing the Nelson 4wd club into it Bulletproof. I was on the understanding that the Nelson club has not sold hooks for some time now...maybe the hook shown on the rear of your truck had passed it used by date...as you said in another thread...these hooks come under extreme pressure from different ropes or have you always used nylon to limit stress on them.

[DaveM]

How does a badly made hook from china qualify as "rated"?
I drew one up and ran it through my computer's FEA program, these hooks cannot take the 10,000lb stamped in them.

Just because something is written, doesn't make it true. I'm concerned there are clubs basing policy around products like this.

I would feel better with a 10000lb hook than a factory one

[Bulletproof]

Bit rough bringing the Nelson 4wd club into it Bulletproof. I was on the understanding that the Nelson club has not sold hooks for some time now...maybe the hook shown on the rear of your truck had passed it used by date...as you said in another thread...these hooks come under extreme pressure from different ropes or have you always used nylon to limit stress on them.

Hi Lindsay
I am not getting at the Nelson 4 wheel drive club over selling the hook.
The reason I mentioned the club is that other clubs are saying that members must replace there hooks with rated ones and this could be a mistake because the the ones with numbers on the side could be cheap rubbish even though the clubs believe what they are doing is right.
By the way this happened in 2000 and the hook was about one or two years old so wasn't past its use by date.

Cheers Richard

[bigbear]

Any one know what the bushranger hooks are like??

[4WDbits]

So where do you stop? The snatchmaster hooks being ideal as they straighten at a high load but the supplied bolts not up to the job. So snatchmaster hooks + 1/2 inch grade 8 bolts, then you'd need a pretty good anchoring point to take 10 ton.

The Cookes Snatch Master rated hooks all now come with 8.8 (or imperial equivalent) bolts. There was a time when they didn't.