Recovery Points Part 2 – The Front

To recap The Basics, what is a recovery point?

It’s a strong point on the chassis of a 4x4 that allows safe winch or rope recovery.

It has to be very strong, and therefore you have to think about what you are doing. A winch recovery will often exert 20,000lbs, of force onto your chassis.

Series Land Rovers

Well Series owners have got it pretty easy.

These easily available recovery points commonly referred to as “D-Rings” just bolt on – perfect. However, Series front dumb-irons rust with a penchant. It’s not unheard of for a big recovery to rip large chunks of chassis off – with possible lethal consequences. As if pulling a large part of your truck off wasn’t bad enough, having it hit you in the back of the head could really ruin your day.

Again it’s back to the ﬁrst principles – use the right bolts (high tensile, marked “8.8” on the head), and only into 100% sound metal.

Lightweights have a similar arrangement, designed to take a shackle, for their role as air-portable. These points ARE NOT SUITABLE FOR RECOVERY, they are designed to lift the vehicle upwards, not to pull it out of a muddy hole. They are likely to bend or pull out if used for recovery.

Defenders

Defender owners have got it pretty easy too.
Lashing eyes, as per the rear, are a “get out of jail free card”. If you bridle them on a nice long bridle, they’ll get you out, but they are likely to bend, so aren’t really suitable for regular use.

The easiest upgrade is our friend the JATE ring. They cost about £20 a pair, and bolt through the chassis after removing the lashing eye. They are available from many places including Brooklyn 4x4 (don’t forget your Shire LRC discount!)

Both the JATE ring and the lashing eye have one major drawback -they are under the chassis. If you are stuck, chances are the recovery point is buried in water/mud/sand, so unless you’ve had the forethought to attach a rope before getting stuck – you’ll be getting the spade out. So it’s better to get the recovery points onto the bumper.

One of my favourite solutions is this military bumper with a central recovery point, shown here on the left. Genuine part JATE rings are also clearly visible.

Left: A bridle spreads the load between two recovery points. In this case, D-rings on a Series 3 bumper.

Adding a winch bumper with recovery points is a common albeit expensive upgrade.

Here is a typical installation on a Tomcat.

There is of course no reason why you can’t add similar hitches or even tow-balls to a standard bumper.
But...

Keep them in-line with the chassis rails, and not on the bumper ends.
Use the proper hi-tensile bolts, nuts and washers.
Use backing plates (see the ﬁrst article)
Try and use hitches rated for 3500kgs, the cheaper ones are often only rated for 2000kgs

As an alternative – swivelling recovery eyes are gaining in popularity, but they aren’t cheap - and be prepared to drill a big hole, using a small hole saw.

Range Rover / Discovery

There are plenty of options for those who prefer a bit more civilization to their driving experience.
The lashing eyes, and JATE rings will ﬁt equally well, but you may need to remove or trim the front spoiler
There is now a wide range of replacement front bumpers available. Here is a typical one from First Four Off Road. The recovery points can be seen, just under the bumper.

There is also a wide variety of winch bumpers available too, all of which come with recovery points built in, or the strength to add them easily.

Freelanders, Disco III’s and later Range Rovers

Newer vehicles such as Freelanders, Discovery III’s , P38A’s and the current Range Rovers all have a built in recovery point. Here (left) is the Freelander’s. Easy!

Pajeros, Lada Nivas, Suzukis And Others

I suggest you take advice from the dealers, specialists and one-make clubs.

Fabricated Recovery Points

This article, just like the ﬁrst part has concentrated on the existing factory recovery points or ones you can buy. Many people in the club are capable of building an excellent recovery point, however an awful lot of people have no idea what stresses and strains are involved. From a club perspective, it is very difﬁcult to tell the difference between a strong weld, and one that is just about to fail, especially when covered in mud and paint.

It used to be common practice to mount a tow-ball horizontally centrally, especially on racers. This was often welded on. Welded on tow-balls are frowned upon and banned by many. There really isn’t any excuse, and it should be bolted on with proper bolts.
Whilst we are on a negative vibe, there really is no excuse for having a NATO hitch on the front of a vehicle. The damage one could cause in an accident doesn’t bear thinking about.

What Next?

So you’ve got front and rear recovery points that are good and safe – excellent. You’ll keep the marshals happy at the next off-road event you attend. Just bear in mind when you get stuck, attaching the rope or the winch is your job! If you are in any doubt about your recovery points, just ask one of the committee members and they will get somebody to take a look at the options for you and your vehicle.