[magnat]

How do I go about installing

Recovery Hooks to a 93 LWB Vitara??



Its a 4.5Tonne Rated recovery hook with Strap Holder..

[royce]

they arent rated thats max load

and I dont know of anyone that has successfully fitted them to a vitara, maybe on the side of the towbar, on the front the chassis isnt strong enough

[sp1086]

Best way would be to fit a good bull bar. Then you can mount a 'RATED' hook or just have holes where you can put some bow shackels..

[magnat]

royce, Can you explain a Little more as to how the front of the chassis isn't strong enough? I thought the Chassis was the Strongest part of the whole car ??

Is the chassis a poor design? weak metal? What causes the Front to be weaker?

[royce]

its not that the chassis as a unit is weak its more how a hook applies a lot of load in one little spot (this case the 2.5mm thick steel that makes up the chassis rail)

if you could somehow spread the load accross a bigger part of the rail (by maybe fabbing up a steel plate to slide into the chassis rail) it would work better.

I remember once seeing a setup for SWB vits that consisted of a piece of 22mm threaded rod through the front tubr crossmember of the chassis with some bits nuts and 10mm plate recovery points, now that would be tough

[magnat]

Just had the Car looked over by the local 4x4 Centre and they said that recovery hooks on the front are not an option as the whole front end section is connected by two bolts.. so apply any force larger then 1.5 Tonne would rip the front end off..


not looking forward to that....

Rear is possible but I need to get High Tensile Bolts that are double the length of the ones I have now...


I am not sure where I can get High Tensile Bolts that will do the job ???

So it looks like the LWB is only suitable for Rear end recoveries or slight pull jobs off the tow points as a last resort

[royce]

any bolt shop will more than likely have wat you need

the standard loop on the front hasnt been any problem for anyone I have come accross, though with any recovery it pays to put some work in first to make sure the elast amount of load possible is used

[Sneakyzook]

magnat wrote:

Just had the Car looked over by the local 4x4 Centre and they said that recovery hooks on the front are not an option as the whole front end section is connected by two bolts.. so apply any force larger then 1.5 Tonne would rip the front end off..


not looking forward to that....

Rear is possible but I need to get High Tensile Bolts that are double the length of the ones I have now...


I am not sure where I can get High Tensile Bolts that will do the job ???

So it looks like the LWB is only suitable for Rear end recoveries or slight pull jobs off the tow points as a last resort

you worry too much mags, zooks dont get bogged

[magnat]

Managed to get a Rear Recovery hook in by Drilling through the Rear Chassis Rail.. There is a Bit of a Gap between the Chassis rail and the Body near the Fuel tank behind the Factory tie down.. so Its in.. I used some High Tensile Bolts, same as the ones in the Hook kit only longer then normal..

Good to know there is a Bolt Store close to the 4x4 Centre!

[royce]

why did you need longer bolts?
did you reinforce the area you bolted it to?

[sp1086]

Sounds like you've mounted it to the factory tow bar mounting location.

As for the whole front end being held on by 2 bolts, I think thats not the case.. The chassis runs from front to back as one piece. The only thing I can think of is the front bumper is held on by 2 x 10mm bolts either side on the chassis rails..

My bulbar uses the factory bumper mounting holes + I drilled 2 x 12mm holes either side on the chassis rails. The LWB has a slightly different chassis at the front which makes it easyer to mount a bullbar. I've been recovered several times useing the factory loop thats welded to the front chassis rail without any issues.


The pic below shows the brackets I made that mount into the factory bumper holes. In this pic I havent drilled the other 12mm holes mentioned above but they are drilled on the front face of the Z brackets. Also there is gussets added to these in final welding.

[royce]

incedently ECB do the same thing with the extra bolts for their winch bars, the nuts are fitted behind by tack welding wire to em to poke through the holes

my arb bar uses the smaller bolts, U bolts round the tube crossmember part and a weird clamp type setup that goes over the seam lip on the front of the chassis

[magnat]

I had it Professionally installed at my Local 4x4 Store.

They pondered for about an hour on what was the most Structurally sound way of mounting it...

A second Hook can be installed on the opposite side in order to have to Winch points on the Vehicle..

Not going to bother with a Front mounted hook... Will use the tie down point as last resort...

[royce]

the front one IS a recovery hook not a tie down hook

got any pics for anyone else pondering doing it?

[magnat]

Will do once I replace my Digital Camera

[magnat]

Pics are in at last..

They are after all close proximity to the tank but they are the only place to fit them...

I wont be installing one to the front... without having to spend a fortune of structural re-inforcement the front end of the vitara just isn't strong enough...

The Bolts are High Tensile and are the same as the ones that came with the kit, only longer...

[Fluffy]

love your bar criss !

[sp1086]

Here is another pic..

[steve]

ok i don't know anything about vitoblas, but i don't believe that the whole front end is held on by two bolts, I think that may be some kind of misunderstanding?

We want photos! so we can have a laugh

[magnat]

Will do Steve when I clean it up enough to show that yes... its held on by two Bolts (High Tensile) and I am not sure they are load bearing and dont want to risk pulling my whole front end off...

[sp1086]

Quote:

magnat wrote: its held on by two Bolts (High Tensile) and I am not sure they are load bearing

I highly doubt the whole front of your chassis is held togeather with 2 bolts.. If you are refering to your front bumper as your front end then well yeah its held on by 4 x M8 bolts that attach the steel frame part of your bumper directly to the chassis. This is then covered by the plastic part of the bumper which has the christmas tree type clips and a few screws which attach it to the steel bumper frame.. If you take it all off by undoing the 4 M8 bolts then slide the whole bumper assembily forward you'll see quite clearly that the front chassis it quite strong and has its own recovery ring on the passenger side.

[royce]

are they bolted through the chassis?

what is there to stop te chassis crushing when you use it?

[sp1086]

royce wrote:

are they bolted through the chassis?

what is there to stop te chassis crushing when you use it?

Yeah thats what I'm thinking too Royce. It looks like the bolts go right through the chassis from what I can see from Magnat's pics. Hope they put in some crush tubes or something.

[Fluffy]

or at least some sort of decent washer or plate under the nylock nuts to prevent them pulling though

[royce]

not so much pulling through but crushing the chassis (they arent strong in that context)

imagine puttin a bolt through a coke can, will crush the can, then pull through so the damage is already done