bushranger tow hooks

thanks for the input

the rear one is bolted to a steal bullbar approx 3-4 inches from where the bullbar bolts to the chassis and the front one is bolted to a piece of steel plate about 4-5mm thick that is attached to the chassis (cant remember if it is welded or bolted and is also the attachment point fot the front bullbar). they are both bolted on using the bolts that came with the hooks.

i was actually in BCF tonight and was looking at getting another two hooks and an equalizer strap so that i had two points on each end.

i will head down the shed now with a beer and have a closer look at exactly where each one is bolted and let ya know

would still appreciate more input from others in the mean time :)

Thanks roachie!!

Dylan,

I would be a bit concerned if you used the bolts that came with the hooks unless they have change what they supply. The Hilux would be a metric fine thread and the bolts that usually come with them are unf which is close and will partially screw up but then will strip without you knowing. Unless of course it is a complete staright thru fitting and you are using the matching nut as well.

G'day Roachie

I've got two front recovery hooks bolted to the Bullbar (Steel) through the vertical plates near where the bullbar is bolted to the chassis. The standard place they tend to put one when the vehicle first comes fom the dealer. Its a Hilux. Every time I read one of these treads suggesting I should bolt recovery hooks directly to the chassis rather than the Bullbar I think to myself "good idea - that makes sense". I go outside and stare at the front of the Hilux for a few minutes and get completely confused because I can't see how I can do this because everything seems to be in the way. I then give up and put it in the too hard basket until I read the next tread on the same topic. I then repeat the entire process. Thought I'd try something different this time as my "too hard basket" approach, whilst being the easiest approach, doesn't seem to be solving the problem. Am I missing something obvious here? (About the recovery points not the obvious futility of my "too hard basket" approach) Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Dodgin

Hey david

in both the front and back hooks, they are bolted straight through, using the nuts supplied with the hooks.

i would have liked to bolt them straight to the chassis but im in the same boat as dodgin & weavin...i sit there for about 3 beers and cant, for the life of me, work out where i could bolt them to because there is too much stuff in the way.

Dodgin,

Sorry mate, without seeing the vehicle in front of me, I cannot visualise what "bits" are in the way.

It may be a case of having to get some heavy steel plates made up to the right dimensions which can be bolted to the chassis. These would hang down slightly under the chassis and would have other holes through them to enable the hooks to be bolted directly. I think that is the sort of remedy that the Prado and 100 series have had to have done to get recovery points in place.

I have seen the type of set-up that you describe on older style bullbars (not just on Hiluxs) and they alwas make me whince at the thought of what could happen. Where they are bolted to the vertical sections, even though they may be reasonably close to the heavy horizontal bullbar section, they nevertheless provide less than perfect mounting. It is my belief that the more welds and joins between the hook and the chassis, the more potential breaking points there are. In your case you have the weld where the bracket from the chassis attaches to the main bullbar cross member, then there's the weld where the vertical section joins the main cross member, then there's the fact that the hook's bolts rely on the (relatively thin) steel fillet that forms the vertical section. For my mind, there are too many potential breaking points. A slightly better solution would be to bolt the hooks to the flat part of the main cross member, just inside from the vertical uprights. This cuts out a couple of potential trouble spots.

Remember too that bullbars (that aren't made to take a winch), were never designed to have a towing load added to them......they were designed to take a frontal impact from an animal etc.

Hope this helps.....you may need to think outside the square.

Cheers
Roachie

Given a choice I would use 8.8 bolts.

The higher the tensile rating the more suseptable to brittle fracture.

In other words there needs to be a compromise between soft and hard, if to soft the bolts stretch, bend, twist and give up easily If to hard they snap easy.

Socket head screws of that tensile rating are not designed for shock loading. They are used for I torque situations cylinder heads etc. I would be replacing them with 8.8's