need a hook

[quack]

my 91 mu has nothing at all in the front to tow off

ive looked and looked and cant think off anything at all. i took it to a local engineering place that do a lot of work on 4x4s and they said it would cost around $250 and then he still wasn't to sure on what he was going to do.

i have done lots of reading on how to attach a recovery hook but cant even find a decent place to put it.

any help and pics welcomed thanks heaps!

[dani4JB1T]

dont you like the stock one? you can find someone from a wrecker.
Another thing could be a tow hitch or a strong bull bar.

[dani4JB1T]

have a look at this mate : myweb.cableone.net/bcanderson/trooper/Hitch/Hitch.html


cheers

[geeves]

Where are you?
The factory hook will bolt in place but is not up to real recoverys as it is only held on by 10mm bolts.
Any other options require cutting and welding which in NZ could see you haveing to pay for low vol cert. For the engineering by a comercial engineer 250 is a good price but you need to take some pictures along of what other people have done.
My first hook was bolted through a plate inside the bottom of the chassis. This worked ok for 6 years but was always bashing on the ground which eventualy bent the chassis. Its also a pain to reach. My new hooks were done in conjunction with the winch by boxing the front bumper stays and welding a plate inside The hook bolts are 2 out of the 3 bolts on each side holding the winch mount. Effectivly the mount is 12mm thick so is never going to move but the WOF man took one look at the 2 plates welded into the bumper stays and sent me to the certifyer to spend $400 on the special inspection.

[quack]

there is no factroy one there? there is also the factory nugbars.

im in nelson, also would not really want to have to get a cert.

i like the look of that link dani4JB1T but maybe a bit over my head, would this need cert? im thinking it would.... also how much would it cost for something like that??

i really just wanted to buy a 10,000lb hook and bolt it somewere. will take some pics later and get them up.

there must be heaps of other people out there with mu's and hooks what have you done?

[geeves]

Before you bolt your hook on just anywhere have a look at the pictures at the bottom of this page on a jeep forum
www.pirate4x4.com/forum/showthread.php?t=485912&page=2
The best person for you to talk to would be the club safety officer at the Nelson 4wd club. There standards for hooks are among the strictest in the country but there is a good reason for that

[quack]

ok i finaly got some pics.

will this hole be ok for recvovery? do i need a shackle or will this be ok?





it is 4mm thick and then theres a 2mm plate added too.



EDIT: oh no i cant use a shackle with the nudge bars on will it be ok how i have it in the pic??

[geeves]

Those eyes are designed for tieing your car down on a transporter. Nothing more. They have been used for towing on the road but even this can bend them. Using them to get unstuck is not an option.
Your tow rope is not suitable for recoveries either.
When I first got the bighorn it had a factory hook held on by 2 10mm bolts still on it. The club I joined demanded that a rated hook be fitted which was done by opening the chassis and dropping a 6mm plate with 2 captive nuts inside the chassis so when the hook was tightened the whole thing acts as a sandwich. The chassis is 5mm thick. It took me 6 years to bend this setup I now have a major engineering solution that gives me hooks faceing upwards bolted through 13mm of steel. The original bolts in the factory hook had only ever seen 2 very light recoveries ( at the time they seemed substantial) but they had 10 degree bends The next recovery would of broken them.
This website might help
performanceunlimited.com/documents/tpwhookguide.html
Remember its imperial so grade 5=8.8 metric and 1/2 inch is 12mm

[dani4JB1T]

just a quote. 1/2" is 12.7 mm...more closer to 13mm. so if you use imperial bolts drilling a hole of 13mm will be ok.

[quack]

ok im not sure if im a stupid retard but theres actucal no were that i can see to place a hook?

im sure someone has a mu with a hook somewere or knows someone with a mu that i can copy?

please help!

[geeves]

Just sent a pic and description of my bighorn hooks to your hotmail account.
There are minor differences in the Mu so can someone please send a pic of how they did a proper hook.

[quack]

ok i can see were you bottom hook goes. my nudge bars are bolted on there with 10mm bolt.

if i remove the nudge bar, drill the holes out and cut a hole in the chassis to to slide the plate into and then bolt through the hook through the first plate, then the layer of chassis then tho the plate to the nuts?

did you cut the hole out in the outside face of the chassis? and is the hole the size of the plate, about 100m long and high enough for the nuts to beable to fit though.

how do you cut the hole? just with an angle grinder?

did you cover the hole back up? if so how?

will this still be sweet for a WOF?

do you know if there is any other spot behind the bumper that i can attach it to then cut a small square out of the bumper so the hook can stick through?

thank you for all the help, ive been stuck trying to think of a way to do this for ages!

[geeves]

Mine was all done by a local mechanic who is also a safty inspector for one of the clubs I belong to. A hole was cut in the center of the body mount to get the plate in and a cover welded over at the end.Never had a Wof problem although technicaly any cutting/welding on the chassis is a cert issue.If you take the front bumper off you might see an easier way.
On Mus I dont think Ive seen 2 hooks done the same way.Most have involved some welding

[quack]

well looks like its off with the bumper, dam mus!

[quack]

ok spent a few more hours searching and reading the net and found this:

Mounting - Option 3:
• If there are no captive nuts inside the chassis rail, and the chassis is a box
section, it will need to be tubed and plated.
• Tubes through the chassis should be 16 mm outer diameter, with a 12 mm
bore, with plates on both sides of the chassis. If the chassis rail is equal to or
less than 3 mm thick, the three bolt arrangement should be used.
• The plates must be at least the width of the chassis, 5 mm thick and 120 mm
long, with 3 mounting holes of 12 mm diameter. One hole is to mount the
plates to the chassis independent of the other 2 hook-mounting bolts.

does this mean i can drill holes through both sides of the tube chassis 16mm, then get 16mm tubing with a 12mm inside diameter and put this through the holes i drilled, then get 2 plates 5mm thick and place them on the top and the bottom of the chassis and put 2 bolts through the hook through the plate, through the chassis vai the tubing, through the plate on top them into the nuts. then of corse an extra bolt going through the plates and chassis and not the hook.

the tubing going through the chassis would be the exact length of the tubing width i gather.

sorry for bashing this topic so much i just dont wont to stuff it up.

[quack]

www.ccvc.org.nz/CCVC-SAFETY-0002%20Minimum%20Standards%20for%20TowHook%20Mounting%20050803.pdf

after looking at the diagram at the end that i didnt see, i assumme that the hole in the chassis on the hook side should only be 12mm and the other side can be 16mm and allow the tubing to enter the inside

[geeves]

Getting towhooks right is such an important topic that you should ask as many questions as you deem nessecsary.
I was going to say only one hole should be 16mm and the tube must not be longer than the depth of the hole but also less that 1/4 mm shorter than the hole. Dont drill any holes near the steering gear torque it up to 52 ftlb and you will have a strong hook.
Your chassis is 5mm thick so you will get away with 2 bolts bot a 3rd bolt wont hurt.

[quack]

sweet thats what i wanted to hear! i think i will go get some rated hooks from repco and give the idea to an engineer and see how much itll cost for him to do it first, if it cost to much then ill diy.

think ill remove the tow bar and add a hook were the factory bracket is but drill it out two 12mm and add new nuts, then drill the tow bar out to 12mm too so when i need it i can bolt it back on:)

[quack]

hey just wondering would it matter if i have the 16mm hole on the side that the hook is on? in the diagram the 16mm hole is on the nut side, does it matter?

[geeves]

Certainly be a lot easier to drill from the bottom. Dont know why the opposite hole should be the biggest but if you weld the pipe into place on the bottom while holding tight against the top of the hole then grind flat it should be just as good