Recovery Points

You want one of these
Look at this on eBay:

Genuine Defender Combination Tow Ball/Jaw Unit(LR008244)

http://bit.ly/Kl4ZaH
Keep an eye out on eBay, I got one for £8

very nice indeed but its still held in by only 2 bolts,,

how much would it take to break them first??

I could just stay at home...LOL

27 tons

How Much..??

Looks like I need to uprate my towing apparatus..

3.5 tonne enough??

You'll struggle to find really strong d shackles which fit through the front towing eye, due to the shape of the bumper. Best practice is to tow in the opposite direction to that of which you were travelling when getting stuck. Only appies to forward/backwards.

Recovery truck winch hooks dun't fit the front towing eye anorl so they carry a smaller link. If you use the rear towing eye you'll struggle too if I remember correctly. If the d shackles have a lower rating then limit what you do with them. See link below for info.

http://www.landyzone.co.uk/lz/f9/jate-rings-91812-2.html

3.5t bow shackle will happily fit through the front and rear eyes and should be absolutely fine for most if not all things.

Hi Hippo are you limited with access to the front tow eye as yours is the V6??
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I will get a couple of bow shackles and hang them from the towing eyes,
that way if I get stuck then they will be there ready for use..

Or if I see someone stranded in the water or snow that's due soon I can pull them out,,

Someone earlier said 19mm pin ones will fit, what about 22mm??

Looking at this picture I cant see where any issues with a shackle would be??



The rear may be a little tighter fit though..



So we are in complete agreement that the 3.25 Tonne Shackle (19mm Pin) is sufficient,

and will fit on the towing eyes??

The 4.75 Tonne Shackle (22.23mm Pin) may be a little bit of a tight fit??

Thanks for all your advice Guys and Galls

Tubular bumper reinforcing bar with Dixon Bate hitch at front , shackle at the rear.

That's really nice but a little over the top for green laneing..

What size is your shackle??

Rear


front will be integrated with winch mount

IndiTd4 said:

Hi Hippo are you limited with access to the front tow eye as yours is the V6??...

Click to expand...

Comparing mine (grey bumper v6 with vertical front hook) to yours, mine is different. I will take some pic's and post them tonight.


DSCN1274 Iu9R783

Andy131 said:

Looking at the Mantec sump guard the front centre loop seems to have been left exposed for recovery.
Picture of Mantec guard is not mine - apologies to whoever it does belong to.

Rear tow hook does seem best for recovering Discos

Click to expand...

DO NOT use the lashing ring in the centre of the bumper! It's only a tie down ring Not for recovery.

The towing eye at the F/Lhs in Hippo's pic is rated at 4.25T and will take a 4.25T shackle (just).

As above ^^^^
The centre lashing eye isn't rated for towing on the Freelander but it's probably strong enough for use in an emergency. It's the same as the towing eyes on other Rover cars and it's a jacking point too.

I've compared my recovery hooks and it looks like the v6 front bumper has a slightly different hook aperture. I know the v6 has an extra 50mm bulge in the front part of the bumper but never noticed the hook position is therefore slightly different too. It's as if the bumper sticks out around the recovery hook more. Looking at Freelander's for sale it seems the recovery hook varies over the years, and not just different on the v6. There seems to be a mix across years/engines. Some are also horizontal when mine is verticle.

My larger 4.75 ton bow shackle won't fit through my recovery hooks but my smaller one will. I don't know the capacity of the smaller one so we never over do it. I use the smaller one to connect the larger one to my Freelander. The pin in the larger one is wide enough to take the recovery rope so it sits flat across the pin.

I don't have a 3.5 ton bow shackle to see if it fit's my hooks for comparison.

It's important to note the difference between lifting bow shackles and recovery bow shackles. Lifting gear has to be tested and it's rating marked on it. The ratio for safe working load is far higher, giving you a higher safety margin. Recovery kit doesn't get tested in the same way and the ratio of safety margin is a lot lower. Therefore any bow shackle you buy with no weight marker on it hasn't been tested. If you talk to machine mart they have a technical help line which the store can talk to, to help you. This is where I got this information from. Also a crane driver confirmed it for me on site. There's a lot more to recovery and safety. The general rule is not to take the **** and stay well within the limits of the kit yer using. Or betterer still, get someone else to do the recovery instead. I'm not an expert on this so don't take my word for it. Hopefully someone on here could advise us further.

The bow shackles I have are: larger = 4.75 ton = Bow Shackle 4.75T Off Road 4x4 Recovery | eBay

and smaller one on the LHS Lifting and Crane 10mm Commercial Bow Shackle - Machine Mart

My rope = PM643 | Pro Comp Recovery Strap. 2in x 30foot. 20,000lb rating.

I also have an additional 30 foot winch rope to join together just in case we can't get a recovery vehicle close to recover my Freelander.

Extra 50mm bumper on the v6:


DSCN3724 sYFVHDJ

Larger hook won't fit through the front recovery hook but the smaller one will:


DSCN3726 ujuA9mE


DSCN3727 Gd7TMik


DSCN3729 UaZNyPX


DSCN3728 02eRxC3

Larger bow shackle won't fit through the rear recovery hook but the smaller one will:


DSCN3731 ZefEHWb


DSCN3733 aGM5xFU


DSCN3724 sYFVHDJ


DSCN3730 nqeBuyJ

Great Information Hippo,
I have never been surprised when manufacturers change a simple item like this as often as they do,
I had a Honda, and when we went to get parts you had to know the VIN number as every 6 months they changed parts,
almost for the sake of it, so you had to be very specific when ordering.

I will just keep my fingers crossed that the 4.75 fit mine as I have just put in an offer against two on ebay,
so if the offer is accepted then I will have to purchase them,,

SWL 4.75 tons Galvanised Tested Bow Shackles | eBay

I am now hoping he will turn it down so I can purchase the 3.25 ones instead..

Here is a Picture of the dimensions for Bow Shackles,
Its in good old inches so I have converted the 3 sizes most likely to
be considered by Freelander owners into mm for ease..



3.25 Dimensions in mm
d = 15.88 mm
D = 19.05 mm
S = 61.12 mm
w = 26.99 mm

4.75 Dimensions in mm
d = 26.99 mm
D = 22.23 mm
S = 72.23 mm
w = 31.75 mm

6.50 Dimensions in mm
d = 22.23 mm
D = 25.40 mm
S = 84.14 mm
w = 36.51 mm

We know that Hippo was able to use the 3.25 but not the 4.75 on his V6,
I will report back what size I end up using, so we can see if there is a picture
forming as to the max size..I have a funny feeling that the 3.25 will be max..

P.S Love what you have done to the Exhaust pipes Hippo,,very stylish.

Send him a message via ebay if you want him to say no to the offer and explaine why.

I added another front recovery point to mine just welded a stud in to bolt it onto
so i can now use a bridle so provided the included angle is less than 20' each point only sees half the load.

Not possible to fit a front receiver hitch? Or incorporate one into a winch bracket?

Lots of work for a few green lanes, maybe something that I would look into
if I get the bug and go a little more serious..

Where's my bracket...:frown:

theeggman said:

I added another front recovery point to mine just welded a stud in to bolt it onto
so i can now use a bridle so provided the included angle is less than 20' each point only sees half the load.

Click to expand...

i would so pull that off with my 6 bolted nato hitch :boom: