Rear Recovery Point - Disco 1

I'm trying to find a rear recovery eye for my 300.

The kind that bolts though the rear crossmember at bumper level and legs down to the chassis. I dont really care if it's a swivel or not, just a good solid recovery point.

I need to ditch that plough land rover call a tow ball drop plate.!

Can anyone provide me with a link?

I cant seem to find one...
I dont want Jate rings.

battenberg said:

I'm trying to find a rear recovery eye for my 300.

The kind that bolts though the rear crossmember at bumper level and legs down to the chassis. I dont really care if it's a swivel or not, just a good solid recovery point.

I need to ditch that plough land rover call a tow ball drop plate.!

Can anyone provide me with a link?

I cant seem to find one...
I dont want Jate rings.

Click to expand...

I was having the same problem, but removing the towbar exposes the fuel tank which gets only a small amount of protection from it. Instead of removing it I plated over it with two sheets of alloy plate, it stops it digging into the ground and covers the fuel tank completly.

I thought, and had read that the tow ball was unsafe for recovery, however I was wrong and have found it ideal for many uses. Glad I never removed it.

Southdown do a all in one tankguard and removable receiver hitch. with the option to have towball, nato hitch or just a shackle hanging off the back.
Here ya go.. Southdown 4 x 4 Detachable Towing

Thanks Red, Guardian do a similar thing, but that wasnt what i was after.
Scorpian used to do one, a U shaped bracket that fitted around/through the crossmember and bolted through it but they dont seem to do it any more ... (I wonder if that speaks for itself??)

OOOOHH Ya Mean one of these Stainless Steel tested Swivel Recovery Eye Read the disclaimer though? minimum 5mm thick mounting point.

Or a pair of these. http://www.automotioncomponents.co....e-bolts-single-articulation-lifting-bolts.pdf yu should be able to get em from any good lifting & crane supply place..

redhand said:

OOOOHH Ya Mean one of these Stainless Steel tested Swivel Recovery Eye Read the disclaimer though? minimum 5mm thick mounting point.

Click to expand...

I was gonna plate behind the bumper on my disco and fit these, Considering we lifted my disco out of a ditch using the front bumper alone (as my front recovery eyes had been gas axed off) with a matbro loader im sure that if the bumper had some reinforcing it should cope shouldnt it?
Or am i just asking to see my bumper dissapear attached to someones landy:doh:
Your thoughts experiences on this

I think the disco bumper is probably strong enough in itself. However having just had my front one off I was quite amazed at the amount of rust in parts of it. My concern would be the brackets that atach the bumper to the chassis. They aren't particularly strong and if the old tin worm has taken a few bites out of them they might give way under strain.

hughesy said:

I think the disco bumper is probably strong enough in itself. However having just had my front one off I was quite amazed at the amount of rust in parts of it. My concern would be the brackets that atach the bumper to the chassis. They aren't particularly strong and if the old tin worm has taken a few bites out of them they might give way under strain.

Click to expand...

Have just had mine off after the lift to check other stuff and remove stoopid plastic skirt! wire brushed kurusted and repainted! wooo, but i think a plate accross it wouldnt hurt!

Im tempted to make my own tank guard but use the original tow bar fixing to save money got loads of steel in the garage

battenberg said:

I'm trying to find a rear recovery eye for my 300.

The kind that bolts though the rear crossmember at bumper level and legs down to the chassis. I dont really care if it's a swivel or not, just a good solid recovery point.

I need to ditch that plough land rover call a tow ball drop plate.!

Can anyone provide me with a link?

I cant seem to find one...
I dont want Jate rings.

Click to expand...

Having just bought Jate rings for the back of mine, can I ask why you dont want to use them please?

Also, had the rear bumper off to take my tow bar off last week. It was quite good condition but not strong enough for a snatch recovery.

Rear cross member looked a bit weak on its own too, hence why i bought jates. Pair of them on a strop is my plan.

demitrious1973 said:

Im tempted to make my own tank guard but use the original tow bar fixing to save money got loads of steel in the garage

Click to expand...

Thats what I did but I used check plate doubled up, it's surprizing how easy it is, bolt it onto the tow bar frame, and the anti roll bar mounts. Until now the tow bar dug into the ground quite badly, and on inspection the tank has been duffed a few times, had it not been plastic it would have been a goner, also the anti roll bar brackets were bent back since they are so exposed.

Now it does'nt dig in, still bottoms out though but seems to be better, with less of them bone churning crunches, the front wheels pulls it off the obsticle rather than pulling 2 feet of rocks and diffets at the same time. And now because the loading is distributed the brackets and tank is safe.

I have been in old forest with stumps all over the place like land mines covered in moss and ferns, and they were killing the back end.

I took my steps off aswel and replaced them with rock and tree sliders home made, the standard steps sit too low and got smashed to bits.

j_rov said:

Having just bought Jate rings for the back of mine, can I ask why you dont want to use them please?

Also, had the rear bumper off to take my tow bar off last week. It was quite good condition but not strong enough for a snatch recovery.

Rear cross member looked a bit weak on its own too, hence why i bought jates. Pair of them on a strop is my plan.

Click to expand...

I had my bumper off aswel it's fairly strong however like the crossmember I think they are spot welded and I think they would pull apart, the chassis gives you more secure fixing since the pulling power is distributed length wise, but when you pull on the bumper or crossmember wont it localize a force on a specific point and kill it. You wouldnt tow with a bumper would you, thats why the tow bar is multi point fixing.

Just my opinion and probably crap.

Just to add my 2p's worth..

At the weekend I was at Whaddon, and got my disco caught on a boulder. Several guys tried to get me off, but were getting nowhere. I've always used my tow bar (plough stylee) as my rear recovery point and we were starting to make progress until the bolts attached to the chassis sheared. I no longer trust the plough as a recovery point and i'm midway through making my own southdown style tank guard with removable bar.

BTW, if you have any doubts how much the plough stops you progressing off-road......

Mr_V said:

Just to add my 2p's worth..

At the weekend I was at Whaddon, and got my disco caught on a boulder. Several guys tried to get me off, but were getting nowhere. I've always used my tow bar (plough stylee) as my rear recovery point and we were starting to make progress until the bolts attached to the chassis sheared. I no longer trust the plough as a recovery point and i'm midway through making my own southdown style tank guard with removable bar.

BTW, if you have any doubts how much the plough stops you progressing off-road......

Click to expand...

I think what you describe is a typical lift it off situation, everything has it's limitations.

I ran over a tree stump, the front steering protection did its job fine, however the stump slid across the guard and then dropped down onto the rear steering which cant be protected, I tried to drive out of it, bent the steering and tore off the damper. I had to jack it up and winch it over off the stump, all the power in the world would not have helped.

I guess once the bolts gave up you went for plan B like me, and the one we should have went for first.

Mmmm...

Exactly that, my towball mounts too have sheared.

Jate rings are ok for recovery, but do you ever get stuck and are able to get under the chassis to get to them..?

I dont want to have a strop dangling about on the back of jate rings, on the off chance i'm gonna need a pull.

2 jates on the back of mine and before any obvious play time i will attach a strop and hang it over the spare wheel or shut it in the back door. (may have got the idea from ratty, not sure )