photos of damaged or destroyed recovery/tie down points and equipment.

[leont92 Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close leont92]

Hello all,

I'm currently writing a an engineering report on snatch recovery's.

I'm after photos of damaged or destroyed recovery points/tie-down points and recovery equipment, looking for things like bent or cracked lugs, cracked welds etc.

I'm also after some photos of aftermarket 'rated' recovery points and sizing to do some analysis on.

and finally, wondering if anyone has ever seen an engineering certificate with a aftermarket 'rated' recovery points.

would anyone be able to help me out?

thank you for your time,

[krypto Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close krypto]

Hello all,

I'm currently writing a an engineering report on snatch recovery's.

I'm after photos of damaged or destroyed recovery points/tie-down points and recovery equipment, looking for things like bent or cracked lugs, cracked welds etc.

I'm also after some photos of aftermarket 'rated' recovery points and sizing to do some analysis on.

and finally, wondering if anyone has ever seen an engineering certificate with a aftermarket 'rated' recovery points.

would anyone be able to help me out?

thank you for your time,

Can't directly help you, but I would be looking at more than a certificate for the recovery points. The weak point and what I would be looking at from an engineering perspective is how a lot of the aftermarket recovery points don't create a clean friction joint with the chassis and hence rely entirely on the shear strength of the attachment bolts and mounting points. The shear strength of bolts is pretty straight forward to obtain, the mounting points are not so easy. Often they are just holes in the chassis that were never specifically designed as recovery mounting points.

[ziggle Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close ziggle]

Have you seen the video of the guy in the Middle East who pulled the front off his Prado? It's on this forum somewhere, can't recall where though.

[adrian5800 Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close adrian5800]

Have you seen the video of the guy in the Middle East who pulled the front off his Prado? It's on this forum somewhere, can't recall where though.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=0MmrLWgM-2U

[stevensr34 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close stevensr34]

Chassis weakness! Oops.

[photoprado Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close photoprado]

Actually, the problem is using the Prado's tie down points to winch or drag it instead of using a proper aftermarket mount.

[ziggle Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close ziggle]

Actually, the problem is using the Prado's tie down points to winch or drag it instead of using a proper aftermarket mount.

I'm curious about that one... I would've thought that if anything, the video in question suggests the opposite? I mean, most of the aftermarket mounts I've seen attach to the same bit of chassis that's been pulled off. So why would an aftermarket mount have made any difference?

[photoprado Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close photoprado]

I'm curious about that one... I would've thought that if anything, the video in question suggests the opposite? I mean, most of the aftermarket mounts I've seen attach to the same bit of chassis that's been pulled off. So why would an aftermarket mount have made any difference?

Well, because the tie down point is not secured to the main chassis. Toyota does not approve the tie down point as a rated tow point. It is used to tie the prado to the deck on a ship or a transport vehicle.

Here is the standard tie down point:


And the added rated tie down point:


You can see where the chassis rail tore apart, and the recovery point crosses that area. On the left arrow, you can see the tie down point. On the upper right arrow you can see the point where the chassis teared apart, and you can see that the added recovery point covers that area and is attached to the main chassis.

No way we should use the standard tie down point as a recovery location. It WILL tear the chassis apart.

[krypto Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close krypto]

Well, because the tie down point is not secured to the main chassis. Toyota does not approve the tie down point as a rated tow point. It is used to tie the prado to the deck on a ship or a transport vehicle.

You can see where the chassis rail tore apart, and the recovery point crosses that area. On the left arrow, you can see the tie down point. On the upper right arrow you can see the point where the chassis teared apart, and you can see that the added recovery point covers that area and is attached to the main chassis.

No way we should use the standard tie down point as a recovery location. It WILL tear the chassis apart.

The problem is with the mounting of the after market recovery point. If you do a bit of research into how bolts are meant to work and what they are meant to do, then this mounting system is pretty substandard.

Show me where it says those mounting points are designed for the loads that they are subject to during recovery. Yes it's a nice brightly painted steel plate, but it's how and what it is attached to that actually matters.

I would love to see the Toyota design and approval for these recovery mounting points.

[stevensr34 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close stevensr34]

Presumably you are supposed to use two of these recovery points, one on each chassis rail, when performing a difficult snatch? Otherwise, all the force would be on one chassis rail - surely not good either - even if it didn't break, all the forces would be through one side of the chassis only?

[turtlewa Member Find all posts View Profile Close turtlewa]

Bridle on both stock welded loops on 08 up prado these are welded in place not older models

[ziggle Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close ziggle]

Well, because the tie down point is not secured to the main chassis. Toyota does not approve the tie down point as a rated tow point. It is used to tie the prado to the deck on a ship or a transport vehicle.

Here is the standard tie down point:


And the added rated tie down point:


You can see where the chassis rail tore apart, and the recovery point crosses that area. On the left arrow, you can see the tie down point. On the upper right arrow you can see the point where the chassis teared apart, and you can see that the added recovery point covers that area and is attached to the main chassis.

No way we should use the standard tie down point as a recovery location. It WILL tear the chassis apart.

I can see how that style of recovery point strengthens things. Effectively it's bracing the chassis, resisting the bending forces that result from the fact that the attachment point is below the main chassis rail rather than in line with it.

Two further thoughts, though: Firstly, wouldn't the ARB bracket that it's bolted to also brace the chassis in the same way?
And secondly, would you agree that the other common style of aftermarket recovery point, with just two bolts attaching it to the short vertical bit of chassis, is just as likely as the OEM tie down points to cause the chassis to tear?

[krypto Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close krypto]

As load is applied the top bolt will act as a pivot point, unless there is friction between the recovery point bracket and the chassis, which two bolts and a loose fit won't provide. You could weld it, but it looks like that part of the chassis is part of the crumple zone.

[adrian5800 Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close adrian5800]

As load is applied the top bolt will act as a pivot point, unless there is friction between the recovery point bracket and the chassis which two bolts and a loose fit won't provide. You could weld it, but it looks like that part of the chassis is part of the crumple zone.

Agreed.
It is never going to be a sufficiently strong attachment with the distance between the fulcrum and the attachment point for the strap. The chassis will deform with fairly small amount of force applied to the recovery point, the only saving grace is the top bolted point "should" prevent the recovery point detaching and becoming a missile..

You're never going to weld a 12mm plate to a 3mm chassis structure successfully

[Mule Member Find all posts View Profile Close Mule]

Who has done the calculations? it is all just opinion based on an eyeball assessment. Either aftermarket points or the tie down points in my opinion have about the same risk of deforming or ripping the chassis if an excess strain is placed on them. Again an eyeball of the front sections of the chassis in a prado shows no sign of being "over engineered". More than a reasonable snatch at your own peril.