Front recovery points

[Ajax]

OK .. so I had my wife take our Rangie with some friends over the weekend and had one of the three cars stuck. Now she is pushing me to get more recovery gear in and on the truck. Since I barely have the series for a month now I'm still in 'discovery mode' on what is wrong and what I need to fix. I've seen multiple ways where people put recovery points on the front of a series. Some of them put rings with bolts through the front bumper .. some of them on top. What is recommended without trashing the thing ?

 

[LR Max]

First off, is your chassis sound? I have seen too many recovery points go *POP!* from rusted chassis points. If not then...

Check out Wise Owl Innovations. They make OEM front recovery points that are of high quality. At the same time, you can use the cheap Warn recovery hook that is 5 bucks at Pep Boys. Seen both in action and both do their job with no problems. These solutions will be quick and effective.

A common method is to just wrap the tow strap around the bumper and go. If you have a weak chassis, be prepared to not have a bumper after this (I am dead serious).

Another common concept is to bolt a Dixon Bate hitch to the front bumper. Once again, a bad chassis will ruin your day.

Really anything beyond this and you are looking at full bumper replacement. This is a good solution to the problem but also quite expensive.

 

[Ajax]

The rear crossmember needs to be replaced which is something I know and one of the front bulkhead out riggers needs to be replaced in the future. For the rest it looks in pretty good shape. http://www.sharepointserver.com/private/convertible/ shows some shots of the car with the softtop on.

I have a Warn M8000 winch on it and yesterday I saw some decent looking series bumpers at DAP but am wondering if these are strong enough to have some recovery points mounted on them and if they won't obstruct the winch. This car is not original .. the previous owner decided to make it drivable instead of original which is what I intend to do as well.

 

[LR Max]

You have a winch, then you are pretty much set.

Check your front frame horns. If the rear is rusted then there is an increased chance that the front might be toast as well.

If you are looking for bumpers, check out http://www.pangolin4x4.com/ Their stuff seems to be of high quality.