Recovery

Recovery points and equipment are important. If you have read the Got Stuck page you can see that if you get stuck you need to be able to get out. I was fortunate I was able to be recovered that time by a tow truck sitting on good old fashioned pavement. But I lacked several items I had to scramble to get. I bought what was available but know I know there are better options. I won't say too much about them until I buy them but you can find them on Bill Burke's site Bill Burke's Four Wheeling America and if you've been lucky enough to travel with him you will know this man knows what he's talking about.

So for my purposes I noticed I do not have a recovery point in the front of the Rover. None, nil, zilch, nada. Nothing to attach to. So after some research on the various message boards I went out and purchased two tow hooks. They came off of a wrecked Suburban. We know he never used them for vehicle recovery. But I will.

I mounted them in the same holes as the factory brush guard. There is a hole in the frame member just above the hole for the brush guard. See the second hole here just above the wrench end. It gives the hook an angle that seems odd. But after looking at the angle of the hook I think it will work fine. Looks kinda like snake fangs, sorta.

I purchased some grade 8 bolts from Ace Hardware. I was a little over ambitious with the bolt diameter and length on my first trip to the hardware store. So I went back and swapped them for some 3/8 inch bolts and went to 4.5 inch bolts instead of the 6 inchers I started with.

The rear of my Rover has a class 3 hitch and is approved for recovery. I should purchase a shackle hitch but I have time for that later. I purchased three 5000 pound recovery straps. I got a great price on one thinking it was a 22,000 pound strap but I found out it was not actually what the box said after I had used it. The cheap price was due to the missing label and the kid at O'reilly's made me a deal on it. That was fine. The other two straps have hooks on the end. And I probably paid too much for them. But it was an emergency.

Thanks for reading and happy Rovering.