Nick Shepherd
Member
- Joined
- Apr 3, 2010
- Messages
- 170
I see on a lot of US and Australian cruiser forums people who insist that all recovery hooks must be 'rated' and that as Toyota don't 'rate' the pigtails it would be akin to suicide to use them for recovery purposes.
Does this strike anyone else as short-sighted and perhaps even foolhardy?
I'll explain. There's nothing wrong with using recovery points that have been tested and given a SWL or WLL by the manufacturer but if you then bolt that hook onto a 20 year old chassis using the captive nuts you have no longer got a rated system, you have a rated hook bolted to who knows what. My gripe is that these guys scoff at the very idea of using a pigtail that has no stamp but do not seem to see anything wrong with using a completely unstamped chassis member or nuts.
Following the logic of someone who insists against all evidence that a rated hook is the only possible safe point of recovery, I could presumably gaffer tape one to my wing mirror and be good to haul away on it.
I don't think I've ever heard of a pigtail or hook being the failure point when a recovery has gone wrong, I have seen video of lots of occasions where the chassis or the fasteners have been the issue. Almost all when the towing vehicle has done a terrible impression of a KERR snatch rescue, parking almost touching the stuck vehicle, unfurling 30m of elastic band and then taking off like a dragster - *TWANGcrash*. Never have I seen a recovery point fail in real life.
Instead of spending a heap on hooks all round I'd suggest buying new fasteners every couple of years instead.
Not much of a point, really but I was interested to hear the thoughts on here.
Does this strike anyone else as short-sighted and perhaps even foolhardy?
I'll explain. There's nothing wrong with using recovery points that have been tested and given a SWL or WLL by the manufacturer but if you then bolt that hook onto a 20 year old chassis using the captive nuts you have no longer got a rated system, you have a rated hook bolted to who knows what. My gripe is that these guys scoff at the very idea of using a pigtail that has no stamp but do not seem to see anything wrong with using a completely unstamped chassis member or nuts.
Following the logic of someone who insists against all evidence that a rated hook is the only possible safe point of recovery, I could presumably gaffer tape one to my wing mirror and be good to haul away on it.
I don't think I've ever heard of a pigtail or hook being the failure point when a recovery has gone wrong, I have seen video of lots of occasions where the chassis or the fasteners have been the issue. Almost all when the towing vehicle has done a terrible impression of a KERR snatch rescue, parking almost touching the stuck vehicle, unfurling 30m of elastic band and then taking off like a dragster - *TWANGcrash*. Never have I seen a recovery point fail in real life.
Instead of spending a heap on hooks all round I'd suggest buying new fasteners every couple of years instead.
Not much of a point, really but I was interested to hear the thoughts on here.