Recovery Points

You already have 4 pretty decent recovery points on the vehicle, one on each corner front and rear. A forged eye bolt came with the vehicle. Buy a forged shackle and good tow strap and you are all set for most situations.

I bought 3 more of the forged eye bolts from VW. I have not yet had to use 2 eye bolts at the same time but you could just to distribute the load a bit.

If you have a trailer hitch you can buy a receiver hitch D-ring bracket. This slides into the receiver hitch and has a shackle to allow for attaching to the tow strap. Of course this only works on the end of the vehicle where you have the hitch.

 

I think he wants to lift his Touareg out of the bush by helicopter.

 

.....PLEASE STAND BY.......

..

 

Great pic guys

I don't mind a bit of fun but this car sure does stir up some strange attitudes, the hard core 4WDers think it's a toy and the majority of owners seem to treat it like one :-(

I intend to use my vehicle on rough bush trails along with other recreational off road drivers. However most won't consider snatching me out of mud or even having me accompany them unless I can prove that I have properly load rated, appropriately positioned and affixed recovery points. Nor would I offer them a tow if I wasn't sure of the integrity of my recovery points.

Whether the receiver threads for the tow hooks would be up to the job I have no idea. Snatching a well bogged vehicle obviously puts far more stress on these load bearing components than towing on a sealed surface. Does anyone know what the actual load ratings for the tow ring and the chassis receiver are?

As an aside do any of you actually get off-road (and I'm not talking about unsealed tracks which are as smooth as a babies butt)?

Cheers,

 

Re: Recovery Points

I agree with peterbhere:

If you have a trailer hitch you can buy a receiver hitch D-ring bracket

The trailer hitch is the way to go if you need to pull someone out of a sticky situation and we know that it is rated to pull at least 7,000 lbs.
I have used my trailer hitch several times this winter to pull cars out of ditches in the snow.

I haven't had to use the recovery points offroading yet (hopefully this summer), but have used them when I got stuck in the snow. I can understand why you don't trust them, but infact they have proven to be strong enough to pull the Touareg out of deep snow on a steep driveway.

Not sure what they are rated for, but if you distibuted the pull between two points I don't think you have much to worry about. I would suggest using a tow strap as opposed to a chain so that you can cushion the shock/load to the recovery points.

These are just my thoughts. See you in the mountains.

Oh ya

However most won't consider snatching me out of mud or even having me accompany them unless I can prove that I have properly load rated, appropriately positioned and affixed recovery points.

Find another Touareg or Cayenne owner to off-road with then.

 

The Treg in the 5th picture down was pulled out by the factory tow eyes, I'm not sure if you plan to get anymore stuck than that as he was. They seemed to work fine from my point of view.

http://forums.clubtouareg.com/ftopic3608.html

On a side note this was my Treg's first time off road, and I don't think I'd call the trails smooth as a baby's bottom....and I know my wife wouldn't. I think everyone had a good time and we're hoping to go out again.

I'm not sure of the exact load rating on the eyes, though...another thing for me to look up

nick

 

The Treg in the 5th picture down was pulled out by the factory tow eyes, I'm not sure if you plan to get anymore stuck than that as he was. They seemed to work fine from my point of view.

http://forums.clubtouareg.com/ftopic3608.html

nick

He was pretty stuck: High centered in the mud, all 4 wheels were just spinning when the owner took his foot off the brake and I had no problems pulling him out with my Treg using the factory recovery points

 

The Treg in the 5th picture down was pulled out by the factory tow eyes, I'm not sure if you plan to get anymore stuck than that as he was. They seemed to work fine from my point of view.

http://forums.clubtouareg.com/ftopic3608.html

nick

He was pretty stuck: High centered in the mud, all 4 wheels were just spinning when the owner took his foot off the brake and I had no problems pulling him out with my Treg using the factory recovery points

Fair enough, looks like the recovery was quite easily using the tow eye. This is what the local guys on Oz my list got up to this Easter weekend, it's pretty representative of the state of local trails. (note the idiot in the Magna)

http://www.4wdlinks.com.au/gallery/album414?page=1

Cheers,

 

Recovery Points

Big Vdub I'm hoping you're still out there.

Did you ever resolve the issue of the recovery points? I put this post on the VWVortex website a few days ago, ut it seems no one really knows the rating of the front points or of the eye bolt itself. http://forums.vwvortex.com/zerothread?id=2669127

I've emailed VW and heard nothing back. I want to get serious about my 4WDing, but it's hard if you haven't got good confidence in your front and back recovery points.

If I don't hear back from VW, I'll write formally to my dealer and then on and up until I get an answer. I would have thought that at the least, VW would be compelled by OH&S obligations to mark these things with load ratings cos you never know what someone's going to do.

Bob

 

The Treg in the 5th picture down was pulled out by the factory tow eyes, I'm not sure if you plan to get anymore stuck than that as he was. They seemed to work fine from my point of view.

http://forums.clubtouareg.com/ftopic3608.html

nick

He was pretty stuck: High centered in the mud, all 4 wheels were just spinning when the owner took his foot off the brake and I had no problems pulling him out with my Treg using the factory recovery points

Fair enough, looks like the recovery was quite easily using the tow eye. This is what the local guys on Oz my list got up to this Easter weekend, it's pretty representative of the state of local trails. (note the idiot in the Magna)

http://www.4wdlinks.com.au/gallery/album414?page=1

Cheers,

Factory Tow points are well rated for the Touareg. I've pulled two out from being high centered in the snow on the road crown with one eye with no problems. It doesn't look like much, but it works like a charm. I regularly go off roading, sometimes pretty extreme (Damage to rocker panels very evident) and ALWAYS hook up two to the front and use the tow hitch for the back. If I were REALLY stuck, like up against a vertical assent or something, I'd use both front just to distribute the load and control the direction of assent (Don't want it sliding down one side or the other, but you should be fine if you get two.

I did see that Aircooled I think, had some d-ring's made for the factory tow points. They might be better for the D'Ring fitiment, but I'm not sure if welded or forged would be better???

Eric

 

Two front towing points

Eric

Sounds like a plan. I had intended to get a second eye and when doing recoveries, use a soft bridle to join the two and connect the snatch strap to the bridle.

I'd still like to know the ratings so when the question is asked whether they're strong enough, I'll be able answer it.

Thanks

Bob

 

Re: Two front towing points

Eric

Sounds like a plan. I had intended to get a second eye and when doing recoveries, use a soft bridle to join the two and connect the snatch strap to the bridle.

I'd still like to know the ratings so when the question is asked whether they're strong enough, I'll be able answer it.

Thanks

Bob

I just purchased this exact setup (already had the second tow eye though). This place (OKoffroad.com) has a bridle rated at 30,000lbs+. So far, it's the best rated bridle I've seen on the net.

Garry

 

Re: Recovery Points

I've emailed VW and heard nothing back. I want to get serious about my 4WDing, but it's hard if you haven't got good confidence in your front and back recovery points.
Bob

BobZ

I don't think you will get ANY manufacturer to give you a rating for recovery points, toyota and nissan included. There's lots of threads on 4by forums in oz on this topic, you will find that toyota will even void your warranty if you take their 'king off the road' cruiser off road.

The general consensus I get is, the points where provided are 'towing' points, as for recovery, it's really up to the owner to carry out proper preparation prior to a snatch such as digging out a path in front of the wheels, raise the car off (to eliminate any suction), ....etc.

I have friends with patrols who have attended off-road course, and they tell me the same, the load rating is mute in a snatch because if you don't prepare properly, the load on any recovery point would most likely be well under the breaking strain of a snatch strap (assuming one uses a snatch strap, and the shackle don't fail).

 

Custom Offroad Recovery Points

I've been working with a four-wheel drive shop here in Colorado to fabricate a stronger recovery point with a removable light bar. The points will fit hanging D-shackles. Attached are some photos. More to follow.

 

the previous post fits perfectly on my new 120" monitor

RESIZE please!

 

 

thanks aircooled. I deleted his original photo and linked yours.