Tow points for Hill climb / Sprint

[steve-v8s]

Thinking of making two lengths of webbing with some sort of hook attached to go between points on the chassis and the front and rear of the car. Object being a temporary fitting for use at Hill Climbs in case I need towing. Anybody already done this on a Griff ? If so how did you go about it.

Been round the shops and found some sturdy Nylon webbing for upholstery but can’t decide how to join it. Thought about going to the scrappy and seeing if some old seat belts may help as they would already have fixings at each end. Roughly had in mind a single length with a hook arrangement presented in the centre of the car and then reaching to the chassis in two places. The whole thing wants to be easily removable as I would prefer to take it off between events. Not decided where it would attach but from memory the rear may be a bit more difficult than the front.

Suggestions please.

[GreenV8S]

You need something stronger. The best stuff to use is probably the canvas strops used to secure vehicles on a flatbed, these are rated to several tonnes but even so I've seen recovery crews snap these trying to pull a vehicle out of a gravel trap. The strops come with loops on the end which can be attached with a D ring. I suspect your best bet would be to run a loop round a suitable strong part of the chassis with both ends terminating at a D ring, cable tied up out of the way. This gives you a reasonably strong tow hook and I think this would be strong enough unless the recovery crew were bl**dy minded about it. Make sure you protect the bodywork because they will probably be pulling up at quite an angle, and these strops can be quite abrasive.

[zumbruk]

You need the stuff the 4x4 brigade use - have you ever seen a "ballistic recovery" of 2 tonnes of Discovery?

A brief Google leads me to these people (I've never used them, just found them on t'web);

www.forgetec4x4.co.uk/winchingequipment.html

I'd get a 5 tonne strop, minimum - the 3 tonne doesn't give you enough leeway with a 1.2 tonne TVR with fuel and a driver on board...

And be careful what you fasten it to on the chassis - you don't want the recovery people wrenching lumps of chassis off!

[steve-v8s]

Followed the link, thank you, looks like just the stuff and at a reasonable price Just as an aside anybody got any idea what the spec of seat belt webbing is ? I seem to think that some of the type approval tests for the mounting points have to pass a load of several tons.

Oh yes, and who are you accusing of being overweight ? My Griff has been on diet, more like 1.1 tons.