How Strong Are The Tow Hooks In My Bumper?

[Gripenfelter]

Saw a couple of guys in the ditch this morning and was tempted to pull them out but I didn't have a tow rope.

 

How strong are the two hooks in the bumpers? Are they strong enough to yank out other cars with?

[jrrod2004]

I would not recommend that, if you have a tow hitch, use that, the tow hooks are to recover your vehicle from a ditch or whatever, and not by extreme force either. I am not saying that you cant pull someone out by your tow hooks, rather that they might actually snap from the stress.

[asilverblazer]

I've never seen or heard of one breaking. I'm sure it has happened though. I would not 'yank' anything with them, more like a slow steady pull. I would also use a length of chain that would go from tow hook to tow hook, and attach my tow rope to that, distributing the load between the two tow hooks. Making sure it is long enough that the load is pulled primarily towards the front of the tow hooks rather than pulling the tow hooks towards the center. I would only use this method on very large and very stuck vehicles. Also, it is better to pull from the rear of your truck so that you are going forward, using your hitch if you have one, it is designed more for this use. The tow hooks are there more for your aid if YOU get stuck, so some one can pull you out towards the front. Your tow hooks can likely pull out most passenger vehciles and 1/2 ton trucks, that are not stuck up to the floor boards.

[Gripenfelter]

Thanks guys.

 

I do have a hitch. I haven't looked at it at all though and I have no idea how to attach a tow hook to it.

 

[Starrman]

you can buy a draw bar that goes into your 2" receiver that has a tow hook on the end (instead of a hitch ball).

 

 

I've used my front tow hooks to pull my old F150 out once and I did like stated above....took a 25' tow strap and hooked one end to each tow hook and the center to the hook/ball on the f150 so the weight was distributed between the two hooks (v shaped)

[jrrod2004]

easy, wrap a set of tow straps around the ball and nut and put a secondary line on the chain slots (i see em in your pic) double knot it so it does not move. a draw bar would also work (Probably more efficiently than my method)

[NathanL]

I use my factory tow hooks all the time - like at least every few days. I've never had one break but on my old truck I did once pull out the end of the frame - IE the bolt bolt pulled thru to the end of the frame.

[Zembonez]

I use my factory tow hooks all the time - like at least every few days. I've never had one break but on my old truck I did once pull out the end of the frame - IE the bolt bolt pulled thru to the end of the frame.

WOW Nathan... that's using a tow hook like you own it!

 

As far as pulling people out of the ditch, I believe that if you use a well made nylon rescue strap you shouldn't have any problems. It will keep the "yank" to a minumim because it stretches. I would imagine a chain or cable is another story. Probably one that ends up with your tow hook leaving you for somebody new.

[Triki_Dick]

The NBS ones are not hooks, but loops. I bet they'll hold something!!

 

I bought a strap and the first day I bought it, I used it to pull a tractor out the mud with! Money invested!

[HawkeyeOC]

The NBS ones are not hooks, but loops. I bet they'll hold something!!

 

I bought a strap and the first day I bought it, I used it to pull a tractor out the mud with! Money invested!

 

 

Here is a good shot of what the loops look like behind the bumper on my NBS Sierra. They look very sturdy to me.

[Gripenfelter]

Wow...

 

http://www.offroaders.com/tech/Recovery-Strap-Accident.htm

[Zembonez]

Wow...

 

http://www.offroaders.com/tech/Recovery-Strap-Accident.htm

Just goes to show what using something incorrectly can do to you. No way those two straps should have been used in series... Lucky it didn't kill him. Not sure I buy the rest of the story... sounds like it was told a few times and added to!

 

Obviously the tool was smarter than its user.

[HawkeyeOC]

Wow...

 

http://www.offroaders.com/tech/Recovery-Strap-Accident.htm

 

Wow is right!

 

Even with that winch you are supposed to open the hood in case the cable breaks or something like this happens.

 

Scary

[Triki_Dick]

Alright, that raises a good question. How do we 'Safely' attach a tow strap to the front of our NBS's?

[Starrman]

Seeing that the NBS's don't have "hooks" but more like a "shackle" or "loop" here's what I would do....

 

The tow straps are available with loop ends. Take one end and put it through the tow loop under the bumper then take the other end and feed it through the loop that you just put through the tow loop.....make sense?

 

I would actually think that if you got a good quality shackle that's rated with a very high strength then you should be ok to use that to attach a strap to the front tow loop.

 

I think the most important thing to keep in mind is do not go over the components being used rated strength. That incident linked to above happened in mud, which is probably the hardest thing to pull something out of unlike snow or grassy ditch, and the fact that they used two 30' tow straps to make a 60' rubber band