Fitting GU Recovery plates.

[mudski]

So my missus thought it would be nice to buy me something. Awww, A pair of recovery plates for my toy. Wicked! Now I just have to work out how to fit them. Well the left side atleast.
As most are aware, the left side of the chassis rail has the holes but no captive nuts to secure the recovery plate onto the chassis.
So some researching and speaking with another Troller I thought I'll have a crack.
So removal of the bull bar took place to have easy access to the chassis rail. Once the bar was off I pried open the end of the chassis rail to gain access inside the rail.
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I then used some box tubing I had lying around as a backing plate to weld on the two lower nuts for the plate. I simply drill my holes, then cut away the sections of the box tube that i didn't need with my grinder. My only source of welding was my Arc welder so I had to be careful of not blowing holes in the box tube. I then welded a piece of 3.2mm arc wire to the bracket I made so I could slip it down the chassis tube. I made another bracket for the the top bolt, one hole only of course.
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An hour or so later its on. You can see the 3.2mm welding wire sticking out of the end of the chassis. I attached the wire to the two brackets I made so I could maneuver the plate into their positions.

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Folded the end of the tube up and started putting everything back together.

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My new earings!!!!!!

[boots]

Done a great job mudski . now u need yota recovery point stickers .

[mudski]

Done a great job mudski . now u need yota recovery point stickers .

Feck'em. I'll just leave them and pass by waving

[robbo0001]

Mate, thats a great install.
I was lazy and just used a 35mm hole saw on the bottom of the chassis rail to get some access for a ratchet spanner, drilled the three mounting holes for the plate and used some 8 tonne (..?..been a while) bolts, washers and nyloc nuts to mount it. (lazy bugger...done a few front snatches and working well so far)
Blanked off the "hole saw hole"in the bottom of the chassis rail with a plastic blanking grommet to stop the crud getting in....

Wish my Missus bought me gear like this....
Haha

[teno45]

May have to look into this idea... I've got the right hand one attached, and the left is just sitting there waiting for me to get motivated. Not keen on the idea of drilling holes in the rail, and dont know if I could be bothered pulling the bullbar off again!

[mudski]

Yeah I wasn't keen on taking the bar off but it only took an hour, removing the winch completely off too so the bar was lighter. Then probably 3 hours in making the plate up with drilling and welding and playing with the kids in between....Then an hour and a bit to put the bar back on. I actually put the bar back on myself, whilst the ARB bar was heavy I could lift it in the centre and sit it on the chassis. So wasn't too hard...

[nipagu7]

probably a stupid question guys , but would it not be easier and perhaps even stronger to have recovery points on the bull bar . Or is there a reason ( possibely stronger ) that they are located where they are .

[Silver]

probably a stupid question guys , but would it not be easier and perhaps even stronger to have recovery points on the bull bar . Or is there a reason ( possibely stronger ) that they are located where they are .

I have that shape from TJM (your originals threedogs :-) ) that I fitted to my Mav/Q. They are fairly deep. Where I have mounted them in the Mav is on the bolts that hold the front bar on, and I think the recovery points are now the lowest point at the front.

Putting them further back where mudski did would preserve the approach angle.

Mudski, thanks for taking the time to prepare the report and clear photos. Nice work!

[mudski]

The recovery point on the chassis is lower down so a better or lower point of gravity( I suppose thats what you call it), so if your being snatched out of a bog hole you would kind of be getting a lift as well as a pull from the recovery vehicle. Kind of hard to explain... Plus I've seen bars ripped off from recoveries via the bull bar.

[nipagu7]

Yep . Makes sense to me Mudski . Think I also saw a clip recently of a bullbar being ripped off .