Recovery points

Introduction

If you intend to go off road, there is a good chance that you will get stuck no matter how equipped your vehicle is, or how "sensibly" you intend to venture.

Therefore, you should invest in strong recovery points.

If you don't, and the factory tow point breaks, you will have to use money as a recovery point, but it needs to be a thick stash of bills to endure the load!

Factory tow and recovery points

Unfortunately, Suzuki does not make recovery points for Jimnys.

The factory fitted front and rear tow points are meant only for that - to tow the vehicle on the road or to tie it down to a platform which is transporting it.

Those factory tow points are not suitable for recovering a stuck Jimny off road, especially if the pulling direction is sideways.

The only exceptions might be if the vehicle is rather lightly stuck (some snow or some sand). But then some shoveling might be completely sufficient.

If the vehicle is bogged down in snow or sand, or especially in mud, those factory tow points must not be used. They can easily break off when pulling. It can be VERY dangerous if the recovery point breaks off during pulling, as it becomes a lethal flying missile.

Note: Mud has incredible stick-on and suction effect, which increases the force required to unstuck a vehicle several times (up to 5x vehicle's weight is not unusual). You don't believe it? Stand ankle-deep in a deep mud bog and try to walk out of it!

Installing recovery points

Introduction

You can either weld on some DIY reinforcements to the existing front and rear factory tow points (and put your amateur trust into them), or install aftermarket-made heavy-duty recovery points.

Using omega shackles rated at 3,25 T WLL (working load limit) should be sufficient for Jimny, especially when the load is divided between two recovery points.

Using recovery points in pairs

If you use just one recovery point, you double the risk to rip off your recovery point, or bend the chassis rail if the lone recovery point is indeed so strong!

Therefore, it is very recommended to have two front recovery points and two rear recovery points (one on the left side and one on the right side).

When you have two front and two rear recovery points, then you can (and should) use an "equalizer strap" to transversely connect the left and right recovery point either when towing/pulling or being towed/pulled. The equalizer strap should be at least 2 m long.

Then connect the main strap or rope to the equalizer strap, and the other vehicle to the main strap.

This divides the load on each of the two recovery points, significantly reducing the risk of either a point breaking off, or bending a single chassis rail.

Aftermarket-made recovery points

There there are only a couple of professionally manufactured aftermarket recovery points for Jimnys.

This article lacks details and user experiences with each specific product, so investigate on your own.

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Page last edited on 26/12/2016 by user Bosanek