Gen 3 damaged towing points rear (pictures!)

In a previous life, visible attempts have been made to pull the car out of a sticky situation so much that both towing eyes are about to shear off. I do tend to use snow as a mean to get stuck, so I'd like to have my recovery points in order. What is the best course of action to fix this?

Yellow circle: tow hook eats into the plastic bumper.
Yellow arrow: beginning to shear off the square support section.
Green circle: square support section kinked in-upwards.

LH Side
 

 

 

RH Side (similar to LH, but couldn't get better picture because of exhaust)
 

Ok so first off they are tie down points for use on ferries etc, they aren't designed for recovery. Your best option is dedicated recovery points from one of usual suspects. Unfortunately they are mostly designed to apply force directly in line with the chassis and consequently protrude through the bumper. Aesthetically something of a problem but practically beneficial as there's no torque being applied which is what happened to the tie down points on your car.

I had a tow bar fitted to my Gen 3, so drilled it and fitted some heavy duty swivel eye bolts for rear recovery.

For the front I bought HD recovery points that involved cutting a slot in the front bumper, so to hide them made some plastic covers, you can see them in the first picture on this thread

www.bigjimny.com/forum/8-my-jimny/70258-...erland-jimny?start=0

I see, I wasn't aware that these were not intended for towing. Is it in you opinion that repairing (welding?) the eyes is not worth the hassle since they cannot be used in serious situations anyway?

Correct. I'm not saying you can't get away with being pulled onto a flat bed for recovery but that's about their limit. For a more dynamic recovery such as being beached on a snow drift or half buried in a wet muddy hole even if done gently with a winch you want proper inline recovery points.

I'd be inclined to leave them if they aren't causing a problem with the bumper, just get rust killer & paint to them.
you could try jacking them back a little, but I certainly wouldn't cut 'n weld as it will encourage rusting.


Most likely it has either been snatch recovered, or used to snatch something out of mud, you can usually get away with a straight pull gradually increasing the tension on the rope. If you back up a bit and charge forwards the shock as the rope goes tight will cause this damage, or if you use one of those kinetic recovery ropes.

You want purpose made recovery points for snatch recovery, youtube is full of videos of people ripping axles off and tearing chassis in half.

As soon as a kinetic rope comes out, run away to the side at least twice the length of the rope, or get inside your AFV and close the hatches.