Dan_J

Member
Hi all,

11 plate disco 4.

I’ve just been given the use of a disco 4 for work purposes where I will likely do some ‘light’ off roading. Green lanes, forestry tracks and fields nothing too complex or tough to be expected.

The vehicle has a front mounted winch hidden behind the original front bumper. However it has no other recovery points or a tow bar. What are my recovery options should the worst happen and I become stuck?

Thanks all.
 
Thanks for the reply.

Just further, might be a silly question... are these suitable for off road recovery as opposed to just on road towing on to a recovery truck for example? I’m thinking about the addition load of being bogged down or similar?
 
[QUOTE="Dan_J, post: 4599768, member

Just further, might be a silly question... are these suitable for off road recovery as opposed to just on road towing on to a recovery truck for example? I’m thinking about the addition load of being bogged down or similar?[/QUOTE]
You say it’s a winch on the front so you could always use that.
The standard points will be fine but if it’s only greenlaning then unlikely a D4 with all its witchcraft is gonna be stuck
 
If a D4 gets stuck you are well stuffed, they don't get stuck.

LR need to make them so capable so they can disappoint all the Jap 4x4 owners who sit there dreaming of the day they rescue a stuck Land Rover. It is their life's ambition, their dream, their one reason in life, to prove their inferior car is better.
 
Just further, might be a silly question... are these suitable for off road recovery as opposed to just on road towing on to a recovery truck for example?

You could hang a D4 by it's factory tow rings, so yes they are more than capable for recovery work. I think they're rated at 10 tons, or a figure similar to that.
 
Excellent. Thanks guys. It’s a work vehicle and you know what health and safety can be like if things go wrong....
 
If a D4 gets stuck you are well stuffed, they don't get stuck.

LR need to make them so capable so they can disappoint all the Jap 4x4 owners who sit there dreaming of the day they rescue a stuck Land Rover. It is their life's ambition, their dream, their one reason in life, to prove their inferior car is better.

But they do break! :D
Never hurts to have chains available. :)
 
You should see some of the so called "recovery points" that rally people put on their cars. When we used to do recovery we had to keep a special small shackle to go on these stupid things to which we could then attach a normal shackle. and when they weren't there ... to find something to put a strop round which would not compromise something else...
 
If a D4 gets stuck you are well stuffed, they don't get stuck.

LR need to make them so capable so they can disappoint all the Jap 4x4 owners who sit there dreaming of the day they rescue a stuck Land Rover. It is their life's ambition, their dream, their one reason in life, to prove their inferior car is better.
I think elephant mahout's have that glory all sewn up.
 
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You should see some of the so called "recovery points" that rally people put on their cars. When we used to do recovery we had to keep a special small shackle to go on these stupid things to which we could then attach a normal shackle. and when they weren't there ...
When I was doing recovery work, I never used the factory tow rings for recovering a stuck vehicle, as they would simply rip out. I always used brother's around the suspension, as they gave a nice straight pull on the vehicle, from a solid attachment point.

I remember one occasion when I got a call to recover a stolen XR3i, which had been parked with its nose in a ditch, but it's tail end still in the road. By the time I'd got there, the police were looking at the smashed back window of their BMW X5, with a confused look on there faces. See the police had decided to "help" by trying to tow the XR3i out of the ditch, using a tow strap between the factory tow ring on the Escort and the police BMW X5 tow bar. Well of course the moment any decent load was put on the tow ring, it simply ripped out the boot floor and whipped back at high speed, straight into the X5s rear window, with enough force to break it. Lucky the other police officer at the scene had the sense to stand back, or he would have been injured by the flying tow ring.

The police officer's were rather confused as to why the tow ring came off the Escort, as "surely it's designed for towing?" Will yes, if you want to tow a friend with a broken down car. But it's not (as more informed individuals know) for towing a stuck vehicle out of a ditch.
 
Last ditch rescue I had a strop put over my and their towballs, pulled the car out with no wheel spin, on a surface I could not even walk on
 
When I was doing recovery work, I never used the factory tow rings for recovering a stuck vehicle, as they would simply rip out. I always used brother's around the suspension, as they gave a nice straight pull on the vehicle, from a solid attachment point.

I remember one occasion when I got a call to recover a stolen XR3i, which had been parked with its nose in a ditch, but it's tail end still in the road. By the time I'd got there, the police were looking at the smashed back window of their BMW X5, with a confused look on there faces. See the police had decided to "help" by trying to tow the XR3i out of the ditch, using a tow strap between the factory tow ring on the Escort and the police BMW X5 tow bar. Well of course the moment any decent load was put on the tow ring, it simply ripped out the boot floor and whipped back at high speed, straight into the X5s rear window, with enough force to break it. Lucky the other police officer at the scene had the sense to stand back, or he would have been injured by the flying tow ring.

The police officer's were rather confused as to why the tow ring came off the Escort, as "surely it's designed for towing?" Will yes, if you want to tow a friend with a broken down car. But it's not (as more informed individuals know) for towing a stuck vehicle out of a ditch.
I'm surprised you called it a "tow ring" they are more commonly referred to a "tie-down points" and are never designed for recovery as you absolutely rightly state.
Factory tow points are suitable for towing but not recovery which is a totally different kettle of fish.
Recovery points on Rally cars are supposed to be attached strongly to load bearing parts of the vehicle, but rally guys not all being sensible, often don't seem to get it. Tow strops round suspension components for a recovery which does not put too much stress on stuff or, as you rightly state, a pair of brothers attached to good points for a more stressful recovery. Factories calling them tow points really doesn't help at all!
 

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