Tips for Jeep/Beach Newbie

[Yom]

Why has noone mentioned a shovel? Its only sand but it can make digging a whole lot easier! Or a flat block of wood, like a 2" thick piece at least 6" long and 6" wide to support the jack if you have to change a tyre on the sand?

The standard hoops front and rear are pretty strong but seeing how they're mounted, I wouldn't be having a tug from them.

I fitted an ARB bar to mine for the recovery points which are effectively bolted to the chassis on each side. If they break there's heaps more to worry about than a flying snatch strap. lol

Rear, I went ARB bar to keep it looking purdy with the front. Will be using the Mopar towbar for recovery with a hitch receiver point I bought from Supercheap for $40 lol. I will be getting an equaliser strap for the front eventually so forward snatches put stress over whole chassis rather than one side.

I can't see why you can't get some 7mm thick steel cut and drilled so you can fit some aftermarket recovery hooks (ARB wont help with this I'd guess you'd have to go to a steel fabricating joint). Sure they'll sit below the bumper but are you that serious with 4wding? BTW take the air deflector off the front bumper. Its the big almost bash plate looking device under the front bumper. It does very little and will only get smashed off anyway.

Go for a practice run at a local beach. If you have a slight idea before hand it will make it alot easier.

PS: 17" tyres? You might have to go less than 18psi if the sand is soft. Mine only just start bagging out at 18psi (255/75R17 Wrangler Silent Armour factory fit)

[adamj]

Hello All,

I finally spoke to a couple of people at 4x4 shops, a couple of people at jeep and got a good solid answer on the recovery hooks. I'll post the response from everyone I talked to here, as I got a wide variety of answers...you can draw your own conclusions, I'm going with the guys from Jeep service center.

ARB said: They are not recovery hooks, they are tie downs (after looking at the hooks the sales man did say he thought they were pretty hard core tie down). He also said that even if they were recovery hooks, you couldn't use them without cracking the bumper. They claimed to be jeep specialists.

Diagnosis: new bull bars, front and back with tow hooks fitted, $3500

TJM said: They ARE recovery hooks, however some people don't feel comfortable using them. TJM regularly fit more robust recovery hooks to jeep chassis for $200, the bumper would be fine and wouldn't crack unless the jeep and recover vehicles were at crazy angles to each other.

Diagnosis: You're fine, however if you're concerned:
1) Buy an equalizing snatch strap or...
2) If you're really concerned they can fit hard core recovery points for $200

Jeep Service Center said: They ARE recovery hooks, as describe in the manual. They are rated for the vehicle weight and tested in a multitude of off road situations before each model is launched. They ARE NOT tie down hooks for shipping, jeeps are tied down across the axles for transport.

Diagnosis: You're fine, just buy snatch strap and rated shackles.

Just so everyone is aware, I am talking about a 2009 JK Jeep Wrangler 2Dr Sports. I am referring to the eyelets on the front left and rear right of the vehicle as you look at the vehicle from the front, below the bumper. They are secured with five or so bolts.

Hope this helps out anyone else confused about this topic. So glad I don't have to drop another 3 grand just to go to Fraser

This post does not constitute advice about your own jeep, I am not affiliated with jeep, contact your service center before making a determination about your own situation

[xjrob]

Adam,

All sounds positive, now just go and have a bloody good time.

There is so much to see at Fraser, you will be so much happier you drove than stayed at Kingfisher.

Have a good trip

[carvesdodo]

Originally Posted by Yom

Why has noone mentioned a shovel? Its only sand but it can make digging a whole lot easier! Or a flat block of wood, like a 2" thick piece at least 6" long and 6" wide to support the jack if you have to change a tyre on the sand?

Go for a practice run at a local beach. If you have a slight idea before hand it will make it alot easier.

Well said Yom .... Theres way too much emphasis on the bling stuff .... which is needed if the basics you mentioned - are not there in the first place.

Jack Baseplate ... This one is only 300mm square and is 2 x 13mm pieces of ply glued & screwed together. Ply is stronger than a piece of wood the same thickness.



For sand use ... my preference would be 600mm square and about a 50mm thickness.

Originally Posted by adamj

Hello All,

I finally spoke to a couple of people at 4x4 shops, a couple of people at jeep and got a good solid answer on the recovery hooks. I'll post the response from everyone I talked to here, as I got a wide variety of answers...

The answers vary depending on an individuals thoughts on recovery techniques.

Someone too lazy to prep the ground and vehicle for recovery ... needs "rated" recovery gear as the bogged weight/drag load of the vehicle will be much higher than the same vehicle which has been jacked up / wheels packed up ... or sufficient sand scraped away from the fronts of tyres.

The use of snatch straps as a quick fix for extrication ... compounds the need for "rated" recovery gear ... as the shock of the recovery process is much greater than the steady strain of a winch or tow vehicle.

Some of my basics.

Nylon tow strap .... It is not a snatch strap - as the material is not designed to be elastic like a snatch strap.
Chain.
D-shackles.

None of it with fancy "rating" tags .... but has been been doing the job for years ... shackles get changed every now and then.

A Hi-Lift / Jackall, a base plate, a spade/shovel ... and some sand ladders (if you intend a lot of sand work) ... and you will probably never ever need a tow ... except in the worst possible situation.

Lots of the posts so far have info to help you avoid that situation .... But in the end ... it will all depend on which way you turn the wheel.

[Yom]

I removed my rear hook on the weekend. Its plenty strong and is fitted with rated bolts (grade 8.8 according to the stamping) and there's plenty of weld holding the loop to the plate. But I don't like how it puts all the force onto one side of the chassis.

SO I sacrificed a bit of departure angle and fitted a Mopar towbar. A positive of the reduced departure angle is that its now much harder to hit the spare tyre. And I should note the towbar is the easiest thing in the world to install. The rear bumper comes off in like 6 big easy to reach bolts and the wiring loom is easy to unclip. I butchered mine because I put an ARB rear bar on as well but you won't have to.

Benefit of the towbar is you can use one of those blocks which slips in and you put a big shackle through and this is a very nice strong bit of chassis and also spreads the snatch load over the whole chassis which is much better for it than just on one side.

I would definately recommend fitting one. I think they can be had on ebay cheap enough. Mine is purely for recovery at this stage so I didn't even fit the included wiring loom which by the way is a very well made piece of kit. No splicing required, just plugs in and away you go! Just be aware that on the numberplate wiring loom the black wire may not be ground. On mine it was not and this kept shorting out the right hand side taillight fuse until we realised the problem. Oh, and relocating your numberplate higher will be awesome because you'll rip it off less. Yes, your numberplate may go missing even on the beach lol, it is quite low down on the stock wrangler bumper.

Now I feel confident that if I'm not supervising the installation any recovery gear will be fitted to the strongest point on the back of my vehicle.

[jbee]

A couple of Hessian sacks which you can fill with sand make bloody cheap things get traction on if you bog too and dont weigh anything