Rated tow hooks for the FJ40

My 1973 FJ40 came standard with two tow/recovery hooks on the front chassis rails, identical to those on every stock 40 I’ve ever seen. In my early, pre-winch days, I used them to recover numerous fellow drivers using either a heavy rope or a chain. (Hey, I said “early” days.)

When I graduated to a kinetic strap sometime in the 1980s, I remember wondering for the first time just how strong those hooks were. Whenever I asked anyone associated with Toyota, I was simply assured, “Oh, they’re strong enough, don’t worry.”

Later I installed a factory PTO winch, but only ever used single-line pulls with it. After swapping the original three-speed transmission for a four-speed, I never got around to cutting the new transmission tunnel for the lever or swapping in the PTO gear case on the new four-speed. So when I got a new Warn 8274 after a winch test at Overland Journal, I sold the PTO and went electric. By then I’d learned more about, and was employing, double-line pulls, using those hooks as the anchor for the doubled line. Again I found myself wondering about their capacity—and again when I asked around the community I was assured, “Oh, they’re strong enough, don’t worry.”

But, while I didn’t worry per se—by this time I’d subjected them to dozens and dozens of mild to severe pulls and yanks with zero negative effects—I was also doing a lot of instruction by this time, and emphasizing the absolute necessity of using rated equipment for recovery. And the one element in my kit that had no rating were those tow hooks.

Finally I decided to circumvent the issue and add a pair of rated bolt-on shackle mounts to the front bumper—but as I was shopping I chanced upon a set of 10,000-pound rated tow hooks, outwardly identical to the factory hooks, at Cool Cruisers of Texas.

The irony is, I have absolutely no way of knowing if these rated hooks are any stronger than the unrated factory hooks, or even if they are as strong. I contacted Cool Cruisers and was told that no, they had no idea of what, if any, safety factor was built into the 10,000-pound figure—that’s simply the way they get them from the supplier. I must assume that, given our litigious society, the rated hooks are at least good to their stamped capacity. And I can point to that stamp when a student asks me about their capacity—as happened a couple of times with the original ones, when all I could reply was, “Oh, they’re strong enough, don’t worry.”

Geeking out on the authentic jerry can

A female British factory worker welds a copy of a Wehrmacht fuel can in 1942

I’ve written several times on this site (here, for example), and in articles elsewhere, about the original Wehrmacht “jerry” can, now the NATO can, which I still hold to be the best fuel container on the planet. Now someone, specifically a Scottish bloke named Calum, has significantly out-geeked me with a 30-minute documentary (and commentary) on the Wehrmacht fuel can and its subsequent adoption by the British—as well as its inexplicable subsequent cheapening by the Americans as the Blitz can.

There’s stuff in here even I didn’t know. For example, the above screen capture from the film shows that in 1942 the British were already in production with outright copies of the Wehrmacht cans they had found abandoned in the deserts of North Africa. I found the whole thing fascinating; I’m sure you’ll find at least some of it so—and the opening vignette is hilarious. Hat tip to Graham Jackson for finding this.

Jerry can history

Kinetic element in a winch system?

It’s getting impossible to keep up with even a fraction of the 4x4 driving and recovery videos on YouTube, all of them purporting to offer useful, expert advice. Some actually do. Others are wincingly inept, some downright stupidly dangerous.

There are also plenty that fall somewhere in between.

A recent . . . fad, I’ll call it . . . involves inserting a kinetic element, usually a KERR (Kinetic Energy Recovery Rope) into a winch rig, with the aim of reducing shock loads on the winch and winch line, or in some cases to “pre-load” a winch pull.

I was taught never, ever to include a kinetic, or elastic, element in a winch rig. Even without such an element, a component failure in a winching scenario can result in dangerous recoil of the winch line and anything attached to it. When steel winch cables were the norm, this was especially hazardous, as the spiral twist of the cable tended to violently untwist as the cable recoiled, creating a swath of destruction.

As with most of us, I now use synthetic winch line, which significantly reduces (although it does not eliminate) the dangers of a snapped line or broken recovery point. However, I still have never found the need to use an elastic component, while accepting that in certain circumstances it might be useful.

This is not one of them.

This video, by a fellow called Mad Matt, demonstrates the insertion of a KERR in a winch system to prevent the vehicle shown from violently bouncing at the end of the winch line as it winches itself up a steep rock face while the driver attempts to apply power. As demonstrated, one easily sees how the elastic nature of the KERR reduces the shock loading on the winch line.

The operative words here are “as demonstrated,” because the shock that is actually demonstrated is shockingly bad driving skills. Perhaps that was Matt’s aim, but if so he failed to point it out, leading many who watch this video to assume that the correct way to assist one’s winch while being pulled uphill is to apply great gobs of wheel-spinning torque so the vehicle bounces wildly against the winch line.

The entire sequence is completely unnecessary. There is absolutely no reason for the driver to apply any power in this situation; the winch should be doing all the work until the vehicle is back on terrain with adequate traction. If the winch is not powerful enough to do so with a single-line pull, a double-line pull would accomplish it, drawing the vehicle slowly and safely up the slope, eliminating the bouncing and the hazard of the kinetic rope, along with the two extra shackles needed to include it.

In short, whenever possible it is a good idea not to turn your winch rig into a giant slingshot.