School me on recovery points LX570.

[tacoduck]

Snow means possibility of getting stuck. I have a nice recovery strap on board, but I’m curious on recovery points. Front. Rear.

The obvious rear recovery point is the tow hitch. Should I carry a tow ball hitch? Install aftermarket recovery point? Carry a d-ring for attaching?

Also, the stock bottle jack appears to be a POS. Aftermarket options?

 

[TeCKis300]

Every cruiser is fully outfitted with recovery points, front and rear. They may not be referenced as such in the manual, but they're easily up to the task. The stock points may be stronger than aftermarket if geometry is considered as they're tucked tight and close to the frame.

Rear, yes the hitch. Also a recovery point mounted to the frame on the passenger side.

Front, peak underneath the bumper and there are large recovery points on driver and passenger sides.

Additional gear
- Add a soft shackle to your kit to allow easy hookup to said recovery points
- Have a hitch pin as that allows hooking up any loop (or the soft shackle) to the hitch

The bottle jack is actually pretty unique as it has the requisite travel height necessary to get the tires off the ground. You'll find it difficult to find jacks that have that vertical lift capacity while being compact enough to store. A couple accessories could help its flexibility and usability:

Largest bottle Jack that fits in compartment in back

Has anyone considered buffing up the bottle Jack in the rear compartment...I.e. shoe horning the largest possible Jack into that available storage space? Is it possible to get a larger one in there? And, if so, what would the largest one be?

forum.ih8mud.com

 

[turbo8]

My LX has 2 recovery points on the front and one on the rear passenger side.

It looks like later models have 1 on the front but you can add another if you buy the part.

I have used the front and rear recovery points to pull out some pretty stuck vehicles without problems.

 

[tacoduck]

Every cruiser is fully outfitted with recovery points, front and rear. They may not be referenced as such in the manual, but they're easily up to the task. The stock points may be stronger than aftermarket if geometry is considered as they're tucked tight and close to the frame.

Rear, yes the hitch. Also a recovery point mounted to the frame on the passenger side.

Front, peak underneath the bumper and there are large recovery points on driver and passenger sides.

Additional gear
- Add a soft shackle to your kit to allow easy hookup to said recovery points
- Have a hitch pin as that allows hooking up any loop (or the soft shackle) to the hitch

The bottle jack is actually pretty unique as it has the requisite travel height necessary to get the tires off the ground. You'll find it difficult to find jacks that have that vertical lift capacity while being compact enough to store. A couple accessories could help its flexibility and usability:

Largest bottle Jack that fits in compartment in back

Has anyone considered buffing up the bottle Jack in the rear compartment...I.e. shoe horning the largest possible Jack into that available storage space? Is it possible to get a larger one in there? And, if so, what would the largest one be?

forum.ih8mud.com

Can you point me to a good soft shackle?

 

[highfructose]

Oem bottle jack is very good piece of kit.

Oem tie down/recovery points are probably good. I’ve got arb ones in the front and trail tailor (I think) in the back. Why not, eh?

A hilift with a wheel grabber, plastic base, and some max trax (or knockoff maxtrax) would be useful to lift your vehicle up and place it on a traction boards if you get in a rut or a snowy embankment.

A 12,000 lb more power puller would function as a winch to pull you forwards or backwards…you’d need a tree strap too…maybe a dead man anchor if there are no trees around…I’d advise a 50 foot or longer “extension” cable to extend your “range” on the winch.

You’d be pressed to think of a reasonable situation that the above items wouldn’t get you unstuck on your own.

Add a recovery rope/snatch strap for when you have help to get unstuck.

 

[doru]

Recovery points
2013 LX570 See owner's manual p.816, 820
The manual calls recovery points as "emergency towing".

IMPORTANT: do not use tie down points for recovery.

Front

Rear

Rear - Towing hitch using a hitch bar w/ D-Ring or rope shackle.

Here is a long discussion about recovery points (2) Recovery Points | IH8MUD Forum.
Additionally this one (3) HD front recovery points | IH8MUD Forum.
My conclusions:

• the factory recovery points are strong enough for the purpose and designed to not damage the frame (to which they are bolted on).
• The factory rear recovery and tie down point is stronger than the Tundra similar part despite the visual appearance.

LC/LX in the left - Tundra on the right

The tundra looks beefier, but … the base of the LC/LX is a lot thicker and reinforced to protect the frame. It is reasonable to expect Toyota designed it this way, as a system, with specific strengths and failure modes in mind, specifically because it is intended to be the recovery point on their off-road halo vehicle. From here: It is my opinion the LC bracket is stronger than the Tundra bracket in the load cases most likely to fail (sheer and pullout). If you look at the combined thickness of the material under the bolts, it seems to be over twice as thick. Sheer stress is the force applied divided by the cross sectional area of the combined material perpendicular to the direction of the force. The sheer stress on the LC bracket will be less than half of the Tundra bracket and therefore twice as strong. Compare that to the tensile stress of the large U member. Similar equations apply where the tensile stress is the force divided by the total area of the material. The LC bracket has a little over half the area as the Tundra bracket (.71" diameter versus 1" diameter). The Tundra bracket is strong in tension. LC has shorter legs on the plate member that looks like a bowl. LC has a L section attached to the bowl with weld and fasteners as opposed to welding a U section to it.

• Aftermarket recovery points may be bad for the frame because they are too strong and do not bend when/if the truck comes down on them over a rock. People reported exactly such problem.

OEM tie down point bended

Aftermarket recovery and die down point

Towing accessories
Understanding Break Strength vs. Working Load Limit
Know Your Weight: Calculating Your Maximum Towing Weight
2013 LX570: GVW is 3345kg (7385lb) Breaking is 10,035kg (22,155lb)

The shackles capacities based on size are:

• 1/2" D-Ring shackle is rated at WLL 2 ton (4000lb)
• 5/8" D-Ring shackle is rated at WLL 4 ton (8818lb) breaking 19.5 ton (42990lb)
• 3/4" shackle is rated at WLL 4-3/4 ton (9500lb)

ARB ARB710LB 3-1/4" x 30' Recovery Snatch Strap
ALL-TOP Aluminum Shackle Hitch Receiver with Pin
LIBERRWAY Shackles 3/4" (2 Pack) D Ring Shackle
Bubba Rope Gator-Jaw PRO Synthetic Shackle, 7/16
Harbor Freight Tools Voyager 12 In. Tool Bag
Leather gloves

 

[CharlieS]

Can you point me to a good soft shackle?

Lots of good ones, but I have a few Factor55 that are rated and good quality.

Make sure whatever you buy is tested, rated and labeled.

There are lots of cheap options that I wouldn't touch. Recovery gear is NOT the place to pinch pennies.

Oh, and if you are going to use a soft shackle, you need recovery points with a radius, not hard (sharp) edges. Soft shackles are great, but need to be used correctly. Those ARB recovery points posted above have too sharp an edge to be safe with soft shackles. Trail Tailor makes some with radiuses edges.

Standard Duty Soft Shackle - 7/16"x10"

Soft shackles may be used as a lightweight replacement connecting rigging for common steel screw pin shackles. The Factor 55 10" (pull to pull length) Standard Duty Soft Shackles are Made in the USA under the uncompromising Factor 55 quality standards.

factor55.com

A couple of quality (like Van Beest) 3/4" steel shackles are worth picking up and using...

 

[doru]

If you want two recovery points in the front of your LX buy one more from Toyota 5196060020 ~$50. Or go aftermarket. You are reusing the bolts.

 

[LTSR]

I got one of these jack adapters from @LandCruiserPhil -- Land Cruiser Products - LCP - Jack Adapters - https://sites.google.com/site/landcruiserproducts/jack-adapters

nice addition and fits in the bottle jack compartment. i wrapped it in an old cloth so it doesn't rattle