1st Gen Bolt-on Rear Recovery Points - Input requested

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We were asked, so we made bolt-on rear recovery points to work with the factory rear bumper for those who chose not to do a full replacement rear bumper. We have some introductory shots and I will be cleaning up this mock-up pair in the shop tonight and getting them ready to make a production run.

Visited the powdercoater today so we can finalize pricing. These will be $60 shipped and powder they go on sale when we launch our web store this coming week. Standard stocked color will be black but we will be be able to do Nissan grey to match the factory bumpers and plastic pieces for the same price. Black will be kept on the shelf in qty. and we will try to keep a couple pair of grey based on demand, but will probably require a slight lead time to get some made to order. Hardware is in stock, production units will be dropped of for powder Monday so these will be ready to start shipping ~Monday, April 14.

These are 3/4" thick 3" strip mild steel, drilled on one end to match the factory bumper mount. Drilled 1" hole on the other end to accept up to a 3/4" clevis (7/8" pin). New zinc coated class 10.9 (grade 8 equivalent) longer hardware with nuts will be provided.




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XTorrey

XTorrey

First Fill-Up (of many)
Location
Grand Junction, CO
I'd vote for rounded. Depending on the angle of recovery, I'd worry about the notches causing fraying of the nylon strap.

Sent from the wastelands of Tatooine
 
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I don't *think* the bar would ever come in contact with the strap so long as one were using a clevis shackle, but I See your point and concern. I will test some things out when I get to the shop tonight.

hopefully the owner of this pic doesn't mind I stole it from him for illustration purposes.
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robcarync

robcarync

Sliders
Location
Raleigh, NC
I liked the trapezoid notch.

That is exactly the thing I made when I still had my stock bumper....3/4 thick, about 9 inches long. 3 holes to mount to the frame.

One thing that may be of interest: at least on mine, I noticed the mounting holes in the frame rails were kind of egg shaped and elongated from some recovery tugs. Also, tugs at an angle can easily flex the frame horns, so I know other people had suggested some sort of frame stiffeners...which were offered as a stock option with the towing package.

Not sure if there is anyway to reinforce the area or not, but it may be something to think about.

The egg shaped holes I don't think can be fixed much without welding additional plate over the holes and drill them out. Even a full aftermarket bumper still mounted to those same frames, so I can't imagine it'd be worse with just a recovery tab...but I would still recommend straight pulls if possible.

The best thing you can do is be EXTREMELY precise in the 3 mounting holes. Extra slop will contribute to frame rail wear as well.


HAHAHA

PP that is ME!!!

I upgraded though:

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robcarync said:
I liked the trapezoid notch.
Click to expand...


It's certainly easier to manufacture. With just saw cutting the notch and grinding the sharpness out of the corners and edges we can pound these out pretty quickly. And I think it matches the body lines pretty well. But I've always been function over form so if there were a reason not to use it I would.

I'll share that my concern with doing these round is getting them perfectly round and consistent every time. Plus the extra labor hours and consumables it would take to do that. We have a place down the street that could do laser cutting or water jetting to make them perfect and repeatable but I'm not sure anyone would want to pay the price that would cost for a part like this.



robcarync said:
That is exactly the thing I made when I still had my stock bumper....3/4 thick, about 9 inches long. 3 holes to mount to the frame.

One thing that may be of interest: at least on mine, I noticed the mounting holes in the frame rails were kind of egg shaped and elongated from some recovery tugs. Also, tugs at an angle can easily flex the frame horns, so I know other people had suggested some sort of frame stiffeners...which were offered as a stock option with the towing package.

Not sure if there is anyway to reinforce the area or not, but it may be something to think about.

The egg shaped holes I don't think can be fixed much without welding additional plate over the holes and drill them out. Even a full aftermarket bumper still mounted to those same frames, so I can't imagine it'd be worse with just a recovery tab...but I would still recommend straight pulls if possible.

The best thing you can do is be EXTREMELY precise in the 3 mounting holes. Extra slop will contribute to frame rail wear as well.
Click to expand...

I agree with basically all your points here.

I know there is a company out there who makes aftermarket frame stiffeners. I believe they were about $100.

I did make my holes a little smaller than your initial suggestion so that this part would carry most of the load of a recovery. I do have 1 oversize hole to account for factory frame tolerance. But even my over sized hole is smaller than your initial suggestion of 3/4".

To your suggestion about recovering a vehicle I would just add to take all the slack out of the strap or cable, use smooth, slow pulls and avoid yanking whenever possible. But that's just general best practices.
 
robcarync

robcarync

Sliders
Location
Raleigh, NC
P&P said:
It's certainly easier to manufacture. With just saw cutting the notch and grinding the sharpness out of the corners and edges we can pound these out pretty quickly. And I think it matches the body lines pretty well. But I've always been function over form so if there were a reason not to use it I would.

I'll share that my concern with doing these round is getting them perfectly round and consistent every time. Plus the extra labor hours and consumables it would take to do that. We have a place down the street that could do laser cutting or water jetting to make them perfect and repeatable but I'm not sure anyone would want to pay the price that would cost for a part like this.





I agree with basically all your points here.

I know there is a company out there who makes aftermarket frame stiffeners. I believe they were about $100.

I did make my holes a little smaller than your initial suggestion so that this part would carry most of the load of a recovery. I do have 1 oversize hole to account for factory frame tolerance. But even my over sized hole is smaller than your initial suggestion of 3/4".

To your suggestion about recovering a vehicle I would just add to take all the slack out of the strap or cable, use smooth, slow pulls and avoid yanking whenever possible. But that's just general best practices.
Click to expand...

3/4" thick bar...The mounting holes were 12mm or 1/2" ... shackle hole was like 29/32 or something....enough for a 3/4" D-ring.

The front mounting hole handles all of the stress, so that one is best to be tight. Last two basically just need to clamp down enough to hold the bar flush to the frame rail. I did some Pro/E FEA on this set up to arrive at my 3/4" thick based on a simulated pull at a 45* angle. It passed.

Agreed...slow even pulls are best practice and will prevent frame wear.
 
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robcarync said:
3/4" thick bar...The mounting holes were 12mm or 1/2" ... shackle hole was like 29/32 or something....enough for a 3/4" D-ring.

The front mounting hole handles all of the stress, so that one is best to be tight. Last two basically just need to clamp down enough to hold the bar flush to the frame rail. I did some Pro/E FEA on this set up to arrive at my 3/4" thick based on a simulated pull at a 45* angle. It passed.

Agreed...slow even pulls are best practice and will prevent frame wear.
Click to expand...



I must have read that wrong when we were talking about it before I thought you also said 3/4" holes and thought that was a little large. My mistake.

Yes, the more the mounting hardware acts like a pin connection the less chance of deformation. One way that could help eliminate stretching out the holes in the frame would be to lightly press a sleeve through the frame and the recovery point. something like .010 undersize. It is kind of an awkward area to do that without completely removing the bumper from the truck though. And again, would increase costs.
 
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Best I could do because it's dark but i think we are going to move the Clevis hole out 1/4", fillet /round the corners and call it good.

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caseycamby

caseycamby

Suspension Lift
Location
Marion, NC
I prefer the trapazoidial end.. Is that a word??

I would probably get a pair of these if I didn't already have a rear recovery point. Good work, again!
 
02Xterra

02Xterra

Wheeling
Location
Central VA
Looks great! I'd go with the chamfered edges since its cheaper and easier to do. What are you guys thinking on a price for a set of these?

I'd definitely be interested in buying a set
 
D

drbandkgb

Titan Swapped / SAS'd
Founding Member
I wouldn't use the factory bolt plate at all... I would upgrade the bolts to grade 10 or so...
Im not sure of the stock bolts grade...
 
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02Xterra said:
Looks great! I'd go with the chamfered edges since its cheaper and easier to do. What are you guys thinking on a price for a set of these?

I'd definitely be interested in buying a set
Click to expand...


I can't commit to a price on these until I talk to my powder guy but I'm looking at around $60 coated and shipped.

drbandkgb said:
I wouldn't use the factory bolt plate at all... I would upgrade the bolts to grade 10 or so...
Im not sure of the stock bolts grade...
Click to expand...

I was just using the factory bolt plate as a guide to get the hole pattern. It's actually to short to the point it only comes flush with the plate. Couldn't use it if I wanted to.

These will come with class 10.9 hardware. I actually just got confirmation that my hardware will be in for these later this week.

Should be ready to start shipping these sometime next week.



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A little paint. We are going to run crop cut corners and touch everything off with a grinder.

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Visited the powdercoater today so we can finalize pricing. these will be $60 shipped and powder coated. Standard stocked color will be black but we will be be able to do Nissan grey to match the factory bumpers and plastic pieces for the same price. Black will be kept on the shelf in qty. and we will try to keep a couple pair of grey based on demand, but will probably require a slight lead time to get some made to order.
 
Xterra Performance

Xterra Performance

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May I suggest drilling these so that you could mount them in a first and second gen. I am out on the ones I used to sell on my site and that's what we were planning on doing. I believe its pretty feasible. I am running a stock bumper and bolt on brackets right now!
 
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Xterra Performance said:
May I suggest drilling these so that you could mount them in a first and second gen. I am out on the ones I used to sell on my site and that's what we were planning on doing. I believe its pretty feasible. I am running a stock bumper and bolt on brackets right now!
Click to expand...

I'm sure I could. I have to get some pressing things done tonight but I will pull the bumper on the 2nd gen later this week.
 
02Xterra

02Xterra

Wheeling
Location
Central VA
When can I buy a 1st gen set? I need a rear recovery point before the last weekend of this month.. if they aren't powder-coated that's fine too lol
 
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Doing our best to have the web store up by the end of the week. If not we'll take orders through paypal.
 
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Did an install today and got some good shots to put up on the site so we are on track to get that web store up in the next couple days!

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T

TJTJ

Skid Plates
Founding Member
Location
NJ
As the ends of the 2000 - 2004 X's rear frame horns are open C Channel, a frame stiffener is a great idea....and, as most people should have it anyway (Those with the factory tow hitch package COME with an OEM frame stiffener, or at least are supposed to...)...having the OPTION for a frame stiffener version would not be too hard.

All you'd need to do is extend the mount back about to the fully boxed section, and have it angle iron shaped with holes that match up to the OEM holes for the factory stiffeners....or, just a longer flat bar that goes back a bit further that you can match at least the matching plane for OEM holes and maybe drill one or two through for the boxed end, etc.

If its an option, you'd just have two versions, or, make the stiffener a separate piece like Shrock's, etc.

The advantage of a separate piece is that if they get a full bumper later, the stiffener can be re-used.....and the advantage of the one piece is that the COMBINED cost for the recovery point and a stiffener would be lower.

As for the exposed ends...I like to be able to forget they're there when waking around the rig/unloading/loading cargo....and whack into them w/o needing stitches.

:D
 
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