 | Home > General & Technical (L663) > Tow eyes / Recovery Hoops on new Defender |
 
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| DSL Member Since: 20 Aug 2007 Location: Wandering the wasteland. Posts: 837  
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Anyone had a price for fitting the rear recovery hoops? Shame it’s not a tick box option, would be so much easier if done during assembly.
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26th Jan 2021 1:18pm |
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| merrion13 Member Since: 16 Jun 2020 Location: Denver Posts: 17 
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I recently posted this over on landroverforums here in the US but thought this topic was relevant to include here as well. I recently experienced needing the front recovery eye to pull the Defender out of a stuck situation:
For those who don't know, the front recovery point is hidden behind a plastic shield under the front bumper which requires 4 screws and pulling hard on about 8 clips to remove. Needless to say, this is a PITA and a massive inconvenience. Land Rover's solution is to offer a Front Undershield protector for $800 (for the part alone, which also requires bumper removal to mount). I know that it is made of metal and has a stronger mounting assembly, but if the factory eye already is made to recover the vehicle I didn't see the need for this additional part and cost. I did some exploring and ended up doing a DIY mod of removing a portion of the existing trim so that the eye is always accessible. I wanted to keep the hook accessible but minimize the cutting of the trim and below is an outline of the process and result. Overall, I think this is a good way to save significant time in the field and doesn't take away from the original look. This is what our cars look like with the stock plastic trim removed and in red is the recovery eye.  Click image to enlarge The first step was to cut the lowest part where the plastic 'bends' upward towards the main trim. You can see on the left and right of the area I removed the inner screw holes that are part of the 4 total screws that need to be removed. The marked area above was some templating I was doing to test the mount. Click image to enlarge Here is a shot of the piece back on the truck showing the lowest part cut open. You can see how even just removing that lowest part gets you better access already, but not good enough as a tow strap would ruin the rest of the trim at this point. I ended up taking back off and cleaning up the edges a lot after the final cutting. Click image to enlarge I then cut an additional 3.5" above where the trim bends, and angled the upper part in 1.5" narrower than the lowest part. This allows ample space to the left and right for a tow strap to move but also tapers the opening for a cleaner look. This is prior to cleaning up the edges/opening. Click image to enlarge Final shot with all sanding and shaping done and trim installed again. Completely accessible now! Click image to enlarge |
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26th Jan 2021 2:00pm |
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| SN Member Since: 29 Jun 2007 Location: SK6 Posts: 729 |
Can I ask why you didn't restrict the hole size to just what was needed - i.e. didn't cut out the red hatched bits in my hack of your photo?
Steve N | 21MY Defender | 08MY Discovery 3 (history) | 06MY Discovery 3 (ancient history) |
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26th Jan 2021 2:17pm |
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| merrion13 Member Since: 16 Jun 2020 Location: Denver Posts: 17
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The recovery eye doesn't protrude past the trim, and since sometimes in a recovery the pull won't be purely forward but at an angle, I wanted a little more space on the sides to allow the tow hook/strap to pull from without tearing into the rest of the trim piece. You don't even notice the removed trim looking at the vehicle straight on unless you're bending down to look underneath so making it a little wider didn't impact the opening. It's a total of ~7" in the upper part of the opening, fairly small compared to rest of car.
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26th Jan 2021 3:03pm |
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| Tim in Scotland Member Since: 23 May 2007 Location: The Land that time forgot Posts: 3753 
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Recovery hoops invoice from Pentland Stirling DSL
Click image to enlarge Pangea Green D250 90 HSE with Air Suspension, Off-road Pack, Towing Pack, Black Contrast roof , rear recovery eyes, Front bash plate, Classic flaps all round, extended wheel arch kit and a few bits from PowerfulUK Expel Clear Gloss PPF to come 2020 D240 1st Edition in Pangea Green with Acorn interior. Now gone - old faithful, no mechanical issues whatsoever ever but the leaks and rattles all over the place won’t be missed! |
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26th Jan 2021 4:59pm |
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| DSL Member Since: 20 Aug 2007 Location: Wandering the wasteland. Posts: 837
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Cheers, u are a star!!
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26th Jan 2021 5:04pm |
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| J77 Member Since: 04 Nov 2019 Location: Fife Posts: 3386 
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£250 supplied and fitted, that ain’t bad for a main dealer. 24MY 90 D250 HSE, Tasman Blue
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26th Jan 2021 9:09pm |
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| deaston Member Since: 18 Dec 2020 Location: UK Posts: 150
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The "other work" part of that invoice makes for quite depressing reading. Looks like LR still includes all the various rattles, creaks and leaks to keep their service partners busy. |
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27th Jan 2021 7:59am |
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| Tim in Scotland Member Since: 23 May 2007 Location: The Land that time forgot Posts: 3753
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Yes it was depressing to keeping finding all those issues, most of which should not have got beyond the mid build QC checks in Nitra however they are all fixed now and it is the car it should have been when it left the factory. That was the 5th and last visit to the dealers to try to repair some of the faults too.......... also bear in mind that my car is in the first 1000 built, I would hope that now we are a year into production QC is now up to speed........ although some of the things I read on this and another forum do make me wonder how much improvement has been made on the QC front sometimes.
Fortunately they have all been teething type issues and not electronic, mechanical or suspension related but unforgivable in the first batch of such an expensive and important new car for a company when in my view QC should have been much more thorough to ensure that the “unreliable” label LR has was finally put to rest. Pangea Green D250 90 HSE with Air Suspension, Off-road Pack, Towing Pack, Black Contrast roof , rear recovery eyes, Front bash plate, Classic flaps all round, extended wheel arch kit and a few bits from PowerfulUK Expel Clear Gloss PPF to come 2020 D240 1st Edition in Pangea Green with Acorn interior. Now gone - old faithful, no mechanical issues whatsoever ever but the leaks and rattles all over the place won’t be missed! |
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27th Jan 2021 8:55am |
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| deaston Member Since: 18 Dec 2020 Location: UK Posts: 150
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I put my name down for an Evoque as early as I could and got one of the very first (I think within the first 600 or something) and it was plagued with problems, rattles, squeeks etc. I got rid of it after about 18 months as I just hated driving it and swore I'd never buy an LR again.
Clearly, that didn't last, but I will never again buy an early build. I've patiently waited about a year to order the Defender for that very reason (and also because of Covid - seemed silly to buy a new car when I couldn't go anywhere). |
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27th Jan 2021 10:10am |
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| Defendit.. Member Since: 09 Aug 2020 Location: 's-Hertogenbosch Posts: 419 
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Love your Mod ! Thx. planning the same. I think an oval hole also should work, finished with an flexibel clip lining arround. If you like you could spray the hoop red.... No Mud flaps for my 90.!
----------------------------------------- P300 S MY21 on air, adv.+ offroad pack, DRL+fog, Dinamica Suedecloth + Ebony headliner/Cross Beam- Many Mods.. |
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27th Jan 2021 10:56am |
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| SN Member Since: 29 Jun 2007 Location: SK6 Posts: 729 |
My shading was lined up so that the exposed bolt heads were covered up (for tidiness) - I take note of @merrion13's comments though - I guess the 'correct' answer dimensions-wise of the hole is one that matches the official LR bash-plate product
But yes I'm thinking of doing this mod too for neatness (I still have a cover from a prior LR that accidentally got left behind when I sold it) Steve N | 21MY Defender | 08MY Discovery 3 (history) | 06MY Discovery 3 (ancient history) |
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27th Jan 2021 12:51pm |
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| G4R1 Member Since: 17 Aug 2020 Location: Barnet/Limassol Posts: 131
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£250 for supply and fit is quite good. I have been quoted between £400 and £750 by my local main dealers. One of them is stating that it's 3.5h job and the hourly rate is £220, I believe it can be completed in an hour (according to powrfuluk video). 3.0L MHVE D200 S Pangea Green+Black Pack Adv. + Off-Road and Family Packs |
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29th Jan 2021 2:19pm |
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| Tim in Scotland Member Since: 23 May 2007 Location: The Land that time forgot Posts: 3753
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Is that Grange Barnet? I bought two cars from them but on both cars being delivered I was advised by the sales staff not to return to them for servicing.......... Pangea Green D250 90 HSE with Air Suspension, Off-road Pack, Towing Pack, Black Contrast roof , rear recovery eyes, Front bash plate, Classic flaps all round, extended wheel arch kit and a few bits from PowerfulUK Expel Clear Gloss PPF to come
2020 D240 1st Edition in Pangea Green with Acorn interior. Now gone - old faithful, no mechanical issues whatsoever ever but the leaks and rattles all over the place won’t be missed! |
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29th Jan 2021 7:07pm |
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