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Recovering cars without tow points


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So i wanted to share this situation i came across this weekend and i thought some of the seniors here might be able to throw some light on the situation.

We were leaving global village when i spotted a Ford mustang stuck in the sand. He was trying to park the car in the sandy patch away from the main parking as many other cars have done but the spot he chose had more sand and keep in mind that the mustang is quite a low car. I switch on my 4wd and rushed to see if i could help him, perhaps give him a tug as i could see that the car is crested. Since the mustang is a low car, its easy to get crested and the tires were dug in as well. So i realized there is no point in removing sand using a shovel around the tires because the chassis is stuck to the ground. But here's the real head scratcher - his car had no visible tow points! We looked around everywhere and we just couldn't find any points.

Now i am sure there probably were some points that were not visible to us but his front fancy bumper that was almost touching the floor was covering it so even if we accessed it, a tug would result in some damage to his bumper. In about half an hour, at least 4-5 more people came to the scene trying to help out but no one was able to figure it out. Since i had my family with me, i eventually left and i am not sure how he recovered but i thought i would share this topic here and see if any one has come across such a situation before and how can we recover such cases.

Edited by Shamil
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As DD mentioned most cars (if not all) has front and/or back screw in tow point covered in bumper color plastic to conceal the hole. Use the key or flat head screw driver to open the hole.

Like below:

Image result for mustang stock tow point

If you still couldnt find it or owner didnt had that screw-in hook, then you can clear such situation in less than 10 minutes.

  1. Ask all by standers to clear sand under the chassis with hand, feet, or wooden pieces.
  2. Go back to your car, bring your shovel, reach under body and wiggle the sand away.
  3. Sit on driver seat and turn steering 5 times FULL left and 5 times FULL right.
  4. Step out to check if all 4 tires are touching ground and chassis is free.
  5. If no, go back to step 2&3. If yes give gentle gas (1500 rpm) in D and in reverse to see if car is moving in any direction.
  6. Even if car moves an inch, keep on moving the car front and back at 1500 rpm to make a flat path. Every time you move back and forth you will gain few inches and that's what we want.
  7. If further down there is more sand, use bystander to walk on it to flatten that track.
  8. Once car is moving 10-12 feet in one direction of its own, pull back completely, start gently to move the car, once car is in motion and crossed 7-8 feet give 3000 rpm gas with quick left and right turn to escape from sandy patch.
  9. Try to escape from the side where car just entered as that path must be already flat or easier to go back.
  10. You can even use bystanders to push the car, if you are too close to escape. 4-5 people is enough to push the car out completely.
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4 hours ago, Frederic said:

Capture.JPG.a6b88b2ee46c91eada8da6e199e5e3a9.JPG

we were trying to spot something like this but his car didnt have any such provision and this is maybe because hes changed his bumper, see this image below which i got from google which closely resembles the kind of bumper he had and it has no such point

 

_1425032008 (1).jpg

5 hours ago, Gaurav said:

As DD mentioned most cars (if not all) has front and/or back screw in tow point covered in bumper color plastic to conceal the hole. Use the key or flat head screw driver to open the hole.

Like below:

Image result for mustang stock tow point

If you still couldnt find it or owner didnt had that screw-in hook, then you can clear such situation in less than 10 minutes.

  1. Ask all by standers to clear sand under the chassis with hand, feet, or wooden pieces.
  2. Go back to your car, bring your shovel, reach under body and wiggle the sand away.
  3. Sit on driver seat and turn steering 5 times FULL left and 5 times FULL right.
  4. Step out to check if all 4 tires are touching ground and chassis is free.
  5. If no, go back to step 2&3. If yes give gentle gas (1500 rpm) in D and in reverse to see if car is moving in any direction.
  6. Even if car moves an inch, keep on moving the car front and back at 1500 rpm to make a flat path. Every time you move back and forth you will gain few inches and that's what we want.
  7. If further down there is more sand, use bystander to walk on it to flatten that track.
  8. Once car is moving 10-12 feet in one direction of its own, pull back completely, start gently to move the car, once car is in motion and crossed 7-8 feet give 3000 rpm gas with quick left and right turn to escape from sandy patch.
  9. Try to escape from the side where car just entered as that path must be already flat or easier to go back.
  10. You can even use bystanders to push the car, if you are too close to escape. 4-5 people is enough to push the car out completely.

thanks @Gauravbhai, this is very useful info indeed, i will save it in the notepad app for quick reference.

7 hours ago, desertdude said:

There is usually a removable square plastic piece on the bumper in which a towing eye can be screwed in, usually found in the toolkit spare tire vicinity

thanks for the info, yes we tried to locate it but couldnt find it

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35 minutes ago, Shamil said:

thanks @Gauravbhai, this is very useful info indeed, i will save it in the notepad app for quick reference.

I thought that once you come to Intermediate level in offroading this would be standard recovery procedure

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9 minutes ago, Srikumar said:

I thought that once you come to Intermediate level in offroading this would be standard recovery procedure

you are right, but sometimes while recovering SUVs in the desert, we could perhaps skip a few of these points and still get the recovery done as opposed to a car with low ground clearance stuck in sand without tow points whereby a step by step procedure in a note format could help incase if you have forgotten something.

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@Gaurav bhai I totally agree with your method, but with a rear wheel drive I've noriced the steering left and right does not help as much as there is no power in the front wheels to move the sand. Even felt it this Friday with the Native not engaging in 4x4.

No disrespect but normally for such wise people I leave them to their own device. Only once I helped a Tiida that tried some off roading and that too a cop. I got it in writhing from him that he is responsible for any damage caused while trying to pull him 400 metres out of some soft sand. Than I made sure his front bumper came off to teach him a lesson.

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That's why I got it in writhing from him. Showed him his front bumper was loose. At the end I think he knew I did whatever I did to teach him a lesson, but also knew it was just a few clips to put it back on.

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