Just a quick one, hopefully someone will know.
My Mk 1 has had it’s front towing eyes removed (obviously due to lack of use being such a reliable car!) I have bought two to put back on but they have been sent without the bolts to hold them in place. Does anyone know what bolts I need to attach the towing eye’s on?? Think I’m ok with the lengh but unsure about the size and thread.
Any idea’s ???
Cheers
Chris
First off they are not towing eyes and should not be used as such, they are tie down eyes for transport to this country?, if you want a good towing eye then http://www.jassperformance.com/ do some very well made items, well worth the money, as i have these fitted to all of my roadsters.
The Jass ones come with bolts, but you can get some OE bolts from Autolink.
M-m
Yes and no, whether the teeth are tow hooks; Mazda states they can be used for emergency use. No “tow hook” fitted using the stock mounting location can be considered a tow point for the purposes of prolonged towing. Jas, wisely, sells their “tow hooks” as aesthetic items only.
Not heard of any factory hook failing, but have heard of some of the aftermarket designs, bending like cheese. My cousin had one of the efforts that was sold on MX5nutz; supplied in a fetching red colour to contrast his S-Limited. It failed miserably when called upon (damaging the bumper of his show-winning car), and he had to resort to the frame. Proper motorsport towhooks, made by Mazda Motorsports, and a few others, look more like the standard hook, but a bit longer, to exclude damage by the towing equipment to the front facia.
But something tells me that cars should not be towed for significant distances anyhow on the driven wheels, because of the risk of mechanical damage. Right or wrong, I would err on the side of caution in the future, and insist on recovery by low loader only, even if that meant waiting a little longer. The guys who operate the low loaders are generally pretty careful and observant when it comes to recovering low slung cars.
Back in 2002, while on holiday in England, my 50k mile cam belt snapped on the outside lane of the M25; I managed to coast to the hard shoulder, but stopped about 50 yards shy of a slip road. The AA patrol turned up promptly, but was dismayed about my lack of front baby teeth; me, being all clever, had stashed them in the boot, along with what I thought was the bolts. Of course, the bolts had gone missing, but that was irrelevant, as there was no way the AA man (nor would I have allowed him), to lie on a rather narrow hard shoulder, alongside a busy motorway, struggling to refit the eyes, in order for him to move me 50 yards to a place of increased safety. So we waited for the low loader, and they used the wishbones, to gently get the car onto the back of the truck. No issues whatsoever. But that experience has lead me to retain the stock hooks on all my cars. I hate the look of hooks, of any design, thats why they are painted black, not red, white or blue. If I was to ever get back into track activities, I might fit one of the proper competition hooks, otherwise, the car can be recovered by the roll bar. In that situation, I wouldn’t car how ugly the hook looked, just as long as it did what was required of it.
But the stock bolts can be brought from the used parts specialists, such as MX5heaven et al.
That is quite interesting topic, that took more months of my time for development and testing. I will share some thoughts and experience from it.
Starting from the back to the front - a tow hook can never be dimensioned enough for a toughest situation. Think about the car out of the road stuck in a marsh.
Next level is the security of the driver in the car being towed and the towing car. You will not want the tow hook to break before the rope. There are many videos on you tube showing the results of a bulleted hooks.
The next level is the “design” level - tow hook looks like never used after towing.
Summarizing all this, comes to say:
1. No one can guarantee a tow hook will not break, because it will in a situation.
2. They are best case dimensioned against certain rope (and this is why ropes are dimensioned in tones), that should get torn before the hook billeting out.
3. The hook should look intact after the towing incident.
Saying all this, I took my time not only to simulate and stress calculate all designs on the market, but to calculate all my designs against material and shape and weight optimize them. Did it initially for my needs and health. These hooks were dimensioned to not to deform plastically with a standard 2 tones rope. And this is something that was not only many times calculated and but also tested. Talking about real life test, here comes the more interesting part - my ones were tested also in extreme situation:
- the stainless tow hook was held only with two screws, of possible 3.
- the 1 tone car was towed for 9 miles in stop and go manner, speeds up to 40mph from 3 tones bus
- the rope was 2x double 10mm steel rope
- the car was towed steep up on a towing truck after all
It is something you should obviously not do, but I simulated it. The result was slightly prolonged and twisted eye. The twisting was caused in my opinion also from the use of 2 instead of 3 bolts. Anyway, the hook did the job event under these extreme conditions with not a even a single bumper scratch. At the price of damaged design, so bad, that I drove with this hook for 6 months after.
Stress calculations can be found on the site Mazda-Mender posted above (Cheers for this, Wayne!).
Btw. the remark “sold as for the looks only” is there, as
a.) there is no guarantee, they will be used with the designated ropes only.
b.) the research to certificate them brought me to no standardized certification routine. Complicated routine that should describe the whole process, starting from the material certification through the technologies to the tests. Basically a responsibility not easy to take even for the agencies, not even considering the financial side of the matter.
And allthough this design prooved to be good, I have to agree, that not all designs are useful in real situation and the baby tooth, ugly or not is often a better alternative.
Your welcome buddy, i have been around enough to know good well made items when i see and feel them, as you know i have one on my own from your good self, just need a rear one now for the MK 2, let me know when you have finished your tests
M-m
Cheers, Wayne. I value your experience and opinion means a lot to me.
The stainless NB rear prototype should be test fitted tonight at a mates car, if all is fine with the fittment will do some tests in the week and hoping for the good news soon.
Regards,
Vlad
Can anyone comment on the rigid pole towing apparatus when used with the standard tow hooks. They are widely used by tow companies as they are the only allowed method of towing on a motorway I believe.
I use them, but you need a good towing eye in the first place to use it.
M-m