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ARB Recovery Point alternative?

Discussion in 'Recovery' started by mattrussmill, Feb 15, 2022.

  1. Feb 15, 2022 at 12:52 PM
    #1
    mattrussmill

    mattrussmill [OP] Well-Known Member

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    Is there anything worth buying as an alternative to the ARB recovery point? Is a factory trd tow hook really not to be trusted in a recovery or am I being overly paranoid? I've read that a lot of people on here don't trust them because of the very thin sheet metal they bolt to in the front (on my SR5 its just a tie down point on that side with the welded loop on the other). Not looking to spend money to replace my front bumper since I don't see myself installing a winch anytime soon, if ever, but I would like a way to reliably recover my vehicle (or another) from the front if needed. The other thing I've considered is a hidden receiver. But it looks like I could more easily bend my frame if in a small front end collision with one of those.

    The TL;DR version - is anyone aware of a comparable product that's cheaper?
     
    18CHUÑO likes this.
  2. Feb 15, 2022 at 12:54 PM
    #2
    stickyTaco

    stickyTaco Fuck Cancer

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    Does the ARB recovery point bolt to the same place as the TRD recovery hook?

    I believe the TRD hook bolts to the frame (it's been several years since I removed mine so I could be wrong).
     
  3. Feb 15, 2022 at 12:56 PM
    #3
    18CHUÑO

    18CHUÑO Well-Known Member

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    I will be following this thread...

    I also have an SR5, my next 2 mods are rear hitch receiver (to pull my 16 foot tiller boat to the watering hole, and to use as a rear recovery point) and a front recovery point. Would love an ARB cause they get such rave reviews, but they are indeed $$$.
     
    mattrussmill[OP] likes this.
  4. Feb 15, 2022 at 12:57 PM
    #4
    18CHUÑO

    18CHUÑO Well-Known Member

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    It mounts in the same area under the bumper but uses more bolts/holes
     
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  5. Feb 15, 2022 at 1:06 PM
    #5
    stickyTaco

    stickyTaco Fuck Cancer

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    The 2 bolts holding on the TRD hook were sufficient the few times I used it. I think as long as you're not creating a huge shock load by yanking with a tow strap or chain the TRD hook is fine.
     
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  6. Feb 15, 2022 at 1:08 PM
    #6
    mattrussmill

    mattrussmill [OP] Well-Known Member

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    It mounts to a different location than the ARB recovery point entirely. The ARB recovery point is frame mounted. The trd hook is mounted as shown here, right below the bumper.
     
    jmneill and 18CHUÑO[QUOTED] like this.
  7. Feb 15, 2022 at 1:09 PM
    #7
    mattrussmill

    mattrussmill [OP] Well-Known Member

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    What did you use yours for? Would you be willing to share the scenario?
     
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  8. Feb 15, 2022 at 1:10 PM
    #8
    18CHUÑO

    18CHUÑO Well-Known Member

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    Right, the ARB mounts on the same side but kinda wraps around the frame

    ARB taco.jpg
     
  9. Feb 15, 2022 at 3:43 PM
    #9
    stickyTaco

    stickyTaco Fuck Cancer

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    Pulling cars/trucks out of snow banks mainly. Never had to use it to recover my own truck and tries to use the rear primarily so I wasn't pulling in reverse.
     
  10. Feb 15, 2022 at 3:58 PM
    #10
    batacoma

    batacoma Truck Wars

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    Cheaper to throw a chain around the LCA, and you can use the same chain on the rear axle if need be.
     
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  11. Feb 15, 2022 at 4:04 PM
    #11
    stickyTaco

    stickyTaco Fuck Cancer

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    :confused: only cheaper until you break something
     
  12. Feb 15, 2022 at 4:21 PM
    #12
    batacoma

    batacoma Truck Wars

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    Yup until you break something, and I'm sure there are better recovery methods. Or if the truck is axle deep in mud, it's not going to be fun hooking up a chain to the controll arm.

    If you are already running larger and heavier tires, the stock components are being stressed and will eventually break.
     
  13. Feb 15, 2022 at 8:22 PM
    #13
    mattrussmill

    mattrussmill [OP] Well-Known Member

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    Yeah lol I won't be doing that unless it's the absolute last resort and the truck is already headed for a tow. I'd especially never do a snatch recovery tied to one of those components. I've watched some complicated recoveries and at most they'll sling the frame to keep a truck from rolling down a hill while they use a front or rear (or hitch) recovery point. The whole point is to not break something else.
     
  14. Feb 15, 2022 at 8:27 PM
    #14
    MNMLST

    MNMLST Well-Known Member

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    The ARB has a couple advantages:

    • It’s fastened to the frame rail and the cross member.
    • It’s ‘hooked’ to the rear fastener for pulling, but designed to ‘unhook’ in a collision, preserving the crumple zone engineered into the main frame rail.

    09AE1C74-D8B3-457B-88FC-92CA4A401CC9.jpg
    1B66AD45-4502-4810-ACCB-DD0724F7E5CE.jpg
     
  15. Feb 15, 2022 at 8:33 PM
    #15
    mattrussmill

    mattrussmill [OP] Well-Known Member

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    Oh I didn't realize that's what the rear hook on the ARB was for! That may push me over the edge to just pony up for that one. I'm trying to preserve the crash safety built into my vehicle as much as possible. Thanks for sharing that!
     
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  16. Feb 15, 2022 at 8:38 PM
    #16
    MNMLST

    MNMLST Well-Known Member

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    and….

    if you’re using a ‘dynamic’ recovery (bubba rope, etc.) forget it on the factory tie down hooks/eyes. It ain’t so much that the hook will rip out, but that cross piece can/will bend with even a mild yank. I’ve seen it happen.
     
  17. Feb 17, 2022 at 6:18 PM
    #17
    dirt_seeker

    dirt_seeker Well-Known Member

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    If you are willing to read it all, here is an interesting thread.
    https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/front-recovery-point.502974/

    Personally I went with the ARB and have not regretted it. Yeah it is a little expensive, yeah its a little weird to install, and yeah it's strong as hell. Piece of mind knowing it wont tear loose when you are really stuck is worth it for me.
     
  18. Jan 14, 2023 at 8:39 PM
    #18
    GilbertOz

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    Nice eye for detail -- that's a very nifty & smart design feature on ARB's part. (I have this ARB recovery point. Spray-painted matte black, because I find the original ARB red color to be pretentious & unnecessarily attention-grabbing. I'll know how to find the recovery point, even if it's dark outside & its covered in mud..)
     
  19. Jan 14, 2023 at 9:19 PM
    #19
    GilbertOz

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    I haven't done an exhaustive search, but I have spent at least 2-3 hours looking into alternatives, because I, too, found the price of the ARB recovery point excessive when I first came across it. ($240 at that time, price now at $300.) But I didn't find any alternatives. Nothing I saw that is commercially-available is remotely close to the size, weight, and build quality of the ARB -- not to mention ARB's reputation, engineering, and published rating of 8 US tons (16,000 lbs) as the max. safe recovery limit -- and that is from any pulling angle within the normal right/left sweep of the front tires.

    EDIT, 2023-02-13: I found this alternative from Superior Engineering in AUS, which claims to be rated for 6,000 kg (13,200 lbs.) It costs $536 US ($770 AUD) before shipping and comes with its own bash plate, which probably would need alteration to make it compatible with any other underbody armor. Looking carefully at the design of both the RP itself & its method of mounting, it looks inferior to the ARB design.

    When I think about the situation(s) where I need a recovery point -- esp. way off road, in some back country, where there is no option for a tow-truck to come out -- at that point I would want to have total faith in my equipment, and equip. that is rated as high as possible to handle an extreme situation, like a fully-loaded rig with one or both axles stuck in a rut on a 30º incline. Those one or two times, perhaps, in the next 10, 20, 30 years I might own the truck.. it will have been well-worth the $300 cost of the ARB vs. spending $100-$125 for stuff that looks solid but is obviously not designed to spread the recovery load out over as much frame as possible.

    For example, the BPF "Heavy Duty" recovery point is listed as rated for 8,250 lbs -- but with two asterisks, ** next to that figure, on the web page --- and no futher comment anywhere that I can see, explaining what the asterisks are for. The BPF plate itself can probably handle 8.2K lbs -- but the piece of stamped sheet metal rectangular tubing to which it is mounted on the truck, I highly doubt it can take anywhere near that amount without bending. BPF even says this plainly, in the installation manual for the product. A best-case scenario for the BPFs (also suggested in their instructions) is to have two BPF points ($230, total!), one on either side of the truck, and then use a bridle to split the load between them. I bet that's what their "8,250 lb **" published rating is based on -- and that, only, with a perfect straight-line or at most 5-7º off-axis pull.


    The screen shot below is taken directly from BPF's installation instructions for their "Driver's Side Tow Hook Install Guide."

    In the installation guide, they're saying, "Buy our recovery/tow points -- but do your recoveries from the rear of the truck whenever you can. And if you need to do a recovery from the front -- be sure to use two of our recovery points and split the load..."

    By comparison, the ARB states clearly & definitively that you can pull on their recovery point with up to 16K lbs of force, with a single line, from any angle up to ~40º off-axis from the centerline of the truck. Period. The extra $70 for the ARB is a no-brainer.

    Screenshot from page 5 of BPF's installation guide. I am attaching a PDF copy of the guide here, for the record, and here is the current link to it, in case they remove or revise the guide at some point: https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0...ow_hook_install_2021_updared.pdf?v=1618552975

    Screen Shot 2023-01-14 at 9.12.45 PM.jpg

    Comparing BPF's product listing vs. the installation guide, it seems to me that BPF is unclear, maybe even confused, about the intended purposes & use cases for this product.

    The web page listing calls it a "HEAVY DUTY TACOMA RECOVERY TOW HOOK DRIVERS SIDE", whereas the installation instructions only refer to it as a "Driver's Side Tow Hook". For ordinary towing of a vehicle on normal asphalt roads, it'll probably work fine in many situations (though I wouldn't use anything that isn't DOT-certified for towing,) -- but off-road recovery (which includes a vehicle that may've driven off a country road & down into a drainage ditch) is much more likely to impose loads on this product that, as-installed on the vehicle, it isn't able to handle without damaging the vehicle.

    Here's a link to another related post I recently made regarding ARB recovery points vs. the potential dangers of "cheap" alternatives:

    https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/2-front-d-ring-shackles.370318/page-3#post-28267830
     

    Attached Files:

    Last edited: Feb 13, 2023
  20. Jan 21, 2023 at 5:50 PM
    #20
    MNMLST

    MNMLST Well-Known Member

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    buy a twenty dollar helmet.”
     

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