An alternative for the serious 'off roader' is having a heavy duty Nato towing hook fitted to the standard drop plate on either a Discovery or Range Rover or direct to the rear cross member on a Land Rover.

One securing point that should NOT be used for recovery purposes is the lashing eyes that are fitted to both front and rear of coil sprung Land Rovers and Range Rovers. These lashing eyes are only designed for chaining the vehicle down on a transporter. They are only secured to the chassis with a single bolt and therefore cannot take the stress of a heavy recovery.

However in an emergency, providing they are installed as original on the outside of the chassis with the bolt head against the side of the lashing eye, one could use a bridle across the pair, either on the front or rear. Your mediocre recovery point would be the centre of this bridle thereby halving the load on each side. These lashing eyes should not be relied upon as they could bend easily if you carried out a heavy recovery using only one of them.

Worse still, if they have been re-fitted incorrectly with the bolts the wrong way round so that the nuts are up against the lashing eyes, then woe betide. Under high tension, the nut can spring off the bolt never to be seen again, leaving the lashing eye to catapult along the axis of the rope with alarming results. I'm not making this up, in years gone past I've proved it!

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