The single loop on the front of my Westy is sheet metal and looks puny.

The two rear loops are considerably sturdier, appearing to be made out
of something like 5/8'' steel rod stock, bent in a U, then bent again to
swing up where each is welded to a bumper mount.

-- RJS

On Wed, 2011-05-25 at 09:27 -0700, Roland wrote:

> I'm with David on this one, the rear "tow hooks" are not very sturdy.  They
> sure look more like tie downs, same with the front "tow hook", just a piece
> of flimsy sheet metal to my eye.
>
> My Syncro came with one rear loop already bent upwards.  Then last year we
> had a recovery job, and the driver of the recovery vehicle attached a strap
> to the other rear hook and promptly bent the other "tow hook" upwards.  Now
> I have a rear fiberglass bumper that is also misaligned, the rear part is
> upwards and the 2 forward prongs on each side are pointing downwards.  It
> looks dumb, and the license plate access doesn't open as far anymore.  Oh
> well... one more interesting thing to fix.
>
> Longer story:  son gets his 4Runner stuck in a creek, all 4 wheels buried.
> Son-in-law borrows Syncro to go get him out (I'm busy with work).  Syncro
> gets stuck in creek, as darkness approaches.  Lemmings.  I tell son he has
> to spend the night there to protect vehicles.  Next day we get nephew with
> his F-150, with 2-3 year offroad experience in Flagstaff and other places,
> plenty of straps, winch, etc.    What bent the "tow hook" was the nephew
> used a jerking technique, with a bit of slack in the strap he quickly pulled
> his F-150 backwards to "jerk" the Syncro out -- I had never heard of this
> before, he didn't tell me, and it was too late to stop his attempted
> technique.  It didn't work anyway.  Then we got his winch out and, with some
> digging, got both of the vehicles out.  And I had rear drum brakes full of
> creek sand, bent up bumper and tow hooks, and out some $ because nephew is
> broke college student.  There is a fine line between fun and adventure.
>
> So, no, I won't trust those rear "tow hooks" again, and when I get a rear
> hitch, it definitely is not the gowesty version that bolts to these 2 hooks.
>
> We need to get Rocket a Syncro!
>
> Roland
>
>
>
> On Tue, May 24, 2011 at 6:10 PM, David Beierl <dbeierl@attglobal.net> wrote:
>
> > At 07:56 PM 5/24/2011, Dave Mcneely wrote:
> >
> >> Mr. Squirrel, my '91 camper has tow loops on the front, as well.
> >>
> >
> > Does yours have two?  I've only ever seen one on the front, on the right
> > side.
> >
> > Just to be picky, neither the one(s) in the front nor the back are
> > "tow loops."  They are "holdfast points" by means of which the
> > vehicles are lashed down to the deck during their ocean passage from
> > builder to point of sale, and they're meant to take a strain pointed
> > maybe 30-45 degrees downward.  What you do with them afterwards is
> > entirely up to you.
> >
> > In particular I'd be inclined to be very cautious about applying side
> > loads, especially to the forward one.  I don't have any hard data on
> > this, just a feeling.
> >
> > Yours,
> > David
> >