Since there are other Wranglers owner reading, I might as well clear some myths about JKs.

There is NO rated recovery point for JK,  no matter with stock bars or aftermarket bars. The US stock bar with recovery hook upwards is rated but not ADR compliant. 

Non-rated recovery points can be added to stock vehicle. This is where the confusion begins, AEV recovery point for stock bumper located at a place very close to the tie down points. At some point down the track, people start to mistaken the tie down point as the recovery point. :) 

Tower bar on a JK can be used as recovery point only if high tensile bolts are used as it is directly attached to chassie. Note, not all aftermarket tow bar are the same, so I would only use it as recovery point if I absolutely sure what the tow bar is made of and what was used to install it.

There are tow bars integrated with aftermarket rear bar, those can be used as recovery point as well.

Recovery points on aftermarket bars, use it. They are for their purpose although not rated.

I'm in a Jeep club myself and gone thru the training, it's fair to say that most of what they taught are valid regarding recovery points. (except for tie down points which personally I don't agree but course that I went to didn't say much about it. We all have bar work done at that training)

Hope I didn't make things more confused. :)

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Thanks for the repy Joseph.  Very informative.  Will all the miss-information and opinions out there, it is a wonder there are not more critical injuries.  Take care.

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Ok you got your rated recovery hook,plate,who says the chassis has been rated ,the manafacturers of the vehicle havnt,the chassis rail is very thin section plate,so you bolt your so called rated hook,plate on,now your safe,your not ,the incidents of recovery accidents,have been from other failures,bolts shearing  off with 2 4wds joined together to pull 1 vehicle out of bog hole,snatch strap placed on tow ball ,sheared off,nuts pulled out off chassis rail,a rated recovery point is going to do jack shit if the rest of the set up isn't rated the chassis,the bolts washers, keeper plates ,you can bolt your rated recovery point on your windscreen wiper and you will be safe because that recovery hook,plate is rated, Your winch is bolted to a plate between the chassis that's not rated,so don't use your winch you don't want that flying at you do you?the 4wd industry in Aus has been a over priced industry for many years,these recovery point brackets are just a piece of 1/4"plate,holes punched out,stamped painted red or yellow,and sold for $100 +it would cost around $6 to make if the 4wd industry where serious about these plates they would be cheaper for safety sake,but it's not it's another scare tactic and to get your hard earned,

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Wow. Seems like a lot of built-up anger there Gary.        I am not sure what your post is suggesting....perhaps we should just ignore the risk and past events and let more people die.   Fact is- The chassis rail is stronger than any other part of the vehicle. Now assuming you use the recommended high-tensile bolts to attach your rated recovery points to the chassis, and then use best (safest known) practice for connecting recovery gear, what you now have is something quite special-  Which is the LOWEST possible chance of a another tragedy (and boy has there been many over the years).  With so much engineering and physics involved, we mere mortals can't guarantee 100% that nothing will go wrong.  But following sound advice from engineers smarter than you and me, and focusing on what IS in your control (fitting rated points and using safe recovery methods, and quality recovery straps), you can dramatically raise the chances of living to drive another track next weekend. Which is something I believe we both want.                 Take care and be safe Gary.  Kind regards Tony.

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Gary I think you are right about getting ripped for overpriced parts.

I just shelled out 400 for an arb recovery kit, (so I know it can hurt your pocket) there are cheaper ones, but the way I looked at it was that was the best way of REDUCING my risk of getting injured.

but I personally don't know what's involved in the process of having safety items rated.

Does anyone know?

I assume they bolt their prototype to a vehicle and pull on it with a measuring device and keep pulling till it or the vehicle mounting point fails?

Who does the testing?

Who checks it?

How much does it cost?

Instead of getting dirty on the industry, why don't you look at this as a business opportunity.

If you can make a part for $6 then find out the answers to those other questions, if the numbers add up then find someone to produce them

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Agree with Gary and the replies, there is no sure way to garrentee all the accossiated parts but it is ALL about risk accessment and reduction!!

IMO the biggest mistake people make is going for the snach strap first, it should in fact be the last resort, track building, digging, or recovery tracks(tredds ect) should be the first consideration then winching then as a last resort using a snach strap and on top of that they only very rarely need to be used fore there designed purpose, a gentle tug will nearly always free a stuck vehicle.

In all my years of 4wding I have only ever once seen a recovery that required a full snach to the point of streching the strap, that one was very early in my days and I was doing the pulling, thinking back we were very lucky it didn't go pear shaped and I would NOT approach it in the same manor again.Hind sitght is always 20-20 vision...

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I actually agreed with Garry as well. There are simply too many dodgy manufacturers out there with overrated, unrated and falsely rated parts and vehicles. But there are far more irresponsible user out there who really have no idea what they are doing and that's where tragedies come in. But then, we are not living in ideal world and in fact it's far from ideal. So I would say all we can do is learn to use common sense to do the right thing (or may be I should say not as bad thing). I'm no expert in car but still will try to know more about the one I am driving.

A story here just happened not long ago.. I was at My Donna Buang having a bit of fun with snow. When I was driving down I saw a few cars drifted off the road. Then someone start to use snatch strap to pull a fwe out. The first one is an AWD with a "recovery point", that goes fine. The second one is still a AWD, but from what I can see at far, it doesn't have "recovery point", still a snatch strap is attached to the "hold down point" I presume and sntached out of the gutter. I was watching from my vehicle and just think this shouldn't be right thing to do. There are other cars around as well. Lucky, nothing bad happened. The last one is a micra. The guy didn't pull him out and we all tell him that can't be done as his car was drifted sideway with both wheels on passenger side in gutter stuck.  That guy was running and yelling around saying that no one wants to help him because his car is small and say how come the bigger and heavier ones can be pulled but not his tiny and feather light car.  There you go... I believe this is how many people think. People tends to forget about all safety measures when they have a situation. :)

By the way, there aren't anything we can do about things being overpriced here right? The only thing that I can think of is.. don't buy what is not needed and think before you buy. 

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Mat is right we don't do enough with the spade first to dig it free or to release some of resistance before winching ,and snatching is always the last resort,has it is the most dangerous of all options

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Yep wasn't that long ago that a mates 4by was rolled and written off because so called experienced and knowlegable people rushed in and used a snach strape when some simple thought and problem solving common sence would have recoved the vehicle simply and safely. We all live and learne....

This is not haveing a go at the people involved in the recovery that went wrong , just highligting the fact the accidents do happen and even experienced people can make mistakes

They should definately only be a last resort !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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I am a qualified Boilermaker/Structural Steel Fabricator. I should be able to make them legally, but I wouldn't attempt it without proper testing facilities and procedures. If vehicles chassis's weren't up to scratch they wouldn't be allowed to sell rated products on the market, simply because there is nowhere rated to attach them to. Just my thoughts.

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May be the other problem is people usually only think of snatch straps and winches when they think of recovery. You can find tons of video on net using straps and winches for recovery and makes them look like heros. But then I hardly see videos with a spade and digging for recovery.

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I wasn't going to comment on this debate but i can see its annoying a few so I figured "have a say"

Seems some of us are looking too deeply into this issue. If we take a step back and breath a little, we might get back to basics and see the light.

My point is this, It is up to us as individuals to know what needs to be done in any given situation. Its no different to heading into the High country and finding yourself on a seasonally closed track. If you get caught on it YOU are responsible for being there. The out come is no different to a flying shackle, you need to know what your doing before you do it.

Every situation is different. You do what you think is right, if you are not sure then you either take a risk and hope for the best or you try something different to get yourself out.

So agian i say, know your vehicle, know your tools and know how to use them. 

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Take a risk and hope for the best mmm possibly the worst advice I have ever heard but hey each to there own

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My 80 series has very solid recovery hoop it's welded both sides and is around 5/8"solid round bar,but it's not rated,and I'm responsible to get it unstuck if stuck,but I'm not allowed to go on certain Amount of trips has they say must have rated recovery points,I wouldn't ask anyone to snatch me out,I would use my winch,as I do like to be self sufficient,why throw good money and recovery point away when they will do the job safely for a rated one ,I'm not made of money ,any way that's my whinge

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