You are correct when it comes to the owners manual saying that they are there for towing. What they're referring to is flat towing on the road. Please trust me when I say they were not intended for any kind of off road recovery use. What scares me more is the way that the rear of the D2 frames are starting to rot out. This is what you're trying to use as a recovery point and it becomes increasingly more dangerous as these trucks age.

 

I'm sure they're floating around somewhere....too many photos to sort through

 

I full understand that,

I would really like to see you upgrade the hardware used to holding the the bracket to number 8. The bolts that come with the bumper are made only of the finest quality butter. One more thing, if you insist on using this as a recovery point I really do not like the fact that you've got only one bolt holding that bracket to the frame. I have an old tiedown bracket from of a D1 you're more than welcome to it for free. Just cover the shipping. This will at least allow you to get two bolts in there.

And just for reference here's a picture of the tiedown bracket next to Terrafirma recovery swivel. It gives you an idea just how thin that metal is.

 

The only thing I would caution on that setup is avoiding dynamic recoveries, it might be fine but I wouldn't risk it personally.

 

I use the Reese recovery ring. 25 bucks and hooks into the factory hitch and safe for 10,000lbs.

 

I was having some issues with the front sunroof leaking and giving me a shower in the mornings, so I pulled the sunroofs to get them fixed , then redid the Headliner.
I also replaced the vapor barriers in all 5 doors and replaced the door rubber seals.
Anyone would think it's rainy season in Seattle or something !

This week I'm going to replace the factory Kenwood Head unit with a Pioneer NEX 8000 system. To do that i need to do some cutting of the Dash to accomodate the double din Pioneer head unit. we'll see how that goes.

 

Wow, lots of thoughts on the recovery issue. Thanks everyone for your input. I've learned a fair bit from this forum and continue to learn.

Thank you for the offer! It is very generous. As I mentioned I bought another one from ebay, so I don't need yours. Also I seem to not have explained what I did properly. The bracket that you show has two holes on both side "flanges" for the two bolts to go through. So the bolt goes through both sides of the bracket. I only cut one of the two flanges to clear my aftermarket bumper. The other I did not cut. So the bolt at the bottom, goes through both the left and right flange and the bolt on the top only goes through the right flange. So kind of like having 1.5 bolts

Great visual! Those terrafirm swivel recovery points are much beefier. They will be on my xmas-list.

 

Just saw this sentence. What does it mean? Is there a bolt that is harder meta than the stock bolts? Thanks!

 

He meant grade 8, not number 8. Grade 8 is a strength rating of bolts that you should use for your bumper and recovery points.

 

Take pics if you do this please. I put in a kenwood bluetooth regular din size unit, but would love a double din. Does not seem like it would fit, but could come out nice.