Tow Hooks for the Rear of a BJ7

[BG 62AH]

Help, I need a little advice on tow hooks for the rear of a BJ7. When I bought my car there were no tow hooks on either the front or back.

I bought them for the front of the car, and they are easy enough to mount. But it was not as clear as to where to install tow hooks for the rear of the car.

I am close having the car ready to be painted, and I will flat bed it into the paint shop.

The question is; do I need tow hooks for the rear of the car or can the just strap around the differential? I was concerned about damaging something doing it this way.

My preference was to install tow hooks on the rear, if this is the case, where do they get attached.

I really appreciate any advice, help, experiences..... Thank you

 

[Gearhead_Garage]

Do you want them for towing or racing? For towing on a trailer I have padded axle straps that work fine in the rear. If I recall, you can either use them over the horizontal frame member or over the axle itself.

My body shop welded a big eye to the front of the frame in the front. I was actually annoyed at them when I first saw it but it doesn't show and it sure is useful.

 

[John Kuzman]

Moss used to sell both front and rear tow hooks/eyelets. Now they only show them for a MGB/MGC, but these are what I installed: Moss #267-522.
Also see:

https://www.tomsimport.com/new/parts/parts.asp?sect=20&new=1

 

[tahoe healey]

If you only need it for the trip to the paint shop, get AAA with 200 mile free towing. I would be a little concerned about the car bouncing on tires while traveling while rigidly hooked to the frame. I would "tie-down" the tires and let the car float.

 

[vette]

It's generally tribal knowledge not to attach your tie down straps to any part of sprung (body/frame) structure when tying to trailer or ramp truck. If your going to use the hook to just pull you out of a ditch or off the track during an event then you could pull from a frame anchorage point. Dave.

 

[DerekJ]

The car should be held in place on a trailer by using adjustable straps that go over the wheels.

 

[BG 62AH]

Strapping the wheels makes sense, thank you for pointing this out. Obviously, I don't need the rear hooks after all.

 

[Gearhead_Garage]

Cars travel across the oceans tied down by the frame. I've towed race and street cars 10s of thousands of miles tied down by the frame. Just chock the wheels and use good straps and attachment points.

 

[Randy Forbes]

Cars travel across the oceans tied down by the frame. I've towed race and street cars 10s of thousands of miles tied down by the frame. Just chock the wheels and use good straps and attachment points.

This, and never ever leave the manual transmission in gear, always in neutral.

If left in gear, the constant rocking to & fro exerts pressure on a single tooth in the driveline, beit xmsn or differential.

I trailered my Healey to/from an autocross event in Shreveport when I was living in Breaux Bridge, Louisiana; the trip up went fine, driving the car in & around S'sport felt fine. First drive on the roads after getting it home and there was a very pronounced howl coming from the rear axle. Pulled the differential out and found one (1) big ol' cavity where a single tooth was snapped off the pinion gear (the input, or small one).

Now if that had happened at the event, there would've been more of a catastrophic failure, likely accompanied by a momentary lockup of the rear wheels, and certainly more internal damage than a single broken off tooth. That it broke off during the five-some (>5) hour drive back south, the tooth cleanly fell into the bottom of the case, where I found it, while all the internal gears were stationary.

However you tie your car down, wheel-boots or attached to the chassis, leave the transmission in neutral and set the handbrake.

Handbrake turn execution...

 

[BG 62AH]

thank you!

 

[Michael Oritt]

All the racers I know tie their cars down by the axle, letting the body move on the suspension, though using the wheels accomplishes the same thing. The reason I have heard is that if the body is tied down over a long tow the shocks will be damaged by being constantly kept in compression. I really don't know if that will happen but why do you suppose they sell axle straps and not tow hooks at Speedway, Pegasus, Jegs, etc?

And since this conversation wil probably get to the question of whether to cross the tie-downs or keep them straight my sources also tell me to NOT cross them as if one of the straps, etc. fails a lot of slack is created in the remaining tie down whereas if the tiedowns run as straight as possible the failure of one will not add slack to the other. Just picture taking one leg out of "l l" versus "X".