Express Van Recovery Points

[45Kevin]

I am very reluctant to take my van off-road without recovery points front and rear.

My van has a rear hitch, so I am covered there, but what about the front?

I like the looks of the stock bumper but it hangs below the frame.
I am thinking maybe to cut holes in the bumper to allow access to to a couple of Chevy recovery hooks from a pick-up to be installed.

What do you guys do?

 

[Teamoatmealpie]

I have a front hitch, which is super handy, as bikes usually end up in front, that way can open the rear doors. Plus can be used for extraction too.

Mines low tech just a big plate welded to the frame and hitch is welded to that.


Getting one of these stuck is an ugly thought, especially if you cant get a yank from the front.

 

[Johny5]

I have put a strap around the bumper right in the middle , there is a heathy round cross member right behind the bumper , the plastic under the bumper is pretty tough and should bend back. , stock bumper will be tricky to get anything solid to tow from , I built a bumper with a receiver hitch in the center that I can put a winch in or put a strap in.



If you really love the stock bumper you could weld a receiver to the cross member behind the bumper and cut a hole in the bumper .

 

[TexomaPowerboater]

Curt makes a front receiver for these with recovery hooks on each side. It fit on mine with Quigley IFS conversion and those big bumper covers that come on explorer van conversion if you can believe that.

 

[45Kevin]

Curt makes a front receiver for these with recovery hooks on each side. It fit on mine with Quigley IFS conversion and those big bumper covers that come on explorer van conversion if you can believe that.

Does Curt have a website?

On pick-ups the diesels have bumpers with two holes in them for extra air flow to the radiators.

I haven't looked yet but can anyone say if the diesel express vans have the holes in the bumpers?

 

[bbbthreat]

I have yet to find a bolt on front receiver for a 2003+ Express. I have checked with etrailer.com, and they have nothing available. Thinking of maybe doing a universal Class V hitch, and bolting through the frame and welding/cutting down the necessary width.

If anyone has any leads for a Class IV front reciever hitch for the newer vans, I am all ears. The inter-webs has yet to reveal its dirty secret on this particular topic to me.

 

[Len.Barron]

Link from a post farther down the page named "Front Receiver" :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CE4G94jcApg&feature=youtu.be

I'm probably going to do exactly the same.

 

[bbbthreat]

I had seen that video before, but the issue is that it is only a class 3 hitch. For a recovery point, you would need at least something rated to handle the curb weight of the Express which ranges from 5500-6400 lbs, with nothing in it, let alone built out; that particular hitch is only rated to 5k. That's why I am on the hunt for a Class IV rated to 9-10k (closer to the vehicle's GVWR) and have thus far come up with nothing as of yet.

 

[Len.Barron]

Adding some shear plating across the bottom of that class 3 hitch would be pretty easy and make it plenty strong for recovery, I think the greater limitation will be how it's attached to the frame. Without sleeving the frame at the drilled through mounting hardware points it won't matter what the hitch rating is.

 

[TexomaPowerboater]

I had seen that video before, but the issue is that it is only a class 3 hitch. For a recovery point, you would need at least something rated to handle the curb weight of the Express which ranges from 5500-6400 lbs, with nothing in it, let alone built out; that particular hitch is only rated to 5k. That's why I am on the hunt for a Class IV rated to 9-10k (closer to the vehicle's GVWR) and have thus far come up with nothing as of yet.

Think that is overkill IMO. The rating is for the weight of a trailer, not the stress of a pull.

 

[bbbthreat]

Think that is overkill IMO. The rating is for the weight of a trailer, not the stress of a pull.

Fair enough, it probably is overkill, but just want my butt covered in the event of a failure.

Personally, I would think line pull rating would still fall in the same rating as the actual weight rating of the trailer. Granted you don't have the tongue weight to consider on the front reciever in a recovery situation. Do you think a Class 3 would be safe to use with a front mounted winch that would be capable of extracting the van, say a 10-12k winch?

 

[TexomaPowerboater]

I think it's the best and pretty much the only off the shelf option right now. Should be fine for most pulls, just take it easy and don't bury it.

 

[jmvar]

Revisiting this to see if anyone has come up with a simple solution 3 years later?

Would prefer an off the shelf solution if possible.

 

[North]

Cheapest "off the shelf" solution I've come up with was to feed 1" webbing through the holes in the wedge-shaped thing under the furthest forward crossmember. Worked great for getting my van unstuck after I high centered it (1500lb with snowmobile trailer attached) in a snowy parking lot. Granted, it was a flat lot so not as demanding as most offroad recoveries

 

[45Kevin]

I solved my own problem.
I got a metal shop to bend up a winch mount plate and two tow points that got welded to the frame.
A little cutting on the bumper and I'm much more comfortable off road and alone now.

It cost about $200 for the steel parts, same price as buying plate at the metal supermarket.

I did have to cut the round cross member off to fit the winch and I cut back some of the metal bumper supports as well.

The whole thing took a day in my buddy's shop.
I have no idea what effect this will have on proper operation of my air bag crash sensor, but they will still work and the sensor is probably an accelerometer anyway.

If you aren't interested in a winch, the tow points would be an easy add on with minimal cutting.