Front Tow Hook Fun

autoelf92 · Sep 20, 2011

So I had my car on the lift the other day and saw some threads inset into the frame on the passenger side of the car. I did a little research and found out they were for a front tow hook! I was enthralled and decided that I was going to install it before this winter decided to unleash its wrath and pile me under a foot of snow and leave me stuck in a ditch wishing I had installed the dang thing before hand. So I took it upon myself to powder coat, anti-seize, and install it today. Hope you enjoy the pictures.

Cheers!

NB_TDi · Sep 20, 2011

Okay.

It's not really ment to be in there all the time. But, hey. Looks clean.

autoelf92 · Sep 20, 2011

On the off chance that my Altimax Arctics don't keep me out of the ditch, I would rather be safe than sorry

. And thanks, I thought it turned out pretty clean myself.

NB_TDi · Sep 20, 2011

You know. After looking at your photos a second time.

I know what I'm doing this weekend.

740GLE · Sep 21, 2011

you're tow hooks weren't painted? mine's already black.

BTW you should have done red, then people know you mean businiess!

MikeS_18 · Sep 21, 2011

not really a bad idea...once you're in the ditch you most likely either can't get to the front to install it or into the rear to retrieve it from the trunk...red might be too much of a "hey, look at me, I plan to dump this into a ditch this winter..."

oilhammer · Sep 21, 2011

Wonder what other things in the manual the OP doesn't know about?

K5ING · Sep 21, 2011

oilhammer said:
Wonder what other things in the manual the OP doesn't know about?

If he bought it used, the telescopic steering wheel maybe?

I like the idea of the red tow hook...if I were to leave mine installed all the time.

(toe hook...not mine)

MikeS_18 · Sep 21, 2011

K5ING said:
If he bought it used, the telescopic steering wheel maybe?

wait! What???

autoelf92 · Sep 21, 2011

There may be many things I am not aware of with my car.....Sadly it did not come with an owners manual as it was purchased used. I did on the other hand know about the telescoping steering wheel

. And I chose black because I wanted it to be stealthy, not ricey

.

jbleu101 · Sep 21, 2011

I need to buy a tow hook. I think mine got destroyed in the accident. So yes, mine must have been on at the time. I think I want to do mine in bleu. Like all of my other accents.

We need to get together soon!

dadsdiesel · Sep 21, 2011

Man....I feel stupid now....

This is a great idea to keep it installed at least for the winter.

I have no source to powder coat mine, so it will have to be a rattle can job for me.

Getting ready for winter:

Blizzacks - check
Tow strap - check
Shovel - check
Chains - check
Install tow hook - check

autoelf92 · Sep 21, 2011

jbleu101 said:
I need to buy a tow hook. I think mine got destroyed in the accident. So yes, mine must have been on at the time. I think I want to do mine in bleu. Like all of my other accents.

We need to get together soon!

Absolutely, I might be headed to the track this friday if you aren't busy. I want to see what my new DLC 1019's can do

.

nate379 · Sep 22, 2011

You must be really bored to pay that much attention to the tow hook! I have projects I started working on 3 or 4 years ago I am just getting around to this week.

autoelf92 · Sep 22, 2011

Nah, not bored. Just at work with some free time between jobs

. And I also have some pending projects (custom skidplate, custom racepipe, ect.) that have been in the works for quite a while....

740GLE · Sep 23, 2011

btw what happens if you end up nose end in the ditch and need the tow hook for the rear? or is there a pad eye on the mk4s, so this hook is only needed on the front, unlike the mk5 and later.

coalminer16 · Sep 23, 2011

On the MKIV there is a permanant hook for the rear. If you have a hitch the hitch uses that tow hook area so you would have to use the hitch instead.

autoelf92 · Sep 23, 2011

Luckily I have my bulky custom hitch

.

Lug_Nut · Sep 23, 2011

autoelf92 said:

Nice, but..... not useful.
1) You apparently lucked out that your threaded shoulder bottomed out with the loop horizontal. If you didn't thread it in to the shoulder you're about to bend it off with the first off center tug on it.
2) You're still going to have to pull off the grille cover to get the hook or strap fitted into the tow loop anyway.

But hey, if you want to simply 'mark your territory' all the more power to ya.

nate379 · Sep 25, 2011

Pretty hard to "mark your territory" wearing shower shoes

hahahahahha!

autoelf92 · Sep 25, 2011

Lug_Nut said:
Nice, but..... not useful.
1) You apparently lucked out that your threaded shoulder bottomed out with the loop horizontal. If you didn't thread it in to the shoulder you're about to bend it off with the first off center tug on it.
2) You're still going to have to pull off the grille cover to get the hook or strap fitted into the tow loop anyway.

But hey, if you want to simply 'mark your territory' all the more power to ya.

1)It did not bottom out horizontal, it needs a 1/4 turn to fully bottom out.

2)When I pull the grille cover off, all I have to do is spin it a 1/4 turn instead of fighting with a snow/ice packed reverse thread in 0 degree weather.

And if I wanted to mark my territory I would have made it fire engine red

.

Fix_Until_Broke · Sep 29, 2011

I've been doing this for about 5 years or so - I leave the grill out during the winter and tighten the hook to ~75 ft-lbf. I put a washer on it to get it to point up/down when torqued in so I can attach my tow rope quick/easy without damaging the bumper

The last thing I want to do on the side of the road (ditch) in the snow is fight the cold stiff tabs of the grille and then have to tighten the tow eye in.

Easy to say now in September when it's nice out - whole different story when it's 0F at night with 30 MPH winds in the dark.

Lug_Nut is right about it needing to be tightened down (more than hand tight) - if you don't it will weaken the joint and get looser every time it's used and will come out on you.

740GLE · Sep 30, 2011

i think you need thicker rope for that hook, doesn't look strong enough

Fix_Until_Broke · Sep 30, 2011

It's a 7/8" 28,500lb MasterPull

The hook is a 1/2" Forged "High Test" - a couple internet searches revealed a 9,200 working load limit so the rope is rated much stronger than the hook, but the hook typically has a 4:1 safety factor where the rope has a ~1.2:1 safety factor so they're relatively closely matched strength wise

Steve99 · Oct 1, 2011

You guys can always upgrade to the .:R32 tow hook - its longer to prevent bumper damage.

dieseltom · Oct 1, 2011

I was going to do the tow hook mod but on my bug it looks like a big zit! when it stats snowing ill do it anyways

JettaGetUpandGo · Oct 1, 2011

The one time I actually needed my hook it was in the middle of a blizzard at midnight out in farm country. The threads had filled with snow/ice and we were unable to thread the hood in. Since then I've left it in all winter and got to the point that I just left it in year round because I grew to like the look. It's red. Feel free to hate.

dadsdiesel · Oct 2, 2011

Steve99 said:
You guys can always upgrade to the .:R32 tow hook - its longer to prevent bumper damage.

Are these available as a part from VW or one of our vendors?

Fix_Until_Broke · Oct 2, 2011

Steve99 said:
You guys can always upgrade to the .:R32 tow hook - its longer to prevent bumper damage.

I think those are fine for a straight line pull on a rollback or trailer or something, but I think they would be very likely to bend with any kind of side loading or up/down pull. You can't always pull in a straight line - especially when you're in a ditch, the closer to the "frame" the better.

dadsdiesel · Oct 2, 2011

Fix_Until_Broke said:
I think those are fine for a straight line pull on a rollback or trailer or something, but I think they would be very likely to bend with any kind of side loading or up/down pull. You can't always pull in a straight line - especially when you're in a ditch, the closer to the "frame" the better.

Very good point - scrapping the R32 hook idea,

Front Tow Hook Fun

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