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GT350 Tow Hook ideas

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steveespo

Lord knows I'm a Voodoo Child
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Cookeville TN
Re: Tow Hook ideas

BigTaco said:
Anyone know the weight difference between the aluminum vs steel bumpers?
Man the HSS that Ford uses for the bumper beams are not very heavy at all. I replaced the steel beam on my car with a tubular aluminum version from CHE and was surprised that I only saved 6.6 lbs. For the cost and work to swap this would not be one of my first mods on a standard S550. In regards to the aluminum GT350 bumper I would bet pufferfish can design a sandwich type bracket that can take the load of a flat pull.
Steve
 
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Re: Tow Hook ideas

I can't stop staring at those gorgeous brakes. Sorry off topic....back to the OP.

StigsBaldBrother said:
What in the hell have I done? :p

IMG_20160124_103844612_HDR_zpszdtn6kft.jpg

Just a quick update. The stress analysis of the bumper beam looks promising, just trying to finish the design details for the tow hook and some more FEA. I think I'll be able to get by with some very minor trimming of the lower grill on the bumper.
 
Re: Tow Hook ideas

steveespo said:
Man the HSS that Ford uses for the bumper beams are not very heavy at all. I replaced the steel beam on my car with a tubular aluminum version from CHE and was surprised that I only saved 6.6 lbs. For the cost and work to swap this would not be one of my first mods on a standard S550. In regards to the aluminum GT350 bumper I would bet pufferfish can design a sandwich type bracket that can take the load of a flat pull.
Steve
Well I hope he jumps on it soon. I loaded the GT350 on the trailer today and the window opening seems narrower toward the front than the Boss and I seriously question whether I'll be able to Dukes of Hazzard out the window with the halo on my Sparco seat. I may need to winch it on and off the trailer..........
 
Re: Tow Hook ideas

I'm making progress on mine. Ordered the materials, should be here on Monday.

Stress analysis is OK. I had to make a lot of assumptions for determining the load the tow hook would see, especially dynamically, and the type of aluminum alloy the extrusion is made from. I picked 4,000lb as the worst case and 6061-T6 for the aluminum. It's very possible that it's 7075 which is significantly stronger. That will only help the margins though.
b949885d-29fc-483a-a0de-656dafb73a47_zpsxtyll5kq.png


Unfortunately, the Ford Racing tow loop is too big to fit in the lowering opening without resting on the bumper. Most sanctioning bodies require a 2" diameter opening, Ford's is 3" diameter. That means I'll have to waterjet some parts that I wasn't planning on originally.
IMG_20160206_201601394_zpsl4shc0kl.jpg
 

steveespo

Lord knows I'm a Voodoo Child
Moderator
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W2W Racing
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10-20 Years
Cookeville TN
Re: Tow Hook ideas

There is also the option of putting a polyester rigging strap around the beam to use in off track emergencies such as this range;
http://www.uscargocontrol.com/Lifting-Slings/PRS5-Red
The 3 or 4' length might be just what is needed to choke around the beam and could hang out of a grille slot when on track and tucked inside when on the street.
Just an idea. Edit: Maybe not a great idea as the strap will likely pull up on the bumper cover when under load since the beam is directly behind the cover.
Steve
 
Re: Tow Hook ideas

SCGT500 said:
Have we seen any bolt on front and/or rear tow hook setups yet for 2015+ ?
Watson has a front and rear for the S550. The front won't work on the GT350 though because of the plastic used for ducting. The rear bar is lighter than factory and would be the same on the GT350 as the standard S550 GT. Here's the info from Watson on the rear bumper with tow hook......

The rear bumper had to be completely re-designed for the S550 chassis. The factory bumper beam only attaches to the car with two bolts per side- not very strong. So- we added 4 additional bolts per side that do require drilling though the body. We provide long bolts that go through the body and capture the rear of the frame rails. You can see the attached instructions (for the drag race version) for reference on its installation. We used the same tubular beam and mounting method as the drag bumper, but added some gusseted structure for the tow hook mount. Keep in mind that if you don’t want to drill and add the 4 additional bolts, you can just use the factory two bolts per side. It just won’t be as strong. If you’ve ever been pulled out of the sand or wet/muddy grass, you know the tow truck drivers don’t exactly have a lot of finesse… so high strength was definitely on our minds with this design. The tow hook mount comes through the fascia through the rear license plate area, like our previous bumpers for the S197 chassis.
 

pufferfish

Supporting Vendor
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Maryland
Re: Tow Hook ideas

i finally have a customer willing to let me use their car for development of the tow hook. i expect to have a working prototype test fit next week. if all goes well, i could have production units ready to roll out around june. not great news, but its progress.
 
Re: Tow Hook ideas

pufferfish said:
i finally have a customer willing to let me use their car for development of the tow hook. i expect to have a working prototype test fit next week. if all goes well, i could have production units ready to roll out around june. not great news, but its progress.
Steve that's great news. I'm really worried about my first event at BIR in three weeks because I broke the Boss 3 of my last 4 trips there. Frankly I'm not sure how we're going to get the car back to the trailer if we break on track. This is an urgently needed mod. The cars at Utah Motorsports Park have held up well so far, which is encouraging, but we need a tow hook for the eventual failures.
 
Re: Tow Hook ideas

Is the car a GT350?
 

pufferfish

Supporting Vendor
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66
Maryland
Re: Tow Hook ideas

i couldn't get that lucky to find a gt350 locally. but honestly, i don't see how to do a tow hook on a gt350 without murdering the surrounding air channeling plastics. i definitely will not be exploring a beam style, as it wouldn't even come close to existing in the same space. i am going to begin with the clamshell for the steel beam cars and hope someone wants to test fit it on the gt350.
 
Re: Tow Hook ideas

@Black Boss and I were noodling on this at Track Attack. We think the strut tower brace may be a short term option until someone develops a proper front tow hook option. Ideally someone could develop a bracket with eyelets at each strut tower location where you could hook a bridle strap or something similar. You'd want to keep a fleece cover like we have on our wheel straps in the glove box to slip over the strap where it would touch the front clip to protect the paint.

http://www.macscustomtiedowns.com/product/bridle/TieDowns

Alternatively you could probably just attach a strap to the center of the STB and still carry a fleece sleeve in the glovebox to protect the paint. The bolts on the GT350 STB are significantly larger than they were on the Boss. Not sure the exact bolt diameter, but the torque spec is 46 ft/lbs versus 23 ft/lbs. It also isn't connected to the strut mount like they were on the Boss so you won't move your camber.
 

pufferfish

Supporting Vendor
1,094
66
Maryland
Re: Tow Hook ideas

problem is that in most circumstances, the track recovery team doesn't allow the driver to exit the vehicle and they don't take directions well. they grab where they can and go. if that strap to the strut tower isn't sticking out, its not getting used.
 
Re: Tow Hook ideas

pufferfish said:
problem is that in most circumstances, the track recovery team doesn't allow the driver to exit the vehicle and they don't take directions well. they grab where they can and go. if that strap to the strut tower isn't sticking out, its not getting used.
Understood, but at this point we have zero options........
 

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