Roof straps question

[Emu7]

We have a couple of kayaks. On our old petrol estate, we could find hooks in the chassis (front and rear) for the tie down straps. We haven't found suitable points for front and rear tie down strap hooks on the mg5 yet. Has anyone else found good spots to put the hooks?

 

[greeiig]

Looks like you have everyone stumped - including me. I think there is a towing hook that could be attached to the car - perhaps that would work? I take it that kayaks are that long you need to tie them down at the front and rear of the car?

 

[Emu7]

Hi Greeiig, yes it is a puzzle!

We do need to tie down the front and back ends really. We went the 1.5miles to the river without these tie downs yesterday, but I'm far happier if they are tied down in both directions.

I'm going to hunt for the tow hooks. I've a feeling when we popped off the plastic cover of where I thought the tow hook should be, there was nothing. But once it stops raining I'll lie on the drive and have a better look!

Need to find them, I've just arranged to buy a 3rd kayak from Facebook....

 

[greeiig]

Hi Greeiig, yes it is a puzzle!

We do need to tie down the front and back ends really. We went the 1.5miles to the river without these tie downs yesterday, but I'm far happier if they are tied down in both directions.

I'm going to hunt for the tow hooks. I've a feeling when we popped off the plastic cover of where I thought the tow hook should be, there was nothing. But once it stops raining I'll lie on the drive and have a better look!

Need to find them, I've just arranged to buy a 3rd kayak from Facebook....

I'm sure I've seen them - either in the boot cavity or maybe at the foot of the rear seats? Good luck!

 

[biffo]

Think the tow hook was in the tire inflation / spare wheel kit.

 

[rolydog2001]

Couple of tow hooks/inflation kit packs on Ebay

 

[greeiig]

Think the tow hook was in the tire inflation / spare wheel kit.

View attachment 8767

Yes, that must have been where I've seen it

 

[MG5EVRev]

Is it not the case that there is one tow hook supplied with the car which you should find in boot under the floor with the tyre inflation pump etc.? This can then be screwed into the towing point which you should find behind the ‘pop out’ flaps both at the front and rear of the car.

If all of the above is indeed correct, I believe you would then need to acquire an extra screw-in tow hook to enable you to secure the kayaks to both front and rear at the same time.

Failing that, move closer to the river!

 

[Emu7]

Thank you everyone, I'm going to dig out the tow hook

 

[Emu7]

Is it not the case that there is one tow hook supplied with the car which you should find in boot under the floor with the tyre inflation pump etc.? This can then be screwed into the towing point which you should find behind the ‘pop out’ flaps both at the front and rear of the car.

If all of the above is indeed correct, I believe you would then need to acquire an extra screw-in tow hook to enable you to secure the kayaks to both front and rear at the same time.

Failing that, move closer to the river!

With the way the flooding pattern is going each year, the river will simply move to us!

 

[Hairyfool]

You may find that leaving the towing eye fitted on the front is illegal and may affect your insurance.

As a protrusion beyond the bumper it negates the crash protection tests and also is a risk to pedestrians. It can only be in place when being towed so even if fitted with the kayaks on the roof you can't do it. The same may not apply on the rear.

 

[Barney]

As a protrusion beyond the bumper it negates the crash protection tests and also is a risk to pedestrians.

My shins can confirm that. On a rally car I plan to fit a tow strap rather than the eye - if I can find one with the correct thread and which doesn't protrude beyond the bumper. I haven't looked at my MG5 to see if that would be possible in this case.

 

[Ian MG5]

What about a couple of these then they could be left in all the time
No shin pads needed

 

[Barney]

That's exactly the sort of thing I'm looking for; I just need to get the right thread bolt, which is proving tricky.

 

[Hairyfool]

Measure the o/d of the thread as that is the value used. With the larger threads there are variations in thread pitch so count the complete turns visible, measure the distance between 1st and last thread and divide one into the other to get a thread pitch.

 

[BugEyed]

It is likely to be an unusually coarse pitch, but at least appears to be conventional right hand. The difficulty might be in buying a similar thread short of having one cut.

 

[Wazzajnr]

Shouldn't cost more than 20 quid to have one made at a local machine shop.

 

[BugEyed]

True, but at this point we need to remember the intended use as an anchor point for the ends of canoes. So the loading is going to be perpendicular to the thread and at a significant distance. It is probably better to explore attachment points elsewhere on the front crash structure but near to the grille.

 

[Barney]

It is likely to be an unusually coarse pitch, but at least appears to be conventional right hand. The difficulty might be in buying a similar thread short of having one cut.

In my case it's for a rally car (I'm not the OP), it is indeed a very coarse pitch.

 

[Hairyfool]

It is true it would be a bending action rather than tension for the O/P but the loading would be miniscule compare to towing forces so there would be no issue with being a tiedown point.

The problem is more fundamental unfortunately. If the towing eye is not allowed for safety reasons then anything rigid in the tow point could be considered unacceptable. I am not sure the average plod would understand the significance but all it would take is a VOSA/DVSA stop to check for a safe load to be a completely different matter.

The only thing I could see working would be an attachment under the bumper using a pad to protect the bumper from an elasticated cord up to the Kayak(s). The attachment actually doesn't need to be that strong as the wrap around the bumper will absorb most of the load. It is primarily needed to stop the Kayaks "nodding" on the roof bars.

As for the rally car it is likely to be an M18 or M20 thread with a 1.25 - 1.5mm pitch. A plastic digital Vernier caliper can be had for £7 from Amazon. The fact that it is plastic makes the claimed accuracy of .2mm a complete nonsense but for this type of measurement they are a no brainer.