Isuzu N-Series front recovery points

[CowpokePaul]

I have scoured the internet and I can't quite figure out where the recovery points on the front of an NPR might be. In the U.S. there are limited options to have a heavy-duty bumper installed, but before I go that route, I wanted to understand more about where a front-side recovery point might be? I have a hitch and HD bumper on the rear - feel more secure about rear recovery - but where can I hook up to on the front?

Anybody have any experience or insight on that? Thanks!

 

[SkiFreak]

I may be wrong, but as far as I know there are no front recovery points on either the Fuso or Isuzu by default. At best there are tie down points that are used for transport.
Recovery points are normally incorporated into something like a winch cradle, which is basically a steel frame that is bolted to both sides of the chassis frame.
This setup spreads the load on the chassis rails and goes a long way in preventing the chassis from being twisted when doing a recovery.

So... you don't really need a heavy duty front bar, but you should have something that ties the front chassis rails together and then you can mount the recovery points to that.

 

[CowpokePaul]

I appreciate the reply so much. I haven't really been up under the front end at all; we've been working at the back of the frame of the truck during the buildout.

I don't (yet) have any great ambitions to take this thing deep offroading... but I was thinking it would be nice to be on the beach if we ever found ourselves in a place that could accommodate. I see skoolies and 2wd vans in videos about Baja or South Padre island. It would be nice to open the awning in a place like that... but of course my mind went to recovery options.

These guys are one of the only ones I've found that make a front bumper, and from trading some pics with the manufacturer, do seem to have a firm bolt-up to the frame:

Isuzu – Ali Arc Industries

www.aliarc.com

Of course the whole front bumper is removed and replaced with this, but the backing looked stout.


The front bumper swings down at the pivot points to show it's got 4 bolts to the frame and an embedded tow hook. I'm wondering if this is one of the only ways to get a good, solid front recovery point along with decent aesthetics for the front end. I think they want $3700 for it delivered to the US.

 

[SkiFreak]

If all that you require is a sound recovery point, or recovery points, there is no need to also have a bullbar.
As I mentioned previously, all you need is a sound steel frame that connects to both sides of the the front chassis rails.
There is no reason why you would need to change the OEM bumper, unless you also wanted to install a winch.

You should be mindful that recovering one of these trucks on a beach would probably not be a simple task, unless you had assistance from a similarly sized vehicle.
Even if you had your own winch on the truck, there needs to be something sound to attach it to. There are not normally a lot of trees on a beach, so you would probably need to attach the rope to another large vehicle.

 

[CowpokePaul]

Great dialogue. Thanks. I guess I need to look at the diagrams and under the front end to better visualize where I can access the frame.

I hear you on any recovery, but especially beach recovery. I worry a lot about the exact scenario you describe - even with people willing to help, a keep or van just won’t cut it with a 13-14k lb box truck.

Hopefully a clean fire road or desert rock-packed plane might suit. Are there any other ‘safe’ boondocking targets for big 2WD rigs like this?

 

[Tudor Tanase]

Ok this may sound a bit wild but if the frame is the same width front to end then you may want to consider a (rear) towbar mounted to the front? No idea if it would work, how much modification it would need, so please measure carefully.

 

[SkiFreak]

Digressing a bit, but there are numerous methods for doing a self recovery on a beach, one being to dig a relatively deep hole in the sand and put your spare wheel in it. Dig a bit of a trench for your winch rope and attach it to the spare. This should work as a sand anchor and allow you to get your truck unbogged. Naturally, this assumes that you have a winch of some sort.
I should add... if you have the appropriate tyre pressures for sand you are far less likely to get bogged in first place.

 

[Ultimark]

As these vehicles aren't meant for 4x4 work and are essentially a round town delivery truck, I don't believe there are rated recovery options for any of the NRR, NPR, NQR versions. The NPS (4x4 version ex factory) doesn't have any rated recovery points either!

This is the rear end of our NPS with two recovery points on each chassis rail. The recovery points are 16mm thick steel using six bolts to attach to the chassis rails. The crossover steel between either side is used for a plethora of things, usually a licence plate, but in our instance it keeps the chassis rails from being pulled in with either a single off centre pull, or using a bridle strap to a winch rope which invariably runs off centre.

For the front, All Terrain Warriors (ATW) have a hoop bar arrangement which looks like the one you've been looking at, they also have what they call their Hero bar, which is probably the lightest option for you. Both of these bars are designed to work with air bag compliant vehicles, in our case the NPS. Both run a steel cradle underneath which like the rear crossover section, which basically stops the front chassis rails from meeting each other.

Out of all the options I've seen for the Isuzu range of front bars, the Hero bar from ATW seemed to be pretty alright. I saw my first one last year and thought it would be the go for someone not venturing too far into the sticks. The best part is that it is a steel cradle, which holds a winch, but I'm unsure about recovery points, but going on how ATW have named this bar, I would suggest there are recovery points somewhere.

First picture is of the rear recovery points on our truck.

In the bottom picture you can see the holes for the front recovery points, look right at the front and right at the bottom, these are part of the steel housing of the winch cradle body. The Hoop bar pivots on the winch cradle. The front recovery points are constructed of 10mm steel which also forms part of the winch cradle box. I hope I've described things clear enough for you?

Mick.