shiners780

I need to mount a rear tow hook.

The factory holes in the rear cubby area -- has anyone been pulled by a hook mounted in this location? It seems flimsy, just sheet metal with no reinforcement? And wouldn't the rear valence get in the way/damaged when attaching a tow strap to a hook mounted here?

I have a fiberglass rear bumper so options are limited. What genius solutions have you guys come up with? As always, pics appreciated.

Scootin159

I've got the KLA rear tow hook which mounts to the factory tie down points. It seems mighty stout, although I've yet to need to use it (thankfully). It mounts to the same points the factory used to tie the cars down to the ships when sending them over from Europe.

shiners780

Is that point the three holes on the inner side of the rear cubby?

The plugs in those holes were covered with undercoating. Was the undercoating sprayed on here in the States then after the shipping hooks were removed? Just curious on that point.

Gator_86_951

I had the same concerns about the geometry of the tow line. I have the rennbay one installed on my car and from the pictures on the KLA website it appeared as though the KLA one's attachment point was higher.

Scootin159

Yes
I'm not sure... I know mine actually had a large bolt/nut combo in each hole, but without any undercoating on the nuts. Perhaps someone added additional undercoating to yours either as a DIO or with an aftermarket spray can.

shiners780

That Rennbay one looks nice.

No bolts/nuts on mine, just rubber plugs. It's neither here nor there, just a curiosity is all.

Garage assignments for the Niagara DE will be emailed first week of May, BTW.

Scootin159

Is that you that is dibbying those out? I didn't even look at the name on the envelope before sending it out, I just copied it like a trained monkey...

Just curious, how quick did they 'sell out', or have they? Any ideas on how registration for the DE itself is going? I've got a friend who's still unsure about registering.

shiners780

Garage spaces sold out in about a week, and yes I am handling the assignments now. The DE itself still has openings in all run groups. We've got 100 signed up as of yesterday, we'll take about 50 more depending on the number of instructors available. Tell your friend to sign up!

Gator_86_951

Yep, and my car is red too. Or, at least, faded red. The hook is powerdercoated.

shiners780

I've got paint drying on a homemade version as we speak. Not as pretty as the Rennbay one, but same idea. I guess I'll use that mounting spot and hope I don't ever have to test it's strength...

Ken D

IIRC the ROW-spec cars have a (female) threaded hole on the rear bumper bracket; there is an access panel for the hole in the ROW rear bumper, I believe through the rubber trim strip.
It should use the same hook as threads into the front on Turbo/S2 cars.

88951er

Make sure you also put a heavy-gauge plate on the inside of the "cubby" and run your bolts through it too. That way the sheet metal of the cubby is sandwiched between two strong plates and the force of any tow is distributed across a larger area, or around a longer boundary, of sheet metal.

That's the setup I bought from a local 944 prep shop.

Spidey944

Here is mine, RENNNNNBAYYYYYY

Very stout, not flimsey, but again, have not had to use it. Even with the Turbo rear valance, it appears to drop low enough to not cause too much of an issue. Sorry for the crap picture, the Palm does not take great pictures.

shiners780

It appears the top of the hole is about even with the lower edge of the valence? That's right where mine is, so hopefully that'll be ok if I ever need a tug from behind. Thanks for the pic.

Tms951

I have the same type shown. I also have a front one.

My take on it is if the car breaks down you are being towed from the front, I have done this. If you are being towed from the rear you are actualy being pulled out of something and any damage caused is the least of your problems at that point.