As part of the upgrades to my 56 plate PD100 Fabia Combi, I've fitted a FMI and associated Ali pipework. Unfortunately said pipework blocks the thread for the tow eye and stops you from using it. This is no good as I'm sure the car will end up needing a tow from the front at some point, be it from over-zealous driving or over-confidence in the new Wavetrac diff!

 

I did loads of research to find a solution, and found a lack of info as to what the thread size/pitch was of the tow eye. I did find that people were cutting/drilling/tapping factory tow eyes to use as an adaptor, but this would be no good for me as there still isn't enough room behind the cooler pipe to fit one of those (nevermind the reduction in fastner size!).

 

So in the end I sought to find a bolt to use with a tow strap that would fit nicely in position and be able to pop out next to the foglight after the surround was removed (I swapped to a VRS front bumper with these mods as they cut nicer for the FMI then the standard ones). The size of the tow eye thread turned out to be M18x2.5 left hand thread the thread being 25mm long, I then assumed I'd never find a bolt...

 

However, there was some available from online fastner suppliers but I didn't fancy a box of 50 off them for over £100!

I then looked through good ol' eBay and and saw several choices were available (albeit none short enough) and also some threaded bar choices which were listed as correct. I went with a M18x2.5x50 bolt from here: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Select-Size-M12-M14-M16-M18-M20-Hex-Head-Cap-Screws-Bolts-Left-Hand-Thread/122377426349?hash=item1c7e4355ad:m:mSHVMkOgBsH6a8VD6-QJ-aA  , the bolt head is stamped with the grade 12.9 but you can never be sure with Chineseium! The threaded bar would be a good choice if you fancied stainless and you could just cut it to length, double nut it into the thread of the car, remove the nuts and then nut the tow strap up on to the stud you just made.

 

I went for a TRS Tow strap (the minimum fastner required is M10 8.8 grade), and also ordered an M18 washer and M18x2.5 left hand thread nut. The nut threaded perfectly onto the factory tow eye thread and also onto the bolt. I threaded the nut on before cutting the bolt down from 50mm to 25mm (length of thread on tow eye), then unwound it and cleaned the bolt end up. I used a hacksaw and cooled regularly with water as to not affect the temper of the bolt (there was no bad casting or porosity inside the bolt and it was pretty hard so guess the grading is close enough!).

 

The result is great; have a full size 12.9 (ish) bolt which fits with room behind the cooler pipe, you can easily grab the strap with the fog light surround trim removed and the tow strap pulls straight not causing damage to the bumper ( I orientated the strap straight down from the bolt) etc. This would work for someone just wanting to put a strap on a factory SMI car asell as there's loads more room. I also tested it out on my 53 plate 1.4 16V Fabia and a 05 plate 2.0 MPI Fabia, and it fits fine.

 

Hope this is some help to anyone; in the same position as me, wanting to fit a strap or just wanting to know the tow eye thread size of this era car.

 

Cheers.

Nice job, tidy and effective.

Good to know re LH threaded bolts & odd pitches.

 

Did you buy the nut simply to chase the threads after cutting or as a locknut so the strap could swivel?

 

If the latter then there does not look to be a lot of thread engagement left for the chassis socket.

 

Your idea seems to be a good upgrade for a road car, the towing eyes are always buried deep in the jack & wheelbrace foam moulding, with a variofloor like mine full of tools & other essentials its a lot of digging through when a quick tow might avoid an accident. I assume the strap will tuck away hidden behind the cover for the towing eye socket.

 

I like the distressed paint effect on the doors behind as well, did you do them?

Edited 29 March, 20206 yr by J.R.

http://briskoda.net/forums/topic/302659-just-fitted-my-tow-strap

http://briskoda.net/forums/topic/243744-tow-strap

 

Looks OK PD_Power…   but if it were me I'd be going for a bigger outside diameter washer- the one you have on there looks tad too small to me and I'd worry the wire loop would pull over it.

On 29/03/2020 at 23:07, J.R. said:

Good to know re LH threaded bolts & odd pitches.

 

Did you buy the nut simply to chase the threads after cutting or as a locknut so the strap could swivel?

 

If the latter then there does not look to be a lot of thread engagement left for the chassis socket.

 

Your idea seems to be a good upgrade for a road car, the towing eyes are always buried deep in the jack & wheelbrace foam moulding, with a variofloor like mine full of tools & other essentials its a lot of digging through when a quick tow might avoid an accident. I assume the strap will tuck away hidden behind the cover for the towing eye socket.

 

I like the distressed paint effect on the doors behind as well, did you do them?

Cheers.

 

Yep, just to chase the threads after cutting. Also to check the bolt thread as it ran nicely on the tow eye thread, kinda used it to work out the correct pitch too. I've got no need for it to rotate.

 

Yeah, the same for me. Found out the hard way on a long work trip to Scotland and a boot full of tools, when I went to re-fill my water-meth tank which is where the polystyrene thingy-ma-jig used to be!

 

Thanks mate, the Mrs. was the mastermind behind those!

On 30/03/2020 at 15:37, Roottootemblowinootsoot said:

http://briskoda.net/forums/topic/302659-just-fitted-my-tow-strap

http://briskoda.net/forums/topic/243744-tow-strap

 

Thanks mate. But as I said; there's now FMI pipe where the tow eye used to be able to go, and there's only room for a bolt head behind it and not much else. The strap's now dropped down to clear all the new stuff, and lives tucked in the bumper only having to remove the drivers side fog light surround from the front to be used.

 

Plus even if there was enough room to fit a home-brew tow eye adaptor, I'm not a fan of the drastic reduction in fastner size (M18 down to M10).

They are only good for a simple tow or winch onto a flatbed / trailer, tie downs etc.

For a good safe tow out with a snatch say a car finds it's self in a ditch you really 2 recovery points front and rear so a bridle can be used.

But then that is about function and not twisting a vehicle.

On 30/03/2020 at 15:55, skomaz said:

Looks OK PD_Power…   but if it were me I'd be going for a bigger outside diameter washer- the one you have on there looks tad too small to me and I'd worry the wire loop would pull over it.

Thanks for the concern but; I used a M18 form A, which has plently of over-hang and has been absolutely fine over multiple uses (when loading it on the trailer etc.). 👍

 

Also the bolt is only just free to rotate within the wire loop (ID is basically 18mm), sorry if my naff photos were mis-leading!

3 minutes ago, Roottootemblowinootsoot said:

They are only good for a simple tow or winch onto a flatbed / trailer, tie downs etc.

For a good safe tow out with a snatch say a car finds it's self in a ditch you really 2 recovery points front and rear so a bridle can be used.

But then that is about function and not twisting a vehicle.

Yeah, that's all I intended it for and have been using it for. Was just nice to have a replacment for the, now, defunct factory tow eye.

 

If it was that stuck on a public highway (or near it as the case may be!), I'd probably get it Hiab and sling recovered or just drag it out with slings around suspention parts anyway as it would be time for another chassis swap (or starting again as not many of my upgrades would've survived)!

Sorry, I've realised I should have included some photos of it on the car: