A Sprinter comes with a towing eye as standard, but it has limited strength and is intended only for towing on the road. If you get stuck, you need something stronger. I have done quite a bit of off-road driving and know how important proper recovery points are.
My vehicle is a Hymer MLT based on the MB Sprinter W906, 2018 model.
For rear recovery eyes, see: Hymer MB Sprinter – DIY Rear Recovery Points
There are several options on the market, and I considered two types:
Rellum Design
These recovery eyes are designed so that one replaces the original towing eye, with reinforcements added to the frame on the right-hand side. The second recovery eye is mounted in the same way on the left-hand side of the frame.
The kit appears well engineered and comes with good documentation.
The advantage of this solution is that the pulling force is aligned with the frame, but it requires quite a bit of modification, including drilling the frame.
The rated load is stated as 7.5 metric tonnes per recovery eye.
https://relleum.design/Bergeoese-Crafter-Sprinter-vorne-links-rechts
Oryxsolutions
These recovery eyes are mounted underneath the frame without requiring any drilling. They use existing bolt holes. The disadvantage is that they apply a moment to the frame when loaded, although I do not know how significant this is. Part of the moment is taken up by an original frame bolt, while the rest is taken up by long bolts running to the top of the frame and a bracket mounted there. The original frame bolts are M12, grade 10.9, while the bolts supplied with the kit are of unknown grade.
Oryxsolutions does not state a load rating on its website, but when asked, they replied that the recovery eyes had been tested at 5 metric tonnes when installed on a vehicle. The recovery eyes are somewhat cheaper than the Rellum ones, but they are therefore rated for a lower load.
Several suppliers can provide these recovery eyes.
Installing the Oryxsolutions recovery eyes
To install the recovery eyes, the front end has to be removed, both the lower section and the upper section (grille), as the grille covers two of the screws. Both sections are secured with plastic clips and some screws. The plastic clips are easiest to remove with a suitable trim tool. Use a small screwdriver to lift the locking tab in the centre, then use the tool to pull the clip out. See photo.
Removing the grille
This applies to the 2018 W906. Other models may differ slightly, but the basic procedure is the same.
Before removing the plastic, read the section below about cutting the openings for the recovery eyes.
Remove the plastic clips and screws along the top of the grille. There is no need to remove the metal trim surrounding the grille.
There are clip locks between the bumper and the grille. Bend the grille out, put your arm between them and lift two clips, the ones with the longest tabs, then pull the grille out.
Lower section – “bumper”
There are three clips on each side in the wheel arches and two clips underneath.
Two screws above the number plate – there is no need to remove the trim strip, but there is a clip on top.
There are also two bolts behind the number plate and two Allen screws on the left and right sides that were hidden behind the grille.
Between the lower section and the body there are self-locking plastic clips. Simply pull the parts apart. No clips need to be removed first.
Installation
In principle, the installation should be simple, bolt-on work. In reality, it usually isn’t. It turned out that the existing M12 hole in the frame on the right-hand side was already occupied by a plastic bracket for the AdBlue tank.
Removing the AdBlue system completely was out of the question. That could result in a hefty fine. Relocating the tank would have been a lot of work.
That left only one option: use the same mounting point for both the tank and the recovery eye. I could either have removed the AdBlue tank and made a new metal mounting bracket, or left the existing plastic bracket in place. However, the steel recovery eye has to sit against the frame, so the tank has to be lowered by 5 mm. Simply bending the plastic bracket is not a good idea. The plastic is very stiff and would probably crack.
Lowering the entire tank by 5 mm was fairly straightforward. It is mounted at three points: one at the rear of the tank, one at the front and one underneath. I loosened the tank and removed the mounting bracket at the front. Getting to the screws inside the front crossmember was a little awkward. I then filed out the holes in the bracket so that it could sit 5 mm lower. At the rear it was easier: I simply added some washers and used a longer screw.
After that, the recovery eye fitted easily. I replaced the existing screw with a longer one and tightened it moderately hard so as not to damage the plastic bracket. This is also the main drawback of this method. The bolt is M12, grade 10.9, and these are specified to be tightened to 120 Nm. I did not dare apply that much torque, which is unfortunate with regard to load transfer from the recovery eye to the frame.
On the left-hand side, things were straightforward. The documentation says to use an existing bolt, but there was no such bolt. So you will probably need two M12x1.5 bolts, grade 10.9, 40 mm long. An M12x1.5 tap may also be useful, as there will probably be some rust in the left-hand hole if the bolt is missing.
It is also a good idea to replace the two bolts at the front of the recovery eye. The original bolts are slightly too short.
Cutting the openings in the plastic “bumper”
The recovery eyes pass through the lower edge of the bumper, so two rectangular openings have to be cut. Before removing the plastic, you should mark where these openings will be. It is not the easiest thing to do, but this method worked quite well:
I used the two M12 bolt holes as reference points and, using a ruler, drew two lines on the plastic: vertically downwards and perpendicular to each other. The intersection of the two lines should then be directly below the bolt holes.
After the recovery eyes were installed, I measured the front and rear edges of the recovery eyes from the bolt hole and transferred these measurements to the plastic. I assumed that the two frame rails were parallel, but they clearly are not. As you can see in the photo, I was slightly off sideways, so the opening should be moved about 1 cm towards the outer edges. Otherwise, the measurements were reasonably accurate.
