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Smart Car front tow hook


alan0043

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Hi Everyone,

I want to add a second tow hook location to the front of the car. Right now the car has only one location on the passenger side for a tow hook. I have removed the front clip from the car. I can see that there is no threads on the drivers side to add a second location for a tow hook. The steel bar that goes across the car needs to be repaired at the passenger side tow hook area. The threads are pointing down about 30 degrees. The area can be repaired with a little straighten. If I remove the front steel bar I can drill for the second hole and weld a nut on that area to give me the second set of threads that I need. My concern is about the front air bags. What make the front air bags go off ? I can remove the front steel bar by removing 3 bolts per side. If I do this will the air bags go off ? The Smart Car is a 2006 Pulse. Looking for any insight on the air bags. I do not want them going off.

Al

2012 Volvo VNL 630 w/ I-Shift; D13 engine; " Veeger "
  Redwood, model 3401R ; 5th Wheel Trailer, " Dead Wood "
    2006 Smart Car " Killer Frog "
 

 

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Al,

I'm pretty sure the American smarts have a second tow hook on the front or at least my 2013 did.  I just did careful measurements of the location on the passenger side then drilled through the plastic with a small bit to be sure I was centered then used a hole saw.  Believe it was a 1" but just measure the other side.   The European imports to my knowledge do not have the second connection.  You can see the saw on my drill. 

Edit:  My mistake reading your post.  You've already determined you don't have a second set of threads.  Wonder when they started adding them?  Don't know about the air bags.B469dYUl.jpg

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Says 2006 Pulse.

 

The bags are activated by an accelerometer, only going off if the deceleration is great enough to  meet a programmed level. Disconnect the battery, wait 5 minutes or so if you're nervous, then wrench away.

I have been wrong before, I'll probably be wrong again. 

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3 hours ago, Darryl&Rita said:

Says 2006 Pulse.

 

The bags are activated by an accelerometer, only going off if the deceleration is great enough to  meet a programmed level. Disconnect the battery, wait 5 minutes or so if you're nervous, then wrench away.

Hi Darryl,

Thank you for the info. I was thinking about disconnecting the battery myself to be the safe side. It will be easier to do some drilling and welding with that steel piece removed from the car.

Al

2012 Volvo VNL 630 w/ I-Shift; D13 engine; " Veeger "
  Redwood, model 3401R ; 5th Wheel Trailer, " Dead Wood "
    2006 Smart Car " Killer Frog "
 

 

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Al is that car gas of diesel?  You will not find anything over the counter to match the thread on the towing eye.  So I think your choices are to have one side different thread change the front completely from the back.  One other possibility would be to get a rebar from a crashed smart and use the insert from that.  If you find a body shop repairing a damaged car the will probably give you the damaged bar for free.

 

Nigel

2006 Volvo VNL 430, 2006 smart cabrio cdi, 2000 Triple E Topaz 30'

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18 hours ago, Nigel said:

Al is that car gas of diesel?  You will not find anything over the counter to match the thread on the towing eye.  So I think your choices are to have one side different thread change the front completely from the back.  One other possibility would be to get a rebar from a crashed smart and use the insert from that.  If you find a body shop repairing a damaged car the will probably give you the damaged bar for free.

 

Nigel

Hi Nigel,

The car is gas. 'Thank You' for bring up the info on the towing eye thread. I was getting ready to ask a question or too about the threads on the towing eye but you beat me to it. The threads look like there are a acme style thread but in metric. The tow hook thread on the passenger side of the steel bar (rebar) had some crack's and the hole use about at a 30 degree angle down. I don't think that there was to much metal holding the threads in place. I have the thread angle straighten by using the tow hook and jacking the front of the car up by using the tow hook as a jacking point. That is the reason why I wanted to do some welding on the rebar to repair the outside of the threads. But it might be better if I just remove the tow hook thread from the passenger side and install two new tow threads of my choose for a new tow hook for the front. 

Please keep the input coming,
Al

2012 Volvo VNL 630 w/ I-Shift; D13 engine; " Veeger "
  Redwood, model 3401R ; 5th Wheel Trailer, " Dead Wood "
    2006 Smart Car " Killer Frog "
 

 

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When I bought my car the one of the previous owners had a trailer hitch fastened to the towing eye holes.  When I took it off I realized they had replaced the original inserts and welded large nuts to the back of the rebar.  That hitch worked quite well for loading the car at the time.

 

Nigel

2006 Volvo VNL 430, 2006 smart cabrio cdi, 2000 Triple E Topaz 30'

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I'm not sure of the size, but the threads/ nut are called acme threads. Pretty common, not at Home Depot to my knowledge. But a bolt and nut business should have no problem matching you bolt. 

 

JC 

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