I got dragged out, this morning, to tow a new VW van out of our allotment field.
Nothing strange there but the owner spent ages trying to screw the towing eye through his front bumper and into the chassis. Eventually we tumbled to the realisation that the thread was LH!
Why? Is this to frustrate scrap metal collectors, compensate for the usual strand twist on tow ropes, or.....??
I'm pretty sure that they are all like that, or at least they were on the two cars I have had to use them on. There must be a good reason .....
Oh, I remember now. It's so that you can't use the towing eyes for something else and over-strain them. Or at least that unlikely explanation is the one I heard.
I was told it was to compensate for the twist in the rope
In message , ARW writes
Oh. It had never crossed my mind that all multi-strand ropes might have the same twist.
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They don't. (Though to be honest most did - except when they are really big and made of smaller ones twisted together)
Modern ropes are usually plaited, and don't twist under tension. I'll be surprised if any rope could produce enough torque under load to unscrew an eye.
Andy
Right hand lay is certainly more common, which is the direction which would (theoretically) unscrew a right hand thread. But I agree that I don't see this normally generating anything like enough torque. After all, if you lift something with a rope it does not normally spin and unwind the rope (because of friction between the strands).
Maybe the risk is of it coming undone if it is left in after the rope has been removed.
In message , bert writes
I don't see the thread direction helping or hindering that.
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