tow hooks?

[jc-mix]

anybody have any cool trick ways of mounting some kind of tow hook or something to hook to on the front or rear of your cherokees?[addsig]

[dingus]

the trend has been just to mount to the frame rail with either some sheetmetal (thick, like 1/4") behind the frame, or some fender washers... here you can see i cut out my front bumper thinger so that a strap can get to the hook without interfering with the plastic drop-bumper thing.

[addsig]

[far_right]

just one note on tow hooks, bolt w/ grade 8 bolts, dont weld them on[addsig]

[dingus]

haha good call... and learn from my mistake: USE THE FLAT SHEETMETAL OR THE FENDER WASHERS... i yanked my rear tow hook out of my frame rail in the rear kuz i didn't do that!!![addsig]

[far_right]

UGH! :-( :-( [addsig]

[Tug-n-pull]

this is the best way to get recovery points that i have seen! http://www.uglymutha.com/images/fron...ture%20017.jpg
Look it over Tug It is a ugly mutha pork chop bumper 8-) [addsig]

[pinaplebob]

I just mounted the hook under my bumper like dingus did. I had to cut the stupid piece of plasic undernieth. But they look pretty good. I bolted them on with grade 8 bolts. (spiffy blue ones from Farm and Fleet, almost want to get mirrors to show them off j/k) Anway the passenger side was a peice of cake. The drivers side is a little tight. You should double check before you drill. I ended up cutting a bigger hole so i could get the bolt into the hole i needed. But other then that it wasn't that easy. Another thing i would reccomend is get the hooks with the small metal pieces that snap closed. They hold the stap on. You definatly need them. Mine didn't come with them, and now Someone has to hold the strap until there's tenstion on it. Hey, what do you want for free?

pinaplebob[addsig]

[pinaplebob]

I will hopefully post pics a.s.a.p My jeep is in service tomorrow so i won't have it back for a couple of days.[addsig]

[jc-mix]

thanks for the info guy's. [addsig]

[pinaplebob]

ok..I mounted my hooks to the frame with two bolts and washers. I was under ther today and found that both hooks were all twised out of the frame. I would make sure you find the thickest part of the frame. I was pretty sure that I did, But i guess it wasn't. The weird thing is, I don't rember towing anything heavy, or getting towed out of anything too heavy. So i dono.

I remounted them a really weird way now. I took out the bolt on the bottom of the bumper-et and welded up a plate from the frame to the back of the hook to keep it from twisting/moving. Yes it sounds pretty weird and stupid but it looks like it is going to work. I'll take pictures of it when i can.

I'm getting bumpers for it when it gets warm so this is a temp fix for now.


pinaplebob[addsig]

[pinaplebob]

Ok, With the way that I mounted them, and I'm pretty sure that is how dingus mounted his, is we drilled into the frame. For me, which I have no clue what I tried to pull, but I ripped one of mine out of the holes. So i was forced to come up with another way to mount them. I used the hole and a longer bolt from the bottom of the bumper-ets. And then I welded a gusset to the back of the hook. It may not look pretty, but after today (I had a little fun today) It proved to be very very stong. Hopefully soon I should have picks.


pinaplebob[addsig]

[jeepmaster]

will these work? hooks

or will they pull out, if so, what do i need to buy in addition to them to make them secure, id rather not have one rip out and go through a friends windshield. thanks~[addsig]

[jeepmaster]

oh no doubt, chrome is for the street rigs plus the black is cheaper.[addsig]

[dingus]

yeah, i mean, rustys' offroad also makes official "brackets" for mounting the towhooks on an XJ, but everyone wants like 60-70 bucks for them...[addsig]

[jeepmaster]

so i buy those hooks, and go where to find grade 8 screws, lowes or some hardware store, then i grab a drill and drill into the frame and but those beasts in?[addsig]

[MudderChuck]

The frame on the XJ isn´t much more than sheet metal. Getting inside the frame, to tighten the nuts, in most places is hard to impossible without trimming the frame ends some or unbolting a whole lot of stuff. Pulling on a couple of bolts stuck through sheet metal can result in tearing the sheet metal. The solution is to use, step 1 (maybe 1 ton)large washers behind the nuts to spread out the load some. Step 2 (maybe 2 tons) a large piece of flat steel, cut to almost fill the inside of the frame and bolting it between the nuts and hooks to spread the load even more. Step 3 (maybe 2 1/2 tons) is to buy or make a piece of flat steel or buy a bracket, that uses the frame and bumper as anchors and has the extra benefit of moving the hook outboard some, so it´s easier to get to.
The object is not to have the hooks (or bumper) seperate from the vehicle, when trying to pull someone out of a ditch and possibly end up wearing the hook (or bumper)as a hood ornament in somebodies forehead. (sorry about the wise cracks, it´s genetic, not personnal).
If your interested I can E-mail you a sketch my son made, for the tow rings on my wifes new XJ.[addsig]

[jeepmaster]

maxwarpone@yahoo.com send me that diagram, we had a close call over the summer with a tow strap w. a metal hook breaking, so im trying to go as cautious as i can about this, so with the steel piece, im gonna put the steel piece next to the frame, then the washer on top of that, then the bolt?[addsig]

[MudDawg]

When i got my project XJ i knew right away the stock bumpers had to go..they are barely more than tin the front has 3 mount bolts to the "frame", 2 of which are thru metal that is maybe 12 gauge.. i went to my local steel supplier and bought a stick of 2" x 6" x 11 gauge rectangular tubing and a a piece of 3/16 x 6" flat stock.. using the original bumper mounts as a pattern for the mount holes, but extending back further and following the shape of the "frame"..I bolted the mounts in with the stock bolts and then welded the mounts to the frame..for hook mounts I bought 2 receiver blanks from a trailer supply house and cut them into the bumper.. my hooks slip into the receiver..welded everything up good... capped the ends...good bumper..good hooks and a handy air tank to boot...

Dawg[addsig]

[mujaman]

heres another good and very strong solution... an ARB bull-bar:) not exactly a cheap choice, and i realize that the jump from a tow hook to an entire new bumper is rather large, but i thought i'd mention it anyways. if you are ever planning on buying a new bumper... definitely go with the ARB. it fastens on to the chassis with ten 1/2" bolts and comes with special fittings that slip down inside the frame to bolt in to and even the load out. it also has 2 tow points on the front as well as mounts for a 12,000lb. warn winch... so you can basically hook on to anything and pull as hard as you can without having to worry about pulling something loose. [addsig]

[MudderChuck]

MudDawg, if you can get a digicam send us some pictures. I like the sound of your approach. The last hooks I put on a Jeep were my wifes 87 XJ a long time ago. And I´m planning on doing a 96 XJ and a 91 pretty soon (spring). I need some ideas.
On the wifes 87 I used a combination of the existing bumper brackets and a frame sandwhich (like trailer hitch frame mount stiffeners) backing plates. I also hide a 1 1/2" peice of water pipe behind the bumpers between the bumper brackets. I tried to pick up as many existing bolt holes as possible. The layout of the front of the 96 is a little different than the 87.
I saw one guy that made a class 3 type hitch for his front, that mounted right under the bumper, with hooks at the ends. And he had a reciever hitch in the middle for his receiver winch. I might go this route for the 91, it will be used often off road.
The inspecters around here, are not fond of anything that doesn´t have a DOT stamp on it. But they did let the pipe backing for the front bumper go on the wifes 87, just giggled a little. I giggled when she broadsided, a VW (totalled) and all it cost us was a fender (didn´t even break the headlight).[addsig]