Tow Hooks Up Front. Where?

[Nathan]

Can anyone tell me where to mount tow hooks up front. Short of taking the bumper off (which is held on by 6 bolts harder to take off than seat belt anchors), I cant find anywhere to put them on the frame. The spring hangers are too much in the way. Am I missing something obvious. Thanks for your help.
Nathan

[Kenall]

go to this page on my web site for my idea of a very ez chain/hook design that has served me for well over 9 years. i use it both FnR!!!
http://www.home.earthlink.net/~kenns9/_wsn/page3.html

[Nathan]

Since the frame is level with the bumper wont tension in the chain/strap cause the bumper to either bend badly or lift the front end off the ground?

[Manhattan]

I just had a custom winch-bumper made (I'll post pic's as soon as I use up the roll of film). We cut the orginal bumper to cover the steel sub-bumper (the new part).

The original bumper is aluminum! You might consider cutting a couple of holes in the bumper and mounting some hooks "through" the bumper... the aluminum is easy to cut and won't rust!

[Bob Barry]

Follow the link below for my Cherokee, click on the "custom bumper" link, and you'll see what I had to do to get tow-hooks on the front of mine. smile.gif

There really isn't any good place to mount hooks, so most people resort to some kind of bolt-on extension, either to the front crossmember or to the side-rail. The big problem is that there's really no secure place to bolt a hook to for the first 9" of the frame, and on the driver's side, the next 12" are occupied by the steering-gearbox. The bottom of the rail is filled with the spring-hanger, and the top has the core support and front body mount.

[Manhattan]

Bob Berry: The bumper that I just installed on my '88 uses the original 6 (3 per side) holes in the frame. The bumper formed a box - plates bolted to original holes, plates welded to rectangular tube steel (picture a rear receiver hitch type design). The winch mount was welded to this box and supported with gussetts (to the box). The welder/fabricator assured me that while the original frame mounts are not really strong for "torsion" loads, they are plenty strong for "tensil" loads - basically, a tow hook would twist its way out of the frame but the bumper will never just pull straight through because the twisting of the frame is now not an option...

But then I read your comment on not using the first 9" of the frame... based on my crude description, does it sound like the welder/fabricator did the right thing, mounting the winch bumper to the original frame mounts?

[Bob Barry]

I should have said there was no space except for the factory bumper mounts (where I attached my bumper). These mounts are threaded inserts with plenty of backing in the framerails; if you could figure a way to put a few more of them in the rails, you'd have stronger mounts, but the stock six 7/16" bolts should be more than enough for a winch, especially if the bumper is solid and distributes the load evenly.

[Kimbrough]

Just installed tow hooks on my GW. Kinda cheesy but they work and mount perfect! They are low enough so they don't interfere with the bumper (in fact, the factory cutouts on the underside of the bumper look like they were made for these hooks!) and don't hinder aproach angle.
I used 1/4-inch strap steel cut into 2~7&1/2-inch pieces. I bent them on a vise (I can't weld yet) and drilled 1/2-inch holes thru the front frame crossmember and to mount the hooks.
***NOTE: there is a steel brake line mounted on the back side of the crossmember that will have to be un-bolted and moved temporarily out of the way. You also gotta remove the bumper.
Its actually not as bad as it looks. Just get a good drill and bit - there's an inch of steel total ya gotta drill thru!!! I used grade 8 bolts and nuts for strength. Go here for detailed diagrams: http://www.ifsja.org/tech/misc/towhook.shtml

I can e-mail pics if you want. E-mail me by clicking on the envelope icon near my name.
Good luck!

[JohnnyJ]

I did exactly what Kimbrough did. Works fine, though I have only used it a couple of times.

[Kenall]

nathan: the bending of the bumper, if u use my idea, is slight. place the chain inside of an old bicycle innner tube to protect the bumper.

also, my plan requries no drilling or bending or welding or purchase of a nu bumper and is completely reversable.