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front tow hooks vs receiver (strength)

motrctyman

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Orion, MI
Why not buy or make a front bumper that incorporates tow points and frame plates? Check out C-Rok's front bumper. It incorporates frame plates that cover the big holes on each side (at least a foot back), and comes with a receiver bult-in. You can get inside frame plates to make it stronger if you want also, and it comes with a front crossmember that bolts in-between everything. All 3/16" steel. Other bumpers have good mounting systems too and come with tow points, but C-ROK's is the strongest mounting system I've found.
 
I've seen a cutaway of the area where the Draw Tite bolts to (at a wrecking yard actually) and it is reinforced in there! Those sway bar bolts are a pretty beefy area to attach something too. I had the Draw Tite for awhile, nice piece but sat too low.
 
xj92 said:
Check out C-Rok's front bumper.
I just checked their site. It doesn't say how much they cost and I'm too lazy to call. Got any ideas what they cost and what delivery time is? Thanks for the idea!

JKTXJ said:
Draw Tite...... but sat too low.
Compared to what?? Other threads I read said that Reece and Draw Tite were identical and sat higher than the Hidden Hitch. Or did I get it the other way around?? Maybe I'm confused? By the way, thanks for the responses.
 
Sat lower than my bumper with shackle mounts that I switched to. It's all about how much ground clearance you wanna lose under there. Anone that still has the plastic air dam thing under there should be fine.
 
front receiver

The Hidden Hitch front receiver is rated to 9,000 lbs. pull. I would suppose that the Draw-Tite is similar. A receiver on the front gives you a lot of option that tow hooks don't.

For instance, I built a rack to hold two 5-gallon cans that will go into mine. When I go camping I put one gas can and one water can in there. Of course, it severely reduces the approach angle, but I don't do serious wheeling with the rack mounted, just driving back and forth to camping areas.

I also built a support that sticks up from the front receiver and is as tall as the Jeep. That way, when I need to carry really long items they are supported in the back by the roof rack and in the front by the receiver mount rack.
 
C-ROK bumpers are around $400 I think, and that includes the built-in hitch, the frame/steering box plates, the extra front crossmember, etc. I had mine customized a lot and added stuff (like the inside frame plate & D-rings) and paid $500 total with tax & everything.
 
The Draw-Tite is held on by 6 bolts . The 4 at the sway bar mounts and one in the end of each frame rail that you have to drill (1/2"),The rear hitch is held by the same # of bolts,so both should be equal in strength.
Wayne
 
Thanks Wayne, but if you notice on the instructions, two of those sway bar bolt holes are actually slots, not holes. I would kinda think that means it's a little less stout.

http://206.105.120.91/pdf/N65009.pdf
 
Here is a picture of the driver-side frame plate and the extra crossmember I was talking about that come with the bumper.
CutFF3.jpg
 
I have a Draw-Tite. It's not actually mounted right now, but I will be putting it on, here are my observations.

I think the amount of lost ground clearance / approach angle is not too bad it doesn't hang down much further than the OEM tow hooks.

It's held in by six bolts, four bolts that go into your sway bar stuff (as said, beef is the word there!) and two others that they supply, you have to drill a 1/2" hole for them, get a sharp bit! (Don't ask me how I know :blush:)

It's rated for a 9,000 lb pull, between that and the HiddenHitch I prefer the Draw-Tite, looks beefier, I am not familiar with the Reese.

Here it is mounted up...

bigbear19.jpg


Sequoia
 
tow hooks and receivers

I have Rustys front receiver and towhook plates. I installed their plates then welded their front receiver to my Manik brush bar and bolted that up to the plates. You will pull off both frame rails together VS a tow hook on one side only. ;)
I'm making an extension to fit into receiver that will tie into front crossbar on brushbar to strenthen it. On top of 2" square tube, I will weld a hook onto it and weld pipe unions onto both sides of lower tube so that it can be removed from receiver if I need to install removeable winch into front receiver.
I also made custom brackets for backside of brushbar to tie into top of bumper....there is NO movement whatsoever now in my brushbar :cool: .
Rusty's front receiver is no lower than my front air dam (I had to cut away part of it to fit the receiver in there.)

BLUTO :)
 
The reese & draw-tite are identical with the receiver box in front of the cross member, where the hidden-hitch has the receiver box under the cross member so it hangs lower. What sold me on the front receive was the number of people who had bent their front towhooks. It was $111 delivered (www.etrailer.com) and an easy install.

fae0d1fb.jpg
 
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