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I have tow hooks on my 95 XJ and want to be able to flat tow it. All the tow bars I find are set up to bolt to a bumper which of course is a horizontal surface across the front. Has anyone come up with a good way to connect tow hooks which stick out perpendicular to the front to a tow bar? I have lots of thoughts but none seem like a really good way to go. I'm thinking of welding up a couple of pieces to bolt to the part that is supposed to bolt to the bumper and then fits over the tow hook. I'm thinking then I'd put a pin through both sides with clips. Hard to describe and it is too rainy to get out and take pictures.
gregg
I'm not sure what you're referring to. There are tow bars that clamp to the front bumber but others that do not. Instead, they require installing separate brackets (or base plates) that the tow bars then atttach to.
Some pics would help.
Meanwhile have alook at http://www.blueox.us/Towbars/towbars.htm. You could weld plates people use for D-Rings, just space them apart enough to use with the tow bar like one of these.
I have a tow bar with bumper brackets, they were mounted pretty well and the bumper survived flat towing for thousands of miles (behind the PO's motor home), but now we have the bumper scrapped and the brackets attached to the front cross member, whole lot sturdier... We're gonna eventually incorporate the mounts into a bumper we're building, it's so convenient to be able to flat tow the thing.
Holy smoke the Acclaim tow bars are expensive! Harbor Freight has a basic one for about $60. I'm thinking the Acclaim is for full time RV folks. I'm just looking for the occasional tow. I have a trailer for my CJ with brakes and all but my motor home will only tow 3500 lbs and the XJ is that without the trailer so I'm forced to go to flat towing for it I think.
The HF one may work if you weld 2 plates inside the channels to bolt to your brackets. I'd ditch the rest of the bolt on bracket stuff since those are just more failure points.
Center to center they are 28.5 inches. I think I understand but since I haven't seen the HF one in person yet I'm not sure. I guess I can risk the $60 and bring one home and start playing with it. I appreciate your help, good fun on a stormy day!
I just rewired my CB as I wanted it up on the overhead above the rear view mirror.
Center to center they are 28.5 inches. I think I understand but since I haven't seen the HF one in person yet I'm not sure. I guess I can risk the $60 and bring one home and start playing with it. I appreciate your help, good fun on a stormy day!
I just rewired my CB as I wanted it up on the overhead above the rear view mirror.
That's the measurement from the outside of the "frame" rails, right? Seems right... the outer holes on my brackets are mounted at 27" (an inch or so from the outside of the "frame").
I think mine might be a harbor freight... shouldn't take much to figure it out if you have some basic fab skills (plus a welder or a friend with a welder).
Yes I can weld no problem. The 28.5 is center to center on the tow hook. This is the idea I'm working on in the picture. 5/8 rod through the tow hooks and put clips outside to keep it in place. Then weld tabs an inch inside each hook to connect to the tow bar. Then the clips could pull out and the 5/8th bar would slide enough to remove it or insert it. This would tie the tow hooks together sort of and still allow me to put shackles in for recovery purposes. It would swivel up and down.
Yes I can weld no problem. The 28.5 is center to center on the tow hook. This is the idea I'm working on in the picture. 5/8 rod through the tow hooks and put clips outside to keep it in place. Then weld tabs an inch inside each hook to connect to the tow bar. Then the clips could pull out and the 5/8th bar would slide enough to remove it or insert it. This would tie the tow hooks together sort of and still allow me to put shackles in for recovery purposes. It would swivel up and down.
I can't dispute your idea, it'll definately be beefy enough like that, $60 isn't bad for an a-frame tow bar already assembled and easily modifiable to your application... don't think anyone can complain!
They're really beefy 1/2" or so ~6" long by ~2" tall steel strips with ~1/4" tabs welded ~3" apart with eyes for hitch pins to bolt through, secured by cotter pins. Sorry for all the estimates, didn't bother measuring last time I was near them...
When my dad saw how weak the bumper is, he immediately said "Okay, we're building a new bumper."
i have a tow bar on the front of my xj that i got from another member on here. the tag on it says that its from a rv dealership, so i am guessing that one of the prior owner sof the bar used it behind an rv. the bar does show signs of use (rock chips in the powdercoat etc). i was told it was model specific to our xjs, but i had to modify it to fit on mine. originally it mounted with one bolt through a hole on the bottom of each of the frame rails and one bolt to each of the bumper brackets. also when mounted up it did not sit flush with the frame rails but at a steep downward angle.
i was in welding class when i got this, so i took it to school with me and modified it slightly. i welded two pieces of 3/8" plate and a piece of 1/4" plate to the area where it mounts to frame rail. this spaced it out to sit level with frame rail. also, i welded on a piece of quarter inch going from the frame rail mount to my stock tow hook brackets (since the bar displaced my tow hook bracket "horn" braces). all in all it sat flush after pounding in a lip on the underside of the frame rail and doubled the number of mounting points.
i can get pictures of it in the morning if needed.
oh, and the tow bar itself is an adjustable Reese brand a frame tow bar that has 1 male tab on each side where it connects to a female socket (one tab on each side of the male tab) at the vehicle side. it has to be adjusted just right to make installation and removal of the tow bar easy.
