Welded or Bolted

[jeepguy97]

Yea if u gave me the plans so to speak...told me what metal u used and where u drilled and all. Course if it hasent been tested how do i know it will work?

 

[deke]

theres a few pre drilled holes down there. mild steel worked. i used .5inch steel becuse its what i had, yet 3/8 or 1/4 would work.
i dont know that it will work for sure, but the mount and hook are no longer the weakest link. thats where i have some concerns

 

[Eagle]

So I can mount a hitch to my bumper and pull a trailer with it...why can't i mount the tow hooks to the bumper and pull on them.....

I'm not aware of any bumper mount hitches for the XJ. In the early years AMC offered a Class I (light-duty) hitch with a permanent drawbar. It came on my '88. Even that had a significant amount of reiforcing and brackets hidden up behind the bumper. Actually looks a lot like a small receiver hitch when you take it off.

The XJ bumpers are tin foil. Cosmetic, nothing more.

 

[jeepguy97]

So what if I removed the front bumper mounting bolts and ran the tow hook bolts up through there and drilled into the bumper mounts for the other tow hook bolt. Do u think dekes mounts would work Eagle?

 

[deke]

either way you want to do it, you need to reenforce the bolts from behind. fender washers wil bend. regular washers will pull through.

 

[jeepguy97]

So if I were to run a piece of steel on top of the bumper mount and run the bolts through that and the bumper mount then use washers would that work.

 

[deke]

will the bolts go through the frame rail at somepoint?

 

[jeepguy97]

no through the bumpermounts which are bolted through the frame rail.

 

[deke]

im not exactly sure how youwant to do that. as long as you upgrade those bolts i think it could work.

 

[jeepguy97]

Well I was thinking of removing the factory bottom bumper bolts the torx ones right...right. Next I was gonna line the front hole of the tow hook up with the bumper hole i just took the bolt out of. Then run the new hook bolt up through replacing the factory torx bolt and then drill another hole for the other tow hook hole and run another bolt through that. This way the hook is bolted to the bumper mount not the bumper and the mount is bolted to the frame so....Then i still may have to run a piece of steel along the top of the bumpermount to reinenforce it???

 

[deke]

i need to get under the jeep and see the bracket you are talking about.

 

[jeepguy97]

ok sounds good

 

[Brian Carpenter]

cherokees don't have a whole lot to bolt to... its mostly just tin.

dude, xj's don't have any tin in them.

they're steel.

steel ain't worth calling steel until its at least 1/8" thick, and a unibody is a far cry from a real frame... Don't get me wrong, I love wheeling the best Jeep built (I own 2 of them after all) and there aint much that can come close to matching it on the trail, but we've gotta be honest... especially when it comes to hook points.. a couple of bolts through 18ga just won't hold up. Take this one seriously, or you could lose a lot more than just the hook.
-bc :nono:

 

[JnJ]

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