Rear Hitch ?'s

I am considering buying a rear hitch for my XJ (to cover the rear recovery point requirement). I am wondering which brands fit up behind the bumper kind of hidden. I have seen some hitches that stick below the bumper and kinda look "ugly". Also do hitches interfere with gas tank skids? Any info would be appreciated. NICK

woops maybe i should have searched first.
http://www.naxja.org/forum/showthread.php?t=10317

I put a JC Whitney-provided Hidden Hitch on an '88 this summer. It fit perfectly with a factory gas tank skid, and tucks up behind the bumper better than the OEM Mopar hitch on my own Jeep. The Hidden Hitch has a rectangular cross bar rather than square, so it doesn't hang down as far. The receiver tube itself, of course, still shows just below the bumper.

If you want the hitch up out of the way maybe a whole new bumper with the reciever up in it might be the ticket like this http://www.bpifab.com/bumper/cherokee_rear_bumpers.htm might cost a bit more but gains some extra clearance back there.
Mike B.

Hi all!

I just installed my OEM Mopar Hitch tonight, it looks great, it only sticks out a little! I paid a little too much from ebay though I like it much better than some of those knockoffs out there, besides, I hate it when most people let their wiring harness to dangle out there, or wrap it around their hitch. Yuck! Mopar has a little metal compartment on the hitch that is pretty much bulletproof for the wiring harness to reside there, and looks tidy to boot! :laugh3:

After its all said and done, I'd buy the hitch again, but I wouldn't install it again... especially all by myself! Too much dang work in taking off the bumper, and the nutstrip that came with the Jeep was ruined, because the bolt that was on it broke off, had to take it to a muffler shop and the dude torched it off in 30 seconds flat. Luckily, I had a pair of nutstrips that came with my hitch. No worries! Just be sure to soak all nuts and bolts for a while with BP Blaster or WD-40 before working on it, and also apply anti-seize compound while installing it, so if for some reason you need to take it off in the future, it will be much easier, and lastly if you want to save yourself the pain and time, USE POWER TOOLS! Took me half the day (no kidding!) to wrench and line things up.

I got some parts left over... it is a trapezoid plate with two bolts sticking out on the other side, I wonder what it is, as it did come with my hitch. Any ideas anyone? Also I got some nuts and bolts for the bumper left over as well, because it is next to impossible to install them back again with the newly installed hitch in the way

One little mod I had to do was... is the use of black zip ties, it is a pain to reattach them the old fashion way (regular nuts and bolts), I lost the little nut and bolts that attaches the plastic endcaps to the bumper. The suckers aint comming off, unless I want to! It will take me literally 2 seconds to take the endcaps off if needed

Good luck on yer search of hitches... I'd recommend OEM MOPAR hitch, it looks like it is part of the Jeep, as in factory looks, but that is my opinon.

dogtired said:

I got some parts left over... it is a trapezoid plate with two bolts sticking out on the other side, I wonder what it is, as it did come with my hitch. Any ideas anyone?

Click to expand...

That's for the exhaust hanger. The two studs are to fit through that heavy rubber strap.