Rear Towhooks

Where do you guys mount tow hooks in the rear. I don't have an aftermarket bumper yet because $ won't permit it. I have some towhooks, and I was wondering if anyone has mounted some on the rear with a stock bumper.

You can mount ONE back there on the drivers side, that is IF you have the fram rail inserts for the rear skid inside. It uses an L shaped bracket that attaches to the frame rails and the hook then bolts to that. Here is a pic of mine.

http://www.rjpsystems.com/rearhook.jpeg

The bracket is about $17 but you cannot mount it without the nutcerts plates that go inside the frame rail, those are about the same price ea. One for the left and one for the right side. The steel that makes up the frame rails is too thin to mount directly to. The other alternative is to use a class III hitch and get a hook insert that goes inside the receiver. Those two are about your only options in ascending order of cost.

Do you think it would be possible for me to take a piece of metal and bend it so that on end is on the inside of the frame, and one is on the bottom so I can mount the tow hook to that?

The nutcert plate is a thick steel plate that goes inside the frame rails and has 6 or 8 nuts welded to it. What it does besides giving you somehting to bolt to is it spreads the load across it's length and sandwiches the frame rail between so that the frame rails don't get ripped out. Even the cheap receivers need to be bolted that way though some give you some fancy nuts that you fish thru the frame but thats pretty weak IMO. No way round it, you need those plates to get started and they are pretty much a dealer OEM item, I hope they are still available and were not one of those items jeep firesaled when they stopped production of the XJ, they did that with almost all the other XJ add on's and unlike the front hook brackets I don't know anyone who makes rear ones though you could make them yourself if you had a left and right for a template, you could use alot heavier steel and drill and tap the holes directly.

The OEM bracket for the rear hook is two pieces, plus the nut strip that fits inside the frame rail. There's no reason someone with fabrication skill can't make one, but I advise getting a drawing of the OEM unit or borrowing a sample so you get it right. And do not omit the nut strips.

Flying tow hooks are too dangerous to mess around with.

This question seems to come up about once a month. Did you try a search? I vaguely "sort of" remember that someone posted a pic of the OEM bracket awhile back, but I'm not certain on that.

RichP said:

...they are pretty much a dealer OEM item, I hope they are still available...

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They were as of a month ago, I ordered em in in two days. $35 or $40 for the pair. I can try n dig out dealer part numbers if you want/need them...

Robert

I_1BADXJ_I said:

They were as of a month ago, I ordered em in in two days. $35 or $40 for the pair. I can try n dig out dealer part numbers if you want/need them...

Robert

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I would appreciate it if you could provide that info. I'm gonna need to go this route too until I can get a new bumper.
Thanks