Adding Recovery Hooks on 5th Gen?

[KaroSatan]

I've got a 4WD XLT that I go exploring with ( makes sense right?) Anyway, I was out exploring and found a little mud and well if you care to see the results here.


I have the tow package and a hitch with a recovery hook, I was wondering however if anyone added a recovery point to the front framework of the vehicle. I don't have the lower valence ( I like SUVs to go over curbs ) so I don't have to worry about it. This Explorer is still pretty capable off road for what it is, I take it in sand quite a bit but this mud/clay was finally too much for it and had to be yanked out the back. In a similar situation where I'd be stuck and couldn't be pulled out the back I'd be stuck because I can't be pulled out the front from the little tow hook. Anybody have any experience with this hook by chance?

 

[peterk9]

Welcome to the Forum.
I don't know why you feel the front OEM tow hook setup couldn't be used. That is why it's there and why it's called a tow hook. I don't recall any posts about adding front tow hooks although the one you linked should do the job assuming you are able to attach them to the frame.

Peter

 

[Halford1]

I saw the pictures... looks like you need scuba diving mask to go under and find the hooks

 

[KaroSatan]

Welcome to the Forum.
I don't know why you feel the front OEM tow hook setup couldn't be used. That is why it's there and why it's called a tow hook. I don't recall any posts about adding front tow hooks although the one you linked should do the job assuming you are able to attach them to the frame.

Peter

The front tow " Hook " ( the Eye Bolt ) is not a rated recovery point. I wouldn't feel comfortable trusting it being yanked to pull 6,000lbs+ out of mud.

 

[Aciancio]

I had those hooks on my 85 Bronco, as long as you have them mounted to a solid point they work great.

 

[Halford1]

insert new hooks under frames?

 

[KaroSatan]

insert new hooks under frames?

I would like to, I don't know if anybody has done it previously or where to mount them personally.

 

[KaroSatan]

I had those hooks on my 85 Bronco, as long as you have them mounted to a solid point they work great.

Were there mounting points or did it require drilling into the frame?

 

[Biohazrus]

No clue if the bracket for the Setina push bumper are solid enough as I don't know is 1st, they really can be used to push. But pushing and pulling do not imply the same forces.

Anyhow, you could inspire yourself from those and get them protruding from the lower grill section.
See this vid: @ 3:05 & 3:08
May using another type of hook? Something like: Photobucket

 

[Aciancio]

On my Bronco I was able to line them up with holes in the frame. The explorer poses a few potential issues, if you mount them to the frame facing down it cuts down on the already lacking ground clearance. Since you already have your lower valence removed you could possibly build a bracket of some sort to mount the horizontally but you have to be careful with that because you will be putting a large amount of force on them and have to make sure the bracket can handle it.
I have mine lifted (looks great and puts it the height it should have been to begin with) with a brush guard installed (forget the push bumper and go full guard) and I have considered mounting a set of them to the side of the brush guard.

 

[Kikinz24]

Technically on the factory tow hook it would pull a car out of a jam. It is welded into the reinforcement bar. The bar will not move.. it has 4 bolts and 4 welds on each front frame rail... Only concern would be pulling the threads on it . Not sure what the grade nut that's welded into it.. as for a setina push bar the brackets wrap around the rebar and just clamp down but they would provide a good structure to pull from. You might bend the bar up a little from tension tho ... As for adding an actual hook you could possibly add to the front engine cradle up front low but then you're tearing your bumper if you do get Suck.. these really aren't made to be TOW RIGS.. they're a unibody suv. Basically a bubbled up car

 

[kobresia]

I could see using a push bumper for rolling recovery on a reasonably level surface, but I would not trust them for mud or low-angle recovery. The brackets just clamp around the flimsy corrugated stamped-steel bumper. I added a Setina push bumper simply to protect the plastic cover and harden the front a little, but beyond that, I think they'd buckle. I also imagine the bumper itself distorting or the bolts shearing. After all, the whole thing is only as strong as those four small bolts attaching it to the front end. Everything forward of the motor mounts is also going to be one of the weakest crumple zones, designed to buckle left, right, or straight back at any minor provocation. There are just so many ways for things to end badly.

These are pavement queens. They're not body-on-frame, nobody seems to make any winch or sturdy recovery bumpers for them, only grille & brush guards. Any sort of hooking underneath seems likely to damage the cover. There also a complete lack of underbody protection. I wouldn't even trust the new Jeep Grand Cherokee Trailhawks to do much better than an Explorer on trails, but at least they have huge, red recovery hooks which seem to be placed such that using them wouldn't immediately destroy the plastics.

I've been dismantling a wrecked Interceptor which had a hard hit to the front, I'll take some photos of the front end. Let's just say it didn't inspire much confidence in providing a strong recovery point, but I wasn't looking at it with locating a recovery point in mind. Maybe I missed something.

 

[Kikinz24]

I could see using a push bumper for rolling recovery on a reasonably level surface, but I would not trust them for mud or low-angle recovery. The brackets just clamp around the flimsy corrugated stamped-steel bumper. I added a Setina push bumper simply to protect the plastic cover and harden the front a little, but beyond that, I think they'd buckle. I also imagine the bumper itself distorting or the bolts shearing. After all, the whole thing is only as strong as those four small bolts attaching it to the front end. Everything forward of the motor mounts is also going to be one of the weakest crumple zones, designed to buckle left, right, or straight back at any minor provocation. There are just so many ways for things to end badly.

These are pavement queens. They're not body-on-frame, nobody seems to make any winch or sturdy recovery bumpers for them, only grille & brush guards. Any sort of hooking underneath seems likely to damage the cover. There also a complete lack of underbody protection. I wouldn't even trust the new Jeep Grand Cherokee Trailhawks to do much better than an Explorer on trails, but at least they have huge, red recovery hooks which seem to be placed such that using them wouldn't immediately destroy the plastics.

I've been dismantling a wrecked Interceptor which had a hard hit to the front, I'll take some photos of the front end. Let's just say it didn't inspire much confidence in providing a strong recovery point, but I wasn't looking at it with locating a recovery point in mind. Maybe I missed something.

Those 4 bolts are pretty strong plus the rebar is welded to the rail. Trust me I own a shop and I can hook a frame machine to the rebar and put 1000ftlbs of pressure on it and it doesn't give at all. They consider the recovery hook for if you get stuck in mud or in soft grass ... Which happens at times.. it's a car..... Not a truck .. it doesn't have an actual frame it's a unibody theyre designed well enough to serve a simple purpose that an every day driver might come across. Not so much an off roader

 

[realscot2]

I've got a 4WD XLT that I go exploring with ( makes sense right?) Anyway, I was out exploring and found a little mud and well if you care to see the results here.


I have the tow package and a hitch with a recovery hook, I was wondering however if anyone added a recovery point to the front framework of the vehicle. I don't have the lower valence ( I like SUVs to go over curbs ) so I don't have to worry about it. This Explorer is still pretty capable off road for what it is, I take it in sand quite a bit but this mud/clay was finally too much for it and had to be yanked out the back. In a similar situation where I'd be stuck and couldn't be pulled out the back I'd be stuck because I can't be pulled out the front from the little tow hook. Anybody have any experience with this hook by chance?

Hello
I did install 2 tow hooks from a Silverado but I have access to a machine shop with milling machines and ox-acet torches
I removed the front lower air dam which gives u almost 4" more ground clearance to the bottom of the bumper.
However , on the L and R side on the bottom of the bumper there are molded in ribs about an inch tall. I didn't like the way they broke the straight visual line of the bumper so I cut them off .
Doing this removed the inner front wheel well cover support, so I fabricated custom replacement panels out of 1/8" thick ABS plastic sheet.
Now comes the hard part. I spent many weekends bending light gauge steel "brackets" until I got the right config. I then used a torch and bent 2-1/4" wide x 3/8" thk steel bar using a torch. I used the factory holes in the L and R H frame rails that extend forward of the crossframe rail behind the bumper.
I didn't like the look of the hooks mounted under the bumper, so I located where the hooks would come through the bumper skin and pulled the bumper
I used an oscillating saw to make my cut outs and then reinstalled the bumper and mounted my toe hook brackets to the frame rails using grade 8 hardware.
By now u know I'm nuts, but everyone who sees this is amazed. I have almost 11" clearence at the bottom of the front bumper
This project definitely required a very high level of fabricating skill and access to equipment

 

[Bobs2018ExplorerSport]

Hey, realscot2, you were definitely VERY creative, in your approach to adding these hooks to your 2018! Nice work!