Help with Tow Hooks Installation

[johnnydee3]

I am trying to put some toe hooks on the front of my X. I was just wonderiung how everyone is doing this because I cant seem to get it to work...thanks in advace

 

[dirtyXplorer]

Here is how I did mine, Its hard to tell in the picture but they are in the inside of the frame rails. I have a BL so it raised up the bumper and I used the holes that were there.

 

[unclemeat]

I had plates machined. The plates bolted to the frame through the stock crumple holes. The tow hooks bolt to the plates.

 

[SuRrEaLNJ]

drilled straight up through the frame and mounted with 6" bolts

 

[johnnydee3]

is there a certain type of drill bit that ur supposed to use when drilling through steel...because I have tried this before and it didnt work out to well..

 

[924x4]

Just a sharp one it will make a world of difference. there are Stronger types of drill bits out there though.You can get them at any tool/hardware store.

 

[unclemeat]

Try drilling small holes then enlarge them with bigger bits.

 

[johnnydee3]

k...ill definitly try that...thanks for the help guys

 

[BillyBob82]

Hey Dirty X-

Did you buy that grille guard from jc whitney?...Just curious as to where you bought it b/c they sent me one that looks identical to yours. I think they sent me the wrong size, thuogh. I'm sending it back this weekend.

 

[little x]

why do you think it's the wrong size? What doesn't align?

 

[BillyBob82]

if you notice in the picture, the lower mounting tabs line up with the stock mounting points on the bumper. On the grille guard jc sent me, the mounting tabs don't reach the factory mounting points. In other words, on dirty x's truck, he only had to drill 2 holes-on the top of the bumper, the bottom two were there from the factory. It's as if they sent me a grille guard for a smaller truck, like a toyota. The other way I know is that the light guards actually touch the blinkers instead of wrapping around them.

 

[FROADER]

Mine are similar to Dirty's, but welded on the outside of the frame. I still want to get some bolts through them for added strength, but so far they've been ok.

 

[Dora The 4x4'a]

dirty.. whats the word on that skid plate you got up front?..wherd ya get it?..

 

[dirtyXplorer]

BillyBob82-

I started with the Whitney grill guard but it didn't fit at all..I found this one on craigs list. It really is just for looks, I have hit it on rocks and bent it back by hand

Dora-

I made the skid plate of of a sheet of aluminum...It was easy to make, you can even buy plates of aluminum form Home Depot and drill some holes. Hopefully it will save the bottom of my radiator from small things

Froader has the right idea, on the side of the frame rail they are out of the way from banging on stuff. I need to weld mine someday, bolts are good but you cant go wrong welded and bolted

 

[general x]

Just a note on drilling through steel, working as a apprentice mechanic a fellow mechanic happened to tell me in school he learned when drilling a hole of a rather large size to first drill a pilot hole then drill the big hole, the first hole should only be the size of the tip of the drill bit you are going to use for the final hole. Ive found this works well if your drill bits are sharp, i've also found using an air drill works fine for the pilot hole but an electric drill is the way to go when drilling larger holes as low speed seems to work best and a fast drill on large bits tends to dullen them very quickly and you get nowhere....drilling a small size then a larger size then a larger size has a bad effect when drilling through tough steel I found out shortly before being told the above info when trying to drill out a wheel stud on a daitin hub...the first hole drills through fine but every size up you go, theres less and less cutting edge being utilized to drill the hole and it tends to screw up the outer edges of the drill bits

Just my .02 cents