Tow hook help?

[Nate1]

Well I know people like I think Alec have covered this, but my brushguard is giving me a little extra trouble.

For the life of me I cannot find a way to mount tow hooks even if I did remove my entire bumper.
I took some pics for those of you that are crafty.
The first pic is a picture of the front of my car, where the frame seems to end at the bumper, where the tow hooks would exit, are highlighted with white circles.
The second is the passenger side brushguard 'drop' bracket.
The third is the driver's side bracket mounting, and the last is how the drop brackets mount to the frame of the car.

I was thinkning that *MABEY* the drop brakets would be strong enough to pull, but I felt the angle would be a little to much, so it was unlikely.
Thanks for any suggestions, I'm pretty stumped.
-----Nate

 

[Nate1]

shamless bump... can anyone help me on this? Anyone that works in a bodyshop or has/knows people that have done this. Anyone I can talk to... anything? I am totally stumped.

 

[SplashMan]

Since your brush guard mounts wrap under your frame rail right where you would bolt the regular type of tow hook that curve down and would block you from attaching a tow strap, I would get a set of the GM style tow hooks that people use and bolt them to the frame rail by drilling holes throughthe brushguard brackets. The GM type one stick straight out and that way you would clear the brackets.Dead Link Removed is a great writeup on tow hooks. Another option is a front mount hitch.

 

[Nate1]

I cant do that, my radiator extends down to far! This is such a pain, a stupid drawback Ford could have avoided. I'll talk to some hitch installtion places to see what they can come up with, that may be my best option. Thanks!

 

[SplashMan]

Your radiator should not be in the way at all. The GM hooks are angled side ways and would bolt up on the bottom of your frame rails. The GM hooks look like candy canes. The hook part of the tow hooks would be accessible through the long opening at the bottom of your bumper.

A front mount hitch is probably your best bet though. You can buy them at www.jcwhitney.com (99.95), there are a bunch of accessories for them and they are pretty easy to install. Good luck and post pics when you get done.

 

[Digger196]

i got a brushguard on the front as wel. only way i can get hook to fit is to drill a hole all the way through the frame to the other side and bolt to there. i also have a ton of spacers and that has worked to me. the hooks are kinda close to the brush guard but they will work. there is enought room to fit a tow strap onto it.

 

[Digger196]

here's how i did mine:

 

[Digger196]

bolt goes threw the intire frame! it was a $%@$# to drill through but i did it!

 

[SplashMan]

Mine are mounted in the same location, but I just stuck a open end wrench through the end of the frame rail and tightened it that way... I don't know if I would trust those with all the washers on there.

 

[Digger196]

well i thought it through and decided to go for it. they are tightened to the max and will test it soon to see how they work. the washers are the thickest ones i could find.

if it doesn't work what should i do?

also i had to add alot of spacers to clear the bumper in the case if i get pulled by a tall truck it will not be touching my bumper.

 

[SplashMan]

I'm no expert and I'm not knocking your creativity, but couldn't you run the strap through the oval in the crome part of the bumper? Maybe use a tree saver sprap to hang between each side (if you have one on each framerail), run the treesaver strap through the tow strap then the tow strap would pull from the center.

 

[Digger196]

good point. didn't think of that. i got a tree saver. i lowered it so i was in the hole in the chrome.

 

[kontinu1]

drilling hint

i just put tow-hooks on my 93explorer yesterday(1st nice day in a long time). I used a 90degree power drill. It's very hard to push up and drill with no leverage, so i placed a car jack under the drill and used that to keep pressure on the drilling. It took me about 40 min start to finish. looks really good