tow hooks help

[anti*commander]

well the other day i went off roading with my buddy, keep in mind i have a completely stock explorer in terms of suspension and tires (tires are stock size, not stock stock), well, going through a nice deep mud pit with a "median" in the middle, i got hung up, and couldnt move with my rear driver tire off the ground, the rear passenger only 6 inches showing, and exaust pipe only 2 inches off the water, i got towed out (thank god) by my buddy with a chain. the thing is it took us forever to attach the chane to where it would be safe to pull me out.

my question's are:

has anyone mounted tow hooks on a 99 explorer and have pictures?

which is better, tow chain or strap? ive read that when a chain breaks its pretty violent, but ive also read that a strap is like a rubber band and stores its energy, and when it snaps, the energey is released very violently.

sorry for my spellin, just worked a 16 hour day.

 

[MountaineerGreen]

Many people mount hooks on the bottom side of the frame, there are pictures somewhere, I don't have any though. Another idea is a hitch for the front- they are available for ~$100 and bolt right on. They make excellent recovery points.

 

[nssj2]

you can go to a chevy dealership and grab a pair for an older (late 90s-early 00s) silverado for relatively cheap. they mount to the bottom up the frame rails up front. i remember seeing a writeup here somewhere.....

 

[beenwrong2002]

i took off the air damn on my 96, its the red outlined area in the pic. The yellow spots are where youll have room to bolt tow hooks on. Plus I think it looks better with the air damn off, makes it look like its got more ground clearance

 

[SkanlaxJMO]

i have tow hooks on the front of my 96'. I bought them for 12 bucks from JC Whitney, i used one existing hole and drilled one hole for each hook in the frame pulled the bumper off, fished the nut through the frame and bolted them on. I removed the lower air dam so i dont have a problem with the spacing of the hooks.

 

[beenwrong2002]

I removed the lower air dam so i dont have a problem with the spacing of the hooks.

^^^^

 

[anti*commander]

thanks for your help guys

if i were to buy some tow hooks from auto zone or walmart or napa etc. would they come with bolts? if not, and i bought them from home depot, would the bolts be strong enough for me to be towed or to tow someone out of fairly deep mud?

 

[schmidlkofer]

make sure they are grade 8.

QUOTE=anti*commander;1768041]thanks for your help guys

if i were to buy some tow hooks from auto zone or walmart or napa etc. would they come with bolts? if not, and i bought them from home depot, would the bolts be strong enough for me to be towed or to tow someone out of fairly deep mud?[/QUOTE]

 

[Paraphoe]

And stay away from chains. Get a good tow strap with loops on either end, NOT the metal hooks.

Here's a picture of my tow hooks on my 97, mounted to the bottom of the frame rails in the front and rear. Sorry only 1 photo is re-sized.

 

[SkanlaxJMO]

why the spacer on the front?...can you get a better pic of the rear?...and where you bolted it, mine doesnt seem to have alot of space int he back.

 

[Paraphoe]

I used the spacer, if I remember correctly, because the bolts were too long and I couldn't get the nut on inside the frame without the spacers. I don't have any closer pictures of the rear right now and I can't get any for you until later in the week. I basically just drilled through the open part of the frame. The nuts are like right up against the upright part of the L part of the open frame. If you really need detailed pix, shoot me a PM Friday afternoon and I can have them up for you within a few minutes.

 

[SkanlaxJMO]

alright thanks, i don't need them right away...cause i am in Ohio at school and my truck is at home in Michigan, but i really do need a rear tow point. When i looked back there and help up one of my front hooks there didn't seem to be enough room.

 

[hunterdan]

I picked up a stock tow hook for the rear from ebay. It mounts to the frame on the drivers side. It looks beefy enough and its factory with no drilling required. I believe you can get them off the newer sports.

Dan

 

[reserved50]

this things lowered so i wanted them kind of hidden and not for heavy pulling

F250? front tow hook

Exploder Sport? rear hook

 

[mounty71]

The bad thing about the sport hook in the above picture is there is no opening to hook a strap up. You'd need a hook on the rope (not recommended) or to double loop the strap through itself. And i hope that a hard tug on the f250 hook doesn't affect the integrity of the crossmember.

 

[beenwrong2002]

i agree 100% sport hooks are only slightly better than nothing :thumbdwn:

 

[reserved50]

Im pretty sure it'll tweak the front cross member or bend the rear loop if anything past pulling it out of a snowbank is required

not for heavy pulling

... just better than ripping off the bumpers

 

[mounty71]

Oh whoops, i missed that part about no heavy pulling. Still though, I wouldnt want to take a chance, but thats just me being overly cautious.