BenS
Golden Monkey Addict
- Joined
- June 22, 2000
- Messages
- 530
- Reaction score
- 0
- City, State
- Mohnton, PA
- Year, Model & Trim Level
- 1997 Explorer Sport
Tow Hook Installation On 1997 Sport
After I installed my body lift, my 97 Sport had absolutely nothing as a decent tow point in the front or rear. After doing a lot of research I decided to install some universal tow hooks. My biggest hang-up was how I was going to go about mounting them. I knew I didn't want to install them on the bottom of the frame rail because I didnt want them hanging down below my bumper. I decided to install all the hooks on the side of the frame rails. Enjoy!
The Front:
The frame rails of 2nd gen. explorers are capped in the front by a piece of metal which is used to attach the bumper. This forms a T. Since I wanted to install the hooks on the side of the frame rail, this caused an accessibility issue. To get around this, I installed the hooks on the inside of the frame rail but angled toward the ground. I was able to take advantage of two existing holes in the frame and only had to drill one hole for each hook. Once the holes were ready for the bolts, I was at a bit of a loss as to how to actually get a nut inside the frame rail onto the bolt. After messing around with a magnet wand, I came up with a very simple method. Tape the nut to a wrench! Then you just line up the nut on the wrench with the bolt and spin the bolt onto the nut. Once the nut is on the bolt you just pull the wrench off, take off the tape, and then tighten it down.
Closeup of front hook
In this pic you can just see the hooks below the frame horns:
Front view of Explorer
The Rear:
The frame rails in the rear are much easier to deal with because they are just L shaped. I was also fortunate enough to utilize two existing holes behind the rear bumper also. After drilling two additional holes on each side, I was ready to bolt the hooks down. I had to use 2 half inch washers per bolt because the tow hook was hitting my bumper bracket without the washers. These hooks were mounted horizontaly on the side of the frame. They are easily accessible but cannot be seen below the bumper. These turned out nicely also.
Rear hook
Inside view of rear hook
After I installed my body lift, my 97 Sport had absolutely nothing as a decent tow point in the front or rear. After doing a lot of research I decided to install some universal tow hooks. My biggest hang-up was how I was going to go about mounting them. I knew I didn't want to install them on the bottom of the frame rail because I didnt want them hanging down below my bumper. I decided to install all the hooks on the side of the frame rails. Enjoy!
The Front:
The frame rails of 2nd gen. explorers are capped in the front by a piece of metal which is used to attach the bumper. This forms a T. Since I wanted to install the hooks on the side of the frame rail, this caused an accessibility issue. To get around this, I installed the hooks on the inside of the frame rail but angled toward the ground. I was able to take advantage of two existing holes in the frame and only had to drill one hole for each hook. Once the holes were ready for the bolts, I was at a bit of a loss as to how to actually get a nut inside the frame rail onto the bolt. After messing around with a magnet wand, I came up with a very simple method. Tape the nut to a wrench! Then you just line up the nut on the wrench with the bolt and spin the bolt onto the nut. Once the nut is on the bolt you just pull the wrench off, take off the tape, and then tighten it down.
Closeup of front hook
In this pic you can just see the hooks below the frame horns:
Front view of Explorer
The Rear:
The frame rails in the rear are much easier to deal with because they are just L shaped. I was also fortunate enough to utilize two existing holes behind the rear bumper also. After drilling two additional holes on each side, I was ready to bolt the hooks down. I had to use 2 half inch washers per bolt because the tow hook was hitting my bumper bracket without the washers. These hooks were mounted horizontaly on the side of the frame. They are easily accessible but cannot be seen below the bumper. These turned out nicely also.
Rear hook
Inside view of rear hook
