Advise on installing tow hooks on 95 Cherokee Sport

Feb 16, 2006 12 Replies
N

I'm planning on going to Terra Del Sol this year, and decided that I should have some tow hooks on the Jeep in case I need to get pulled out of a jam.



Looking at the frame under the front end, I can't see a good place to mount them :( There isn't a place where I would be able to install the mounting bolts due to the "boxed" (?) section of the frame.



Am I missing something, or should I pay to have the hooks *welded* onto the frame? (There is also the matter of the 4" wide "skirt" running across the front end, under the bumper - I suppose I could just have a notch cut in it to expose the hook(s)?)



Anyone have examples of how/where to install hooks on a Cherokee? (I'm thinking of just using a receiver hitch hook for the rear.)



TIA



(95 Cherokee Sport; 4.0L; Auto; 235/ 75R15 Goodyear Wrangler ATs)



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C

Welding on the uni-body of the XJ isn't a good idea. Someone sells brackets, but I forget the company. Can you install them under the sway bar mounts, and put the sway bar mount on top of them? That is where a front reciever hitch mounts. Check with your local 4x4 shop.

Carl

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N

Maybe I need to take another look, but I was *sure* I saw frame rails under my XJ !?! (All the links above refer to unibody) If I'm wrong, I'm glad I didn't buy the hooks yet, cuz the special brackets required for a unibody are a lot more work than I planned :(

...

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M

They call it a 'uniframe' more than a unibody because there are frame rails all the way along.

The problem is there is no frame out to the bumper so you need frame extensions to fit tow hooks on. They are pretty beefy too.

Mike

86/00 CJ7 Laredo, 33x9.5 BFG Muds, 'glass nose to tail >
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N

Yeah, I looked again and it looks kinda like a hybrid unibody on frame. But it does look like actual frame rails through the engine conpartment. I just cant see how I would mount typical hooks, so I'll have to look into these alternate bumper mount brackets to mount them.

Thanks again. ...

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M

Figure it this way Bill, the engine and leaf springs sit on those rails as well as the body.....

Sure it isn't a boxed frame under the body, it's a sideways C channel frame, just like you like except tilted. ;-)

Mike

"L.W.(ßill) Hughes III" wrote:

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B

My son's buddy cut rectangular holes in the front bumper to access the hooks ... rather than a notch like you're thinking. The hooks protrude about halfway through the bumper.

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S

I used tow hooks and brackets from Rusty's Offroad

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on my 92 XJ and installation was not hard. All bolt-on, and everything was in their kit. I cut a couple pieces out of the plastic fascia under the bumper to access the hooks.

SEG.

n> I'm planning on going to Terra Del Sol this year, and decided that I

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