Bumper-mounted trailer hitch bracket for Jeep Wrangler TJ

I would think that welding a 2" receiver hitch receptacle to the bottom of the angle bracket would give you more flexibility... It would lower the trailer tongue enough that you probably wouldn't have to worry about your door hitting it... If your vehicle is lifted, you could use a 2" receiver with a drop so that the trailer could be towed in a more level attitude... You would also have the option to use the 2" receiver for a bike rack or cargo carrier...

Agreed. I may modify it later like you say, but for now I just wanted the minimum cost and effort to tow a small boat, improvising a step bumper like on a pickup truck.

Bumper-mounting a 2-inch receiver strikes me as an awkward combination, like hanging an oxen yoke on a pony.

Which group are you posting from so I can drop the crossposting to the other... I'm in r.a.m.j+w...

The thing is, it gives you a lot more flexibility for other attachments that you don't have with smaller receivers or just a bumper hitch... It also gives you the option for a receiver mounted winch that you could move from the front to the rear (assume that you also did the same thing on the front bumper)... I've been considering mounting 2 extra 2" receivers on my rear bumper and making a custom cargo carrier such that it would have three 2" supports that would slide into the three receivers... That would make for a 'ell of a sturdy cargo carrier...

The bumper mounted 2" receivers that I've seen previously also have a 45" piece of plate steel welded on both sides of the 2" receiver to the mounting plate so that it will provide more resistance to twisting... Probably more of an issue with a cargo carrier than a trailer...

Nice and simple. The thing I am worried about is the strength of the connection between the bumper and the Jeep itself. Tomes

The bumper on the Wrangler is not not strong enougth for trailer loading to the 2000 pound towing capacity of the Jeep (assuming you have the

I'm fairly certa> Here is my design for a bumper-mounted Jeep Wrangler TJ trailer hitch: >

While I'm sure there are some extremely light duty applications where this would suffice and be more cost effective, a 2" drawbar type hitch is FAR more versatile. Especially one integrated into a bumper. On that note, the added 'tail' to the vehicle reduces departure angle. I'd hate to come down on a rock with that. For those reasons, I'd personally never consider purchasing this type of hitch. I wish you good luck with your design, however. Let us know how it works out.

tw _____________________________________________________________________

"There is a very fine line between 'hobby' and 'mental illness'."

Pronunciation: 'jEp Function: noun Date: 1940

Etymology: from g. p. (G= 'Government' P= '80 > Here is my design for a bumper-mounted Jeep Wrangler TJ trailer hitch: >

I guess you didn't actually read the page, where I say as much.

The point is to get *some* capacity without spending $150 for a real frame hitch and drawbar.

I don't think I would trust the stock bumper on a TJ to pull anything. When I ordered my 2000 TJ with towing package it had a separate tube and receiver mounted off of the frame rails and not to the bumper itself as they told me it would not hold up to towing....... it is very thin channel that is mounted to the cross member mainly and not the frame. I would be very leery about doing this. Nice design though...

Tom

I have the mopar towbar - it attaches to the frame at 6 points using 1/4" plate. Pretty substantial.

Dave Milne, Scotland '91 Grand Wagoneer, '99 TJ

If you get pulled over by the highway patrol, you will/should get busted for something as dumb as that. Not meaning to be a jerk or anything but Wow...

The bumper isn't rated for towing or even jacking up under so technically that is an illegal hitch, let alone an unsafe one.

The TJ bumper isn't even strong enough to tow a TJ out of a snowbank without bending or tearing off, let alone pulling almost the 'legal' limit that the TJ can handle which is 2000 lb. Your 1000 lb boat, plus trailer, plus gear inside is easily the limit.

Sorry man, it just isn't a good idea.

Just FYI, even the expensive 2" receiver bumpers with the 2" hitch built in have a warning on them that says they are 'not' legal for towing, only legal for putting a bike rack or some other type of rack into.

Mike

Yeah, it does seem a bit flimsy, like the original bumpers on my XJ... Perhaps his next project should be to design a real bumper for his TJ that utilizes the original bumper's mounting points in addition to the mounting points for the factory receiver hitch... Make the entire bumper out of 1/4" steel so that you can jack the car up with it... Might as well consider closing off parts of it for an emergency air tank also...

Mike, you're in Canada. I once passed an accident scene, where failure to use safety chains, led to a boat trailer coming loose from the tow vehicle, jumping through an oncoming vehicle's windshield and killing the driver. The driver of the tow vehicle got a faulty equipment citation, but was allowed to hook up again and drive home! On the way back from wherever I had been going, I saw him hooking up the trailer, with help from the state patrol. Now the law in Colorado says, that safety chains are required, and legally a manslaughter prosecution would not have been out of line here. It didn't happen. Maybe the guy paid a fine, but I doubt it.

That is one of the things, that helped me decide to move to western Colorado. The law is the same there, but the number density of jerks like that is less, and you have more chances to avoid them.

I have one of those bumpers you are talking about. I use it for a bike rack.

Earle

That is what I am doing. Making my own swing arm bumper, with a 2" hitch receiver in the middle of the bumper tube..... These pictures don't have the hitch cut and welded in yet, but it will be dead center of the main bumper. The whole thing will bolt to the frame rails where my current hitch bolts now and also use the crossmember mounts that the standard bumper has.

Very nice job...but the question is, when will _mine_ be ready? ;) _____________________________________________________________________

"There is a very fine line between 'hobby' and 'mental illness'."

Pronunciation: 'jEp Function: noun Date: 1940

Etymology: from g. p. (G= 'Government' P= '80 > That is what I am doing. Making my own swing arm bumper, with a 2" hitch

Possibly not legal, in Kalifornia at least. But then Law Enforcement hasn't been enforcing little laws like this very vigorously lately ;-) (When was the last time anyone got stopped for misaligned headlights?)

...

Mine are aligned perfectly... One lets me see what is in the ditch on the right side of the vehicle, the other lets me see what is in the trees on the other side...

Jerk or not, your legal opinion is baloney.

The stock bumper is essentially a 3 x 4.5 inch 3.5-sided 13 gage steel box beam 50 inches long. Maybe someone can calculate the strength of this member.

We're talking about towing a small rig under 1000 lbs, not dragging the universe behind.

My mechanical intuition is that it is plenty strong when properly fitted. It doesn't visibly flex when I jump on the step.

Bad idea. Bumpers are weaker than the frame so they absorb impact energy instead of bending the frame. You put a heavy bumper (or a frame hitch for that matter) on the back of your car, and many collisions are going to result in frame damage that would have just been a simple bolt-on swap of a new bumper.

On a previous rear-ended TJ I was able to replace a crunched back bumper with a $25 OEM item from eBay (surplus to somebody's aftermarket upgrade) with hand tools. The other guy had $1000s in damage.

I wonder if people buying all those macho aftermarket bumpers understand that they've *given up* a lot of their crash protection?

The frame-mounted receiver hitches are much worse in that regard.