Bumper-mounted trailer hitch bracket for Jeep Wrangler TJ

Actually, Earle, he has two holes drilled into the horizontal part of his attachment for the hooks, fairly small holes it appears as well, for small hooks. That is what got me going on this thought lane. I also agree with your assessment of the primary purpose of the chains. Tomes

You're right, but they're half inch holes. You could put a half inch clevis and half inch safety chains on this rig. That should be robust enough, to rip the bumper right off the vehicle!

Earle

Nope, he has already assured us that it is not possible his thousand pound trailer could ever damage his stock bumper no matter how severe the crash.

Nope, he has already assured us that it is not possible his thousand pound trailer could ever damage his stock bumper no matter how severe the crash.

It's interesting that he is probably spending more time defending his somewhat lacking design than it would take him to design it right...

I had a similar thing happen to me. I was stopped at lights ( 4th/5th vehicle in line ) when there was a teriffic thump at my back. Got out to find trailer drawbar was bent like an inverted V and jammed on to towball. Tailgate and rear floor all mashed. I was hit by a brand new Ford Focus, 84km on the clock, which was hit by a Toyota Tarago which was hit by a Mazda ??? ( all stopped ) which was hit by a Holden Crapadore which did not stop when he should have done. Fortunately the only injury was bruising to a passenger in the Focus. The Focus was probably a write off, mashed bonnet, radiator,doors jammed etc. Not much damage to other vehicles as they all drove off. None to my Patrol, as I have a 3500kg rated Reece tow hitch fitted to it, which is fully used when I have a mini excavator and a small tractor on the car trailer. Damage repair quote & cheque for my box trailer was $486. I bought 100 x 50 box tube and a new hitch for $150 and welded on a new ( much better , stronger ) drawbar, hit the tailgate & floor with a BFH and, other than time spent on repair, am a free trailer + $36 ahead as it only cost $300 when I bought it (used).

Moral - good gear saves damage.

Alan in beautiful Golden Bay, Western Oz, South 32.25.42, East 115.45.44 GMT+8 VK6 YAB ICQ 6581610 to reply, change oz to au in address

Definitely will? On my car? Possibly, but not definitely. Probability is something often misconstrued.

I can see reasonable scenarios that a weak hitch is *beneficial*. Strong enough for towing, but if your rig gets t-boned behind you, it breaks away without further involving the tow vehicle.

Mike Romain proclaimed:

Yeah, sometimes one can almost appreciate why there are liability lawyers that at least sometimes help educate such fools.

Heh. I had a '66 Impala that had the rear bumper middle section pulled out just slightly from one too many U-Hell across country moves. Clown whacked the rear end of it at a stoplight and was so upset when I thanked him for pounding the bumper back into almost perfect alignment I expected him to start swinging fists. Took me several minutes to convince him I wasn't being sarcastic.

L.W.(ßill) Hughes III proclaimed:

Sad thing is, if anything ever does happen with his homemade hitch, this thread will be exhibit A.

Sadder to live in fear of liability and lawsuits. The law is on my side.

OK, well, good luck with that, and I hope that an "I told you so" situation never comes up. Because seems to me that "I know and I don't give a s*it" is worse, to a jury, than "I didn't know".

Good luck.

So, you're saying that you are knowingly creating a situation that will spawn 'sides'. Interesting. _____________________________________________________________________

"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 > Sadder to live in fear of liability and lawsuits. The law is on my side.

Thanks. I don't expect it will. Feel free to gloat if it does. No doubt you'll be there, subpoenaed as a plaintiff witness.

Hell, it doesn't seem like that many years ago that you would see trucks with bumpers made out of railroad rails or 4-6" diameter pipe... Considering the fact that railroad rails can weigh up to 155 lbs per yd, that made for a bit heavy bumper....

You are definitely going the other way in your design... Have you considered possibly just replacing the stock bumper with something more sturdy? Even if I wasn't towing anything, I would want to replace the factory bumper... Bumpers should be able to withstand backing into something at a slow speed without any damage to them... Perhaps make yourself a bumper out of 4" steel I-beam? Here's the weights and dimensions for various sizes...