So. . .Coleman Cooler and Ron at 4wheelin' Plus hooked me up with a sweet price on a set of Rugged Ridge Tow Hooks for Orville (Popcorn was too obvious, so he's been renamed. In keeping with the theme of male names for off-road rigs, Orville seemed appropriate. Why male names? Well, you would NEVER treat a lady like I treat an off-road machine. But, I digress).
The kit came complete with tow hooks that have safety latches and all of the hardware that you will need. In addition to what comes in the kit, you will need a 15MM socket/ratchet, a couple of 3/4" hand wrenches (it is a HUGE help if one of them is a gear wrench) and a T45 Torx. This is the same size torx that typically works for seatbelts, roll cages, and sometimes brake calipers on Jeeps, so you SHOULD have one. If not. . .now you know.
Step 1. (disconnect, remove, etc. your vacuum canister)Loosen the T45 bolts that hold the bumper to the bumper bracket. Then remove the 6 15mm bolts that hold the bumper bracket to the uniframe and remove the whole bumper as one unit.
Step 2. Put the tow hook brackets in place and apply the 1/2" lag bolts/nylocks through the uniframe just snugged up. It is very helpful to use one of the bumper bracket bolts to keep everything sorta lined up.
On the passenger side, a 3/4" gear wrench works GREAT because of lack of clearance on the alternator.
But the driver's side really needs an end wrench because the Power Steering box is in the way. . .to bad you can't get air tools in there. . .
Step 3: Put the bumper back on. I didn't get a picture of this, but since the rearmost bolt in the bumper bracket is immobile, you can use this one as a guide and line up the marks that the bolts left on the bracket. This leaves the bumper brackets in the same place they were originally and aligns the bumper vertically. Since you already loosened the T45s that hold the bumper to the bracket, you can simply slide the bumper back and forth until it is lined up.. .then tighten everything up, including the 1/2" lag bolts that came with the kit.
Step 4: Now that everything is TIGHT (45 lbs on the 15mm bolts and 50+ on the lag bolts (even though there is no way to get a torque wrench on them)), install the tow hooks on the brackets using the included hardware and a couple of 3/4" wrenches. This is the one and only place that air tools would be handy. I had some time, so I didn't bother even turning the compressor on. It should look like THIS:
The install was very easy and took about 30 minutes total. The product looks to be very high quality and could even be used as a base for another future product. The good/bad news is that the hooks eat up a couple of inches of approach angle. Why I say good/bad is that the only time it is a bad thing is if you are approaching a ledge squarely. Other than that, if the hooks hit something, they are saving your tie rod from the abuse.
One more mod before the FYBR. What's in the Box Jimmy???
Orville gets recovery points: XJ Tow Hook Install
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Re: Orville gets recovery points: XJ Tow Hook Install
OldGreen wrote: including the 1/2" lag bolts that came with the kit.
It came with lag bolts? Do those things have wood in the 'frame'?
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