Jeep Articles / Technical and Installation (Custom 4X4 Fabrication?s Cherokee Tow Hooks)

Custom 4X4 Fabrication?s Cherokee Tow Hooks

Article written by Rico

Date Added: 06/01/2006

On a recent Moab trip it became readily apparent how important tow hooks are, the Jeep Cherokee does not have a frame to solidly mount tow hooks, so a little help is needed.

One company that offers a fix for the Cherokee?s lack of mounting points is Custom 4X4 Fabrication. I can?t give you any particular reason as to why I chose them but in the end I chose wisely? or maybe lucky.

Each kit comes with two hooks and two sets of brackets to reinforce the unibody structure. The brackets are made from (powder coated) 3/16? plate steel. One (small) bracket mounts to the cross member at the front of the Cherokee. The other, very long bracket, attaches to the structure running back from the front cross member. When brackets are attached together a very solid structure is created with the stress on the unibody spread over a large area.

Installation is rather simple, but does take a few minutes to figure out what you?re looking at in the diagrams. To simplify matters, remove the front bumper prior to trying to figure out the diagrams. With the bumper removed the diagrams suddenly make perfect sense.

Installation

1. Using the included diagram, showing the layout of the brackets and hooks, it will become readily apparent as to their placement on the vehicle.

2. Working one side at a time remove all the necessary bolts. The clip on threaded clips (two of them) will need to be removed.

3. Attach the brackets with the new hardware. (small bracket not shown)

4. Mount the tow hook to the newly installed brackets.

5. Repeat for the other side

6. Re-install the bumper.

Installation Issues

The front mounting bolt for the hook is a bit long. When it passed through the nut, the end of the bolt will run into a sheet metal bracket and bend the side. We suspect this is not really a concern but to prevent the bending of the sheet metal we used a couple washers to take up some of the length of the bolt preventing the bracket from bending.

Final Thoughts

So what do we think? Excellent product, solidly built. Without a doubt we would recommend this product to any Cherokee owner. Installation is simple and can be done within one hour providing you remove the bumper before trying to figure out how it all goes on.

Purchase / Vendor Info

Vendor Name:	Custom 4X4 Fabrication
Address:	11825 S.E., OK 73165
Phone:	405-799-7599
Website:	http://www.custom4x4fabrication.com