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Tow hooks not meant for off-road recovery?

26K views 65 replies 21 participants last post by  ramato 
#1 ·
When I picked up my 17 TH the sales guy explaining how to use all the features of the car specifically called out the tow hooks, saying that they weren't meant to be used for recovery. He said the tow hooks are intended to allow you to tow obstacles (large, fallen trees, for example) out of your way when off-road.

This struck me as odd. I couldn't find much in the owner's manual about the tow hooks themselves, just instructions on the safety precautions around using the recovery strap, not using a damaged strap, etc. Yet I've seen plenty of YouTube videos of people using their tow hooks for recovery. The only downside I think I saw was that the tow hooks are covered in something like plastidip, and so you might damage the red cover over the metal hooks, but other than that it seems fine.

That said, the sales guy was also a little off on a few other minor details. Is he wrong on this one too? I asked, "So, if I go off-road and get stuck, what should I use for recovery, then?" and he didn't really have much of an answer, so I'm assuming he just got some bad information from an overly cautious co-worker.
 
#4 ·
He might have got confused if someone told him the hooks couldn't be used for towing the vehicle behind another vehicle.
 
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#6 ·
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe the tow hooks are rated for something like 6000-8000lbs. They can tow people out of recovery situations. The tow hooks are definitely not for show.

If that were the case, I would not have been able to tow the person out of a ditch during a snow storm late last year using the rear tow hook. ;)
 
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#7 ·
According to @Len1304, the tow hooks have no official weight capacity rating, and FCA has declined to comment when directly asked (probably because no such rating exists, and they're trying to limit possible exposure to lawsuits).
 
#18 ·
Pedestrian safety starts with not hitting them! Kinda' like gun safety starts with keeping your finger off the trigger.... I have a hard time imagining a tow hook making the difference in a human VS car altercation.

That really sucks for you @Toy. I personally don't even like to wheel with people that don't have a front recovery method. I've had too many sketchy and unsafe instances trying to recover a vehicle from the rear where a little front tug would've been all that was needed.
 
#26 · (Edited)
funny thing is, the funny designers, only put the threaded hole in the rear bumper. not the front bumper even tho the front bumper has a circular plastic hole & cover, as-if there was a threaded hole behind it. for purelithium it just screws into an existing threaded hole behind a circular plastic cover in the back bumper. I have a 2014 limited w ADI
 
#27 ·
funny thing is, the funny designers, only put the threaded hole in the rear bumper. not the front bumper even tho the front bumper has a circular plastic hole & cover, as-if there was a threaded hole behind it. for purelithium it just screws into an existing threaed hole behind a circular plastic cover in the back bumper. I have a 2014 limited w ADI
As the old saying goes... "your mileage may vary". This is true of designers and engineers, but especially of the accountants that make decisions that often override the designers and engineers. Go figure...
 
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#28 ·

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#30 ·
Here you go. From the tow truck drivers manual of sorts.







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#34 ·
I don't have my Cherokee right now but the t hooks and j hooks holes are just that, holes in the subframe for attaching these.


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#39 ·
my 4 runners were convenient cuz they had a tow hook up front & leaf springs in the back. my 1st one even had leaf springs up front. used to carry a loop of chain to throw around the rear leaf shackle. never used it but musta read about it somewhere or maybe I saw a driver pull me out once. was in the woods at night and dropped a front wheel in a hole. had to walk 2 miles to the road & hitch a ride to the popo station (before cell phones) they got me a 4wd tow truck but the guy had very little room to work. so he set up a tree saver and rigged a 90ish degree pull. he was on the side of me but the rig pulled me back toward where he rigged the tree. cost me $60
 
#40 ·
I've done a 90 degree pull. Even have video of it on my YouTube channel. The tricky ones are all about how you rig the recovery and I love doing recovery.


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#45 ·
yeah was thinking that steel sheet metal was only 1/4" thick in those areas


When I get my Cherokee back from basically being rebuilt I'll put it up on a lift and see what could be used as a good recovery point.


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#48 ·
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#50 ·
Made that mistake once of using them as a jacking point, which they aren't strong enough for. Hi-lift jack got stuck in the up position and broke. Then the jeep shifted weight and the jack landed on the body.




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#62 ·
anyone have a pic of the Hi-Lift jack attached to a Jeep KL? those jacks look like the old OEM jacks that used to come w regular cars like my Dad's Olds Delta 88. back then the bumper had a slot & the jack had a finger of sorts that fit into the slot. used it plenty of times to change a flat. with all the plastic on modern cars I'd be interested to see how the Hi-Liftgets attached
 
#64 ·
Funny you should mention this. One of the first tires I ever had to change was on mom and dad's 1975 Olds Delta 88 with the jack you describe. The Hi-Lift works on the same principal but accomplishes it in a more robust way. This type of jack is also referred to as a "Farm" jack because they come in relatively long lengths that are usable for lifting high ground clearance machinery typically found on farms, such as tractors.

As you pointed out, all of the plastic on modern vehicles makes it really difficult to lift with anything other than something placed under the vehicle. I haven't read the accompanying directions, but I'm pretty sure the jack that came with your KL says to only use on perfectly level and firm ground and only on the designated lifting points. These are obviously ideal circumstances, but how often do you need to jack a vehicle under ideal conditions? Once you add something like the RRO sliders to your vehicle, the designated lifting points the lifting pad of the factory jack is designed to mate with are no longer usable. Now I needed a solution that did not include carrying a floor jack in the back of the TH. The combination of the Hi-Lift and other available accessories allow you to lift via the sliders, via the wheels and in a few other ways. None of them ideal. When I came across the DLA discussed in this other post:
http://jeepcherokeeclub.com/66-off-...recovery-hooks-clevis-mounts.html#post2562849
I decided that coming up with a clevis mount solution for the front of the KL was worthwhile just from the improved safety alone.
 
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