Towing with a TJ or LJ....

[orangeTJ]

Mods, move this if it needs to go to a different forum area.... my initial thought was I'd get more responses and better information if posted here as opposed to the Jeep area....

Anyhoo, the question:

For those that tow with a TJ or LJ and have an aftermarket bumper with hitch built in, do you tow with that (the bumper receiver) or do you prefer the stoutness of a true receiver hitch that bolts under the frame, like one from Valley, Draw-Tite or similar?

I'm running a Rockhard4x4 rear bumper, it has built in hitch, though the depth of the receiver (the hole where you slide the ball mount in to) is shallow and I would have to track down a special ball mount to work with this bumper since there is very little length to it after the pin hole for securing it to the receiver if I were to use it as the hitch.
see pic below to understand what I'm referring to, but nevermind the fact that this isn't a ball mount, but a recovery shackle... you will see that there's less than 1" after the pin hole

BUT, most aftermarket bumpers don't technically give their hitches a "load rating", because of liability issues I presume.....and they probably don't have the resources to put them through their paces to test them and all that jazz...

I'm thinking I'd be better off using a true frame mounted purpose built receiver hitch for towing what little a TJ can tow as opposed to using the bumper's receiver hitch, which has no tow rating..... right now I have no trailer. loosing a bit of clearance at the rear (departure angle) is of no consequence at this point as I have no intentions of doing nasty rock crawling.

Need your thoughts....

 

[tjbliley]

I have used both for towing on my TJ. I used to use a dedicated receiver hitch and now use a aftermarket bumper. The biggest difference I have found is that when using the aftermarket bumper the receiver in it is much higher and I must use drop mounts with a greater chance for twist. Most aftermarket beumpers I have seen do fit your thought process. They say do not tow and only use receiver for cargo. They do not rate the reciever for recovery either. They say the bumper must have dedicated tabs for recovery. I have found that given the GVWR of a TJ/LJ you will not have problems with either but you will find the aftermarket will work better for you.

When I used the dedicated hitch I found that even over smal obsacles I was dragging it over rocks and plowinf with it. There was the benefit that it was extra protection for my gas tank. It took the beating instead of my skid.

 

[Steve Curren]

I had an 2005 LJ with an aftermarket bumper made by 4WD. COM. I have a Chaser and the LJ pulled it just fine even when the trailer was totally loaded, I did get some ACOS from JKS to help with the weight. I could never get my tailgate open with the two hooked up, old dumb me never thought about or heard of a hitch extender.. I now have a JK and plan on getting the extender for the trailer as well as installing the ACOS.

 

[computeruser]

My 2c:

I tow a lot with my TJ, at or above capacity. Loads of logs, soil, gravel, mulch, you name it. The rated receiver hitch is nice, but it's nothing special, really. Just welded steel. It would not be difficult to build a bumper that mounted to the rear cross member AND to the sides of the frame as with the rated hitch. I think this is what I will do if/when I finally replace my bumper, thereby getting the best of both worlds and allowing me to be more sophisticated and bolt a pintle directly to the bumper instead of using this contraption:

 

[TheMike]

I tow my Chaser with a Jeeperman bumper. When the trailer was over 2300 lbs, and we were doing some pretty serious offroading, my bumper showed some stress at the attachment points to the frame (pulling/bending away).

What you might find interesting is that the Jeeperman bumper didn't come with those plates that are sandwiched around the bumper and frame when you install the RockHard bumper. A buddy of mind has the Rockhard so when I noticed those extra support plates on his I called Rockhard and they furnished me with a set. Different manufactures but very similar in design.

To make a long story short, the Rockhard is more than strong enough to tow what ever your Jeep will be rated for (my buddy pulls a popup camper). Since I installed the plates from Rockhard on my Jeeperman bumper, it's perfect and is more than capable to tow anything under any situations. Absolutely no strains and is solid as can be!

Did you install the optional frame bracket? I did on mine.

If you plan to go offroad or tow toward the Jeep rating, then do it if you haven't.

Mike

EDIT: Oh yea, you don't need a special ball mount. Just chop off the end. I believe you need 1" from center of the lock pin hole to the end of the ball mount. It takes 5 minutes with either a chop saw or a sawzall, or a hack saw. Piece of cake, really!

 

[highlandercj-7]

IMHO, All the reciever hitches for the CJ-YJ-TJ-LJ-etc stink they should be labled boat anchors instead. I would rather spend a lil more $$ and get a rockcrawler bumper with a hitch and tow points built in. That said some of them are weak and stink too. My first rear bumper design eliminates all the weaknesses of the OEM bumper and frame design. The frame will break in half before my bumper fails. The main thing on you rig is to make sure that the lower brackets are used to hold the bumper from twisting. Pics of your set up would help us determine the strengh. If your bumper is not adiquate then I'd replace the bumper with one that is before I' goto a reciever hitch.

 

[robert j. yates]

loosing a bit of clearance at the rear (departure angle) is of no consequence at this point as I have no intentions of doing nasty rock crawling.

Need your thoughts....

....if that is truely the case, find a good frame mounted reciever that tucks up put of the way as much as possible and go for it. If you decide on a trailer with off road tires, you can always turn a drop hitxch upside down to gain the necessary height

 

[orangeTJ]

revival of an old thread i started....

I do have the frame tie-ins on my Rockhard4x4 bumper, they look like this:

but I am using all three bolt locations on the side plates.

Problem I am having with regard to finding a receiver hitch (still up in the air about doing that or using what I have - the bumper) is some of the hitches wrap up around the frame and use some of the bolt holes taken by the frame-tie ins... of course, I don't know which brand hitches do or don't , or maybe they all do - don't know yet since the info in catalogs or online isn't specific about that.

if anyone has a hitch on their TJ, and could provice me details about it, that would help narrow my search/decision about whether to even buy a hitch or not.

 

[Cruiser]

I have towed with my tj,, when I still had it,, I did not trust the bumpers for bigger trailers as they were made for cargo and not the stresses of towing a trailer. Ask the fabricator of the bumper for his input. A good fabricator should be able to make a rear bumper that can be used for towing, tie into the frame better AND have a correct depth receiver... The receivers were made short to keep people from towing trailers. This will make them harder to use thus making people not want to use them.. I had a homemade rock bumper and a well tucked up hitch on my tj,, this helped a lot,, I used the bumper for my cargo box I made, and could still hook up my cargo trailer with my dirt bike.. Wish I took a picture of that.. Trailer and tj are long gone now..
Check out your local jeep club for a good fab guy in your area..
Steve

 

[JJonesee]

You will need to make modifications to any hitch to run it with the bumper you have. The mopar hitch I took off to install my Shrockworks used both of the holes on the side of the frame and the two on the bottom.

My Shrockworks, while not officially rated has not blinked at the towing I have done. Most of the manufactures dont take the necessary efforts to rate the hitches for legal reasons.

http://www.shrockworks.com/Jeep-Tir...Jeep-Spare-Tire-rack-Swing-Away-pr-16201.html

I think if the quality of the bumper is there, and it is properly loaded, I will still keep an eye on it. I mean lets face it - you are going to stop at least every 300 miles, so checking it should not be to bad.

 

[orangeTJ]

I rethought the idea of towing with the bumper and realized to do so, with the current trailers I have (which aren't offroad models) I'd need a drop hitch of 8" or so, which is a bit excessive. Also required, would be to cut the tail off the hitch, so there was no more than about 1" of metal left behind the hole for the pin that secures it to the receiver.
And I already have enought ballmounts in my collection, and one with a large drop would only see limited use.

I started looking for a hitch again, and in very short order I FOUND ONE!!! (one that bolts exclusively below the frame and doesn't use the holes on the side, which are used up by my frame tie-ins)

It's made by Curt Manufacturing, It's the model 13408.

I've ordered stuff from etrailer.com before, and they have free shipping if you order over $150.00.


http://www.etrailer.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?screen=PROD&Store_Code=E&Product_Code=13408

Supposing I ever go to Moab or other places where I'd need the clearance, (lots of places in Moab where'd I'd drag the hitch across the rocks) I'd simply take the hitch off.