Well this page is here ot tell you about the purchase and installation of Rusty's Offroad tow hooks and brackets for my Jeep. I ordered my hooks about mid July. I first emailed Rusty about ordering them. Well he phoned me the next day for my credit card info. He is really easy to deal with and he knows his stuff. Thanks Rusty. Well I recieved them about a week later. The installation was really easy to do, well most of it.
The first thing that I did was to remove the bumper. Before you remove the bumper you must disconnect the vacuum bottle on the inside of the bumper. It is located on the passenger side. There is a plug on the outside and all you have to do is just pull it out. You will see what I mean. Now on to the bumper. There are four bolts that need to be removed, two on the bottom and two on the inside of the bumper. Having a friend help out with the bumper is good, but not neccessary. Having the bumper removed really helps with the rest of the installation.
Now it is neccessary to remove the bumper mounts. There are three bolts that need to be removed. Word of caution, these are the tightest bolts that I have ever seen. I thought that I could muscle them off with a socket set. Boy was I wrong. You'll die before they come loose. I finally decided to use the air impact gun. They came out like nothing. Now on to the easy part of the installation.
Once the bolts are removed, remove the bumper mount bracket. Now the rest is pretty easy. Place the tow hook support bracket in the same location that the bumper bracket was, placing the long arm towards the back of the vehicle. Place the bumper mount over top of the hook bracket. Just replace the the three bolts that you just took out. Get them hand tight for now. Now there will be a long bolt with washers and a lock nut. These go through the hole in the long arm of the bracket. This is a little hard to get too but goes on in a breeze. Tighten this up just like the rest of the bolts.
Now that you have all of the bolts tightened by hand, use a socket to get them pretty snug, but make sure that you have the bumper mount positioned to the correct height. If not your bumper will sit crooked, I know from experience. Using a torque wrench, tighten all of the bolts to the specifications in the supplied instructions. Now just repeat the procedure with the other bumper mount and them you are ready to put the bumper back on.
This is where a friend is a big help. Have them hold the bumper near where the bolts go back in. While they are holding and complaining the you are taking too long, tighten the bolts into the bumper. After all of this make sure that the bumper is the same height, believe me that it is a pain to realign the bumper mount. Remember to reattach the hose to the vaccuum bottle on the passenger side of the bumper.
Putting the tow hooks onto the brackets is really easy. Just align the holes in the hook with the holes on the bottom of the support bracket. Just put the bolts throught the holes and tighten the nuts. Follow the instructions as to the torque specs. You will have to notch out your air dam (if you still have it) to allow access to the hooks. A simple utility knife will do. Well that is about it, good luck and happy Jeepin.
**Just a note that there are directions supplied with the hooks from Rusty. They are the real instructions to follow. This write up is just a guideline as to what to expect. Following these instructions alone with out consulting the supplied directions, may result in a poor installation. Thanks again, Mike @ Pennsylvania Cherokee.
