Bumper-mounted trailer hitch bracket for Jeep Wrangler TJ

"Richard J Kinch" > wrote in message
.. .
> Thanks. I don't expect it will. Feel free to gloat if it does. No doubt
> you'll be there, subpoenaed as a plaintiff witness.

Hell, it doesn't seem like that many years ago that you would see trucks
with bumpers made out of railroad rails or 4-6" diameter pipe... Considering
the fact that railroad rails can weigh up to 155 lbs per yd, that made for a
bit heavy bumper....
http://www.allmetalssupply.com/railroad_rail.htm

I even remember seeing one made out of a railroad tie at one time...

You are definitely going the other way in your design... Have you considered
possibly just replacing the stock bumper with something more sturdy? Even
if I wasn't towing anything, I would want to replace the factory bumper...
Bumpers should be able to withstand backing into something at a slow speed
without any damage to them... Perhaps make yourself a bumper out of 4" steel
I-beam? Here's the weights and dimensions for various sizes...
http://www.aceindustries.com/243AmStdShapes.htm

All you would need to do is create a couple of brackets to mate with the
existing factory attachment points... You could either weld a receiver hitch
adapter underneath the I-beam or just drill a few holes and mount a plate
similar to what you current have, but without the bend... I would put the
I-beam in an orientation so that it looked like an 'I' instead of a 'H'...
The mounting brackets would be welded to the inside channel of the I-beam
and as such, supported on 3 sides, making the weld fairly sturdy...

http://www.aceindustries.com/243AmStdShapes.htm

This would still be a fairly cheap solution... Not owning a TJ, I'm not
familiar with the attachment points for its bumper... It is my professional
opinion that one should design for at least as great as the weakest link in
the existing system... Basically, there's no need to put a bank vault door
on a room that has sheetrock walls...

Grumman-581 writes:

> Have you considered
> possibly just replacing the stock bumper with something more sturdy?

This is a long thread. Earlier, I explained why that is not a good idea.

I want a sacrificial bumper to spare the frame in a moderate collision.
The stock TJ bumpers are cheap and easily replaced. (Ridiculously easy;
I've done it. Ridiculously cheap because of all the aftermarket adding-on
yielding surplus stock bumpers on eBay.)

A bumper made of, say, 4 x 4 x 1/4 steel box beam would survive a moderate
collision, but leave you with a bent frame.