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If you add towing package (hitch)...do you lose the tow hook?

JPG

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Are the rear recovery points "real" recovery points or transport tie points ? We have those on the FJs and, even if we use them for recovery, they are described by Toyota has transport hooks that are use to tie down the vehicle during transport. We mostly use the rear hitch for recoveries which is bolted straight into the frame. The Bronco hitch looks "flimsy" to me, since it pinches the cross bar.
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Rubicon 2 Badlands

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Got a question for you on that.
I'm getting the tow package and I have a hitch-mounted shackle.

Pros and cons of recovering using the factory recovery point vs. the hitch-mounted shackle?

I get that the recovery point is secure to the frame vs. the hitch shackle which has an additional potential failure point. But I would also think that in many situations recovering from the center might be preferable to the offset line of pull.
I would think that you want to recover from the factory recover points versus the Hitch shackle. Since the tow hitch is only rated for 3,500 lbs and your vehicle ~5,000 lbs, you could definitely have a failure if most of the vehicle weight gets loaded up on the hitch.
 

Natai

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I would think that you want to recover from the factory recover points versus the Hitch shackle. Since the tow hitch is only rated for 3,500 lbs and your vehicle ~5,000 lbs, you could definitely have a failure if most of the vehicle weight gets loaded up on the hitch.
Thanks. That's the general direction I'm leaning as well.
Though it did occur to me that a DOT rating to safely tow (and stop) a trailer is not necessarily the same as able to recover a vehicle that is able to turn and stop itself.
 

Rubicon 2 Badlands

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Thanks. That's the general direction I'm leaning as well.
Though it did occur to me that a DOT rating to safely tow (and stop) a trailer is not necessarily the same as able to recover a vehicle that is able to turn and stop itself.
The fix will be a third party, heavy steel bumper with welded on shackle points. Could hook up to anywhere on it. (y)
 

NVCowboy

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I was gonna get snarky with a response about my trailers getting hitched to the center of the vehicle safely away from the recoverypoint. Then everyone chimed in with reasoned responses and things I didn't know about receivers making poor recovery points and Ranger tow packages deleting the hooks. Sh!t. I'll be over here in the corner, humble pie and all.
 

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kellyweiss

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The Bronco comes with a rear tow hook. If you add the towing package (hitch)...do you then lose the tow hook on the BRONCO? The reason I ask; I have a Ranger Tremor on order also. It comes with 2 rear tow hooks...but....when you add the towing package/hitch....the rear tow hooks are lost because they mount to the same location. Does the same hold true for the BRONCO ???????????????
TowHOOK.jpeg
No.

2023 FORD BRONCO.jpg
 

zuke

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I've read about several cases of the crossmember the hitch attaches to bending/twisting, I definitely wouldn't want to use it as a recovery point, Especially a kinetic recovery that involved shock loading.

If you have two factory points, and want to get a straighter pull rig a bridle up;

https://l2sfbc.com/4x4-bridle-recovery-forces/
 
 


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