Stupid Jeep Tricks

Okay I feel like a big dummy! My wife wanted some shrubs removed from the front of our new house. So I dug and dug and dug and decided, HEY I know I'll yank them out with the jeep! Well I took the tow strap and wrapped around the base of the first shrub. I put the cj in 4 wheel low and creep until the slack is out and then tried to pull. Well the shrub did budge, but my bumper budged way more. Well I guess you'd call it a bumper. I have a 67 cj5 and its the 'bumper' or where one might want to mount a bumper over it.
So the bottom is bent out and I'm wondering if it's not really part of the frame and if I may have done more damage than I think. It's a pretty solid little jeep otherwise. If it's no big deal and just a bent bumper what is the best way to fix it, big sledge? Of course my wife had to see it and shake her head and me.

 

Wait until you decide to pull the "little" bush with the surburban (in reverse because there's a tow hook up front) and the cable tied around the bush breaks and the chain takes out the windshield.

She just stood there and shook her head....

 

Thats not the bumper, but it is the rear cross member. You can buy a new 1 from 1 of the major 4x4 catalogs, or go online.

 

I rebuilt my rear cross member out of 1/4" plate just for that reason. I plan on moving homes from their foundations with my cj5. :v6:

 

Okay I've never posted a picture here before so I hope this works. Tell me what you think.

 

^^ i'll buff out

lots of heat and a hammer - make that a BIG hammer and you can do whatever you want to metal.

 

Thats yer rear crossmemeber. Easily replaced

 

So now I'm wondering if I needed to pull something from the rear or be pulled where would be a good place to place the strap? I don't see any heavy duty hitches for sale for the old cj's either.

 

yeah
i wanna know this too!

 

If you can find a factory drawbar somewhere, that would be the best option. They were a common factory option, but they are made of heavy iron bar and would be expensive to ship.

If I wanted to pull from the rear crossmember, I would use a nylon strap and loop it around the end of each frame rail where it connects to the rear crossmember, making a yoke of sorts. This would pull on the ends of each frame rail rather than on the middle of the crossmember.

Steel is strong, but it is also bendable. If you pull on the crossmember in the middle, where it's least supported by the frame rails, it's going to bend. Same thing will happen to the front bumper if you pull from the middle of it, rather than close in to the frame where it is supported. If you put the strap next to the frame rail, the force will be transferred back into the frame rail in tension. If you pull from the middle of the crossmember, the force will bend the long lever arm from the middle to the frame as well as pulling on the frame ends. Moving the attachment close to the frame rail greatly shortens the lever length, and greatly reduces the bending force. This is no guarantee that it will hold, but the frame in tension is much stronger than the crossmember in deflection. The yoke I suggested above would put the crossmember in compression and the frame rails in tension, which would be much stronger than the crossmember would be in deflection (bending).

Sorry if this is wordy, but it's hard to explain something like this that seems so intuitive.

 

Well I'm relieved that it's a simple fix. I've looked around online for the drawbar which I really like since I'm trying to keep my keep original looking, however no luck. Anyone on here have one to sell or know where I can get one?

 

You could also replace the cross member unless stated otherwise, and check craigslist for an old pintle hitch. I restored mine of a 46 cj2a.

Best of luck!

 

The pintle hitch is interesting. I have to assume it is bolted to a strong point. I'm not really familiar with this type of hitch at all. I guess old equipment would be able to attach to this in some fashion. Maybe this is my route to go since I really don't plan to tow with my jeep at all. I just want a strong point for extraction purposes.

 

Those holes in the center are where the reinforcement bars go. They're flat, thick slabs of steel that tie the center of the crossmember to the framerails. Yours is missing 'em, so don't pull anything else with unless you get it reinforced or rebuild it with thicker steel.

I don't even think you'll need a sledge. Go to Harbor Freight and buy the biggest plastic Orange dead blow hammer they have. That'll do the job without mashing the steel on your crossmember.

 

Well just an update on the bushes. They are gone! My father in laws F150 wouldn't even get them out until we dug and cut roots for a few hours and even then it wasn't easy.

 

Hey I'm really curious about these reinforcement bars that I apparently don't have. Can anyone give me pictures or more details about these please?