- 6,555
- 13,939
- 113
- Location
- Hawthorne, NV.
View attachment 741430View attachment 741431View attachment 741432View attachment 741433View attachment 741434View attachment 741435View attachment 741436View attachment 741437 There are quite a few posts in the archives on this subject, and I read through quite a few of them, and watched a few You Tube vids as well, before coming up with this idea. As with others who posted on the subject of front bumper tow bar mounts, one of my main reasons was to get the 100+ pound tow bar out of the bed of my truck, and safely secured. To go with the tow bar, I purchased a set of tow bar axle clamps, along with a pair of feet just in case I, or a friend, needed a tow. The problem was where do I keep a large heavy set of tow bar axle clamps. My tool box is filled with essentials, that are orderly stored away, leaving me with a little room for the feet, but no room for something the size and weight of the axle clamps. So I started looking at my shackle mounts and thought, gee, could I take my shackles off, and mount the axle clamps there instead, and if they fit, could I mount the tow bar to the axle clamps as well. So I checked to see if the axle clamps would fit on the shackle mounts, and they did, the pin and all. I wanted to keep my front shackles, so I mounted them to the bottom side of the bumper like a M35A3, this also gave me a place where I could still hang my winch chain. Having a titanium plate in my lower back, and a steel plate in my neck, having the tow bar mounted waist high would allow me to undo the tow bar, and mount it to the truck without too much bending over on my part. Also once the tow bar is tightened down it becomes one unit, (pic 6) and can be swung into the up position, allowing me to use my winch. All the parts used here are GI, and don't require modification that would prevent them from being used for their original intended purpose. The only non GI parts I used, are the rubber bumpers, (pic 7) I added them to the front bumper with JB Weld. The bumpers are made of hard auto tire grade rubber, and keep the axle clamp from banging against the bumper. Also the 4 long bolts that are common to the upper and lower shackle brackets should be replaced with longer 11in. grade 8 fine thread bolts. Got mine from Fastenal. The last picture is of the axle clamp chain excess tie wrapped to the rest of the chain so it can be used again as a tow bar axle clamp. So if you have a tow bar and a set of tow bar axle clamps laying around, you can easily do this. I think Floridianson has a set of tow bar clamps for sale at a much better price than what I paid for mine. I have a 780mi. round trip coming up on the 17th for the Tower Park Gathering, so we'll see how it works out on a long distance trip. I sincerely apologize for the lack of paragraphs in this post, as I'm somewhat of a computer illiterate old fart.
![[thumbzup]](https://www.steelsoldiers.com/images/smilies/icon_smile_thumzup.gif "Thumbs Up [thumbzup]"){kind=icon}
