First- thanks to everyone for the great ideas. You've given me some great things to consider and opened up a bunch of options.
The two rectangular holes in the pipe on your bumper could be filled with a 1/2" steel flat plate to provide mounting surface for 5ton type tow bar attachment points. That's how I'd do it if I were using your bumper.
Here's a pic of the redtruck's rear bumper, made to be compatible with military equipment. -
Interestingly, I have no clue what the real purpose of those two rectangular holes are for but they work great with our forklift when I need to jack up the front end for something. Rumor has it those two holes were purpose added by Ranch Hand to appease the installers and allow them to simply use a forklift to hold the new bumper in place while it was fitted (bolted or welded) by one person. Either way, I prefer to keep those holes as so I can continue to use our fork.
How wide is the flange (between yellow arrows)on the front of your push bar? If your tow-bar feet will straddle it, maybe build up both sides of the web with plate (in red) then drill a hole for the pins?
The flange is 1 1/2" wide. I don't know if the medium tow bar I have will straddle it. I don't have access to my tow bar at this moment so I can't be sure but that is a good idea.
Or add a protruding, heavy tab on one side or preferably in the center of the upright.
Yes, another good idea but I prefer not to weld something if I can prevent it. I do like 98G's original idea of bolting on tow tabs....
Or, a snug fitting tube going through both of your existing tow eyes, with tow-bar axle clamps on the outside of the eyes?
That sounds like a really good idea but I'll need to buy a set of axle clamps. I need them anyway so I do like it. Additionally, this gave me the idea of using the axle clamps on the lower round pipe that's already welded in place in between the tow eyes. That pipe is 2 1/2" in diameter and looks stout enough to be used for towing as long as the axle clamps are kept as close as possible to the uprights as possible. From eyeballing my grill, the axle clamps should have enough clearance to fit. Does anyone know the axle size limitations on the tow clamps? Do you think they will get a good enough grab on a 2 1/2" pipe to be safe?
Also, before we get you excited and hacking up your bumper, make certain your pickup is flat towable!
Haha- yes. I agree. I have a 2001 Ford F350 Powerstroke 4x4 with the ESOF (electronic shift on the fly) transfer case. I'd only tow my truck if I disconnected the driveshaft at the differential and ensured my front hubs were disengaged (those are manual). I think this is okay but I'm open to anyone else with other caution.
The other idea I thought of came from using 98G's idea of using the bolt-on tow tabs. There are a bunch of bolt on tow tabs on ebay for reasonable pricing (see pic) and I would use u-bolts to attach them to that same lower pipe near the uprights. This would be fairly easy and simple to add/remove but I may go with just buying set of the axle clamps if they will fit the pipe in question.
So, thanks to everyone for the great ideas. Hopefully someone will have input on the axle clamps.
