dave1123

I just stuck my head under my 2000 WJ to see what I needed to do to mount a trailer hitch and I found a pressed steel plate covering everything from the bumper to the rear axle. I know the gas tank is somewhere under the spare tire well, I think. This plate has to be removed, right? What am I looking at? I was reading about skid plates and crash fire hazards and was wondering about mine. It looks like in a collision, this plate would be pushed into the rear axle. It looks like a halfassed cover for protection from flying stones more than anything else. It also looks like if it folded and made sharp points, it could easily puncture the tank.

My ZJ had a heavy steel plate cover over the tank and a trailer hitch. I'm not exactly happy with my WJ's build plan, however.

fletchFL

I could go get you some pictures of the way mine is mounted. If they come out well in the dark, I will post them in a few minutes.

fletchFL

Here they are. It appears the factory hitch mounts with the same holes as the tank guard. Three bolts, either side. It looks like you will have to remove the bumper skin. I would guess that the main part of the hitch sits directly underneath the actual metal part of the bumper. Hope this helps.

Bustedback

Well? Who is John Galt?

dave1123

Read Ayn Rand's "Atlas Shrugged" for your answer.

Thanks for the pics. My main objective was to mount a pair of tow hooks in the rear. I've got a pair of massive hooks from my C10 Chevy and I thought I'd mount them on my WJ. I've noticed the factory hitch uses a different bumper with a cutout. I've also seen people make the cutout with a Sawzall. Not pretty.

I'm just concerned about nosing into a snow-filled ditch and not having a good retrieval hookup. This happened last winter, but she got herself out, thanks to good tires and my driving. Of course, my good driving got me into the ditch in the first place! I'd forgotten about the 400 lbs of newspapers in the back!

fletchFL

According to 'WJJeeps", they mounted the factory rear tow hook, in absense of the hitch, on the left hand side, in the same place as the hitch.

Also, if I understood it, the hitch could be added to a vehicle with the regular bumper, but when you ordered the hitch, you also could get the piece that you see covering part of the hitch and hole in the bumper, with a template for cutting out that hole. Handy for a dealer or customer-installed option.

Atlas Shrugged, great book. She wrote alot of non-fiction about her ideology, too.

dave1123

I'm sorry, but I'm a white Christian conservative American male. I only read liberal socialist propaganda to try to understand why they think the way they do. Let's not make this a political forum, please.

That was my thought, mount the hooks on 3" angle on the same bolts used for the hitch. I could probably cut the tank cover for clearance and reinstall it. I'm sorry I bought a mall crawler, but the overall condition and maintenance records enticed me to grab it before it disappeared. I needed reliable transportation for heavy snow conditions and this vehicle fit the bill perfectly! The only problem with it is it's white so it's camoflaged in the snow!

My Chevy was a V10, that is short box pickup with leaf springs on all four. Some people call it a K10, but that was the Blazer. I believe the C10 was only 2WD.