[Pooke]

Hi there,

I have had a look at through the threads in the made it section and there are some wonderful front bars out there.
What I would like to see pictures of if possible is how you have made the mountings for the front bar to the chassis.
I need it to be as strong as possible as I will have mounts on the bar for a-frame towing, and recovery hooks.
It seems like a bit more of a task on a WT as the leaf spring mounts are in the way to mount down the side of the chassis.

[AckerDackerly]

If I understand correctly, you have what us pesky Yanks call a Samurai.

The front ends of the frame have a set of mounting holes. One side has a tie-down bracket mounted using those holes.

If you plan to keep the OEM bumper, you will need to fab a set of brackets that create a mounting point below the OEM bumper.

You can use the tie-down bracket as a pattern to create the attachment part of the new mounting bracket.

I would suggest that you make four brackets, attach them with a spacer tube inside the frame (so the frame does not collapse when you tighten down the holding bolts) and bolts that go all the way through the frame to fix each side of the brackets. To finish each bracket, weld a stout piece of steel across each bracket pair to create a mount point for the tow bar.

being metrically challenged, I suggest 3-16th steel plate for the material...

Alternatively, you should be able to buy a set of mounts for a Samurai through an RV site. Samurais (at least in the USA) were commonly towed behind Recreational Vehicles.

I hope that this helps!

[Pooke]

Hi yes it is indeed a Samurai, and is badged as such here in New Zealand, I just called it a Sierra for the benefit of the Aussies.

I wont be using the front bumper so don't have to work around it.

I'm not sure about the holes in the front of the chassis, It would need to mount somewhere else as well because it seems like a lot of force to be putting on holes that are only 10-20mm from the end of the chassis.

[jdk81]

You can make a block or crush tube assembly to fit inside the rails
Then sandwich plates on the outside of the rail.

Incorporating bar mounts from one of the sandwich plates or from the crush tube assembly inside, means you can get a lot of good strength through the friction by the clamping of the correctly torqued bolts.

It becomes much stronger and more difficult to tear out, because a properly sandwiched crush block or crush tube assembly restricts deformation (restricts twisting etc of the bolts etc).
There are recovery type mounts that use the crush block concept.
Atari posted a link/pic.

Alternatively, knock a pipe though the x member and make mounts off that.
Ball method, posted up by shep.

[AckerDackerly]

In that case, NO WORRIES!

I built a set of angle-iron brackets made from 3/16th" 3" angle steel that I bolted to only one side of the chassis frame then flat-towed my Samurai 1300 miles (2092 Km) to Zuwharrie 2009 (western Missouri to North Carolina) and back. You would be suprised how tough that frame/chassis is.

Lots of folks over here have mounted aftermarket bumpers using only the inside or outside face of the chassis as mounting points.

I have heard stories of folks who had their bumpers ripped off the frame from some sort of brainless attempt to winch out but I have NEVER actually seen proof of it in person or on the Internet.

To be safe, you can fab (or buy - two-third down this page http://www.zuksoffroad.com/ZOR-Front-Prefab-bumper-and-Options_p_41.html is a spacer style heavy-duty mount kit) a frame spacer so that your tow points are connected to both sides of the chassis frame.

BTW, that is my Zuk in the picture - and it has the spacer kit exactly as described above and by JDK's post on it.

I would worry less about the strength of the chassis frame and more about following the flat towing procedures. I severely wore down a pair of front tyres by forgetting to unlock the steering column...

I hope that this helps!

[Gwagensteve]

AckerDackerly wrote:

I have heard stories of folks who had their bumpers ripped off the frame from some sort of brainless attempt to winch out but I have NEVER actually seen proof of it in person or on the Internet.

Yes, this happens, Most commonly when people remove the bumper outrigger for tyre clearance and rely only on the four bolts on the end of the chassis. If leverage is applied from above (as in a winch bumper with the winch mounted above the chassis rails then the chassis can and will give. I have seen it happen.

Follow JDK's explanation of how to do it and you'll be fine.