I purchased a couple tow/recovery hooks to put in place of the shipping hooks today.

I tried to remove the shipping hooks and they wouldn't budge. I even tried using an electric impact wrench and they still didn't move. Are these things meant to come off?

I'm going to be down at the dealership tomorrow to get some work done and will ask them to try and get them off I suppose.

 

You mean the tie-down eye bolts on the front? Yes, they will come off, but it takes brute force.

 

i took mine off with a a mac braker bar... didnt take too much force, but im a big strong guy... so i tend to overpower things anyways..... not too sure if you can see my hooks in my avatar.....

 

Yes, whatever they're called. The passenger side is a hook and teh driver side is just a plate with a hole cut out.

I thought the impact wrench I used would do it but it's just electric. Maybe an air one would be better.

 

i just needed longer bolts....

 

Yep, those will crack loose with enough pressure. Keep in mind that if you are going to put hooks on both sides, you will need longer bolts for the side that has just the eye. The stock ones aren't long enough to go through a hook.

 

I see them in the bigger pictures on that link in your sig. Mine are pretty much like that but black and have a clip that goes on them as well to hold on the strap until tension is placed on it. They're Procomp and got them at 4WP along with a couple of shackles.

I'm just a wimpy little computer geek so I need someone to bust out the big tools and get them suckers off!

 

Here's the ones I got. The bolt seems fairly long.

 

Cool. If you hooks came with bolts, you should be fine. Most people buy the raw hooks and try to reuse the stock bolts.

 

I went to a local gas station and they used their impact to take both off for $5.

 

soak the nuts down with some liquid wrench. you can reach the spray straw into the hole under the body mount for access.

if you put too much force on them and they are seized up, then you will break the captive nut loose and then you have to get out the torch

 

Make sure the bolts are the same thread pattern. Most of the bolts that come with these hooks are SAE not Metric.

 

Yeah, watch out for that. It happened to me and now im not too sure what to do. Might see if my body shop can put another nut back there when they tweak the front of my frame.

 

This is what I found with the bolts I got with mine. I got the correct bolts at an ACE Hardware.

 

Soak the bolts for a few days with DW-40 or PB Blaster. Then use the largest socket wrench or breaker bar that you have. This should get the bolts off. I got hooks just like yours and the bolts weren't metric. You need metric since the nuts are welded to the inside of the frame.

 

The bolts you will need are Metric grade 8.8 12mm x 1.25 pitch. I don't remember what length, but just compare to one of the bolts on the stock tow hook.

 

I did the same thing. Pulled out my breaker bar, off they came. New bolts weren't the right thread but ACE had them!

 

hey darx,
come over i just bought a compressor and impact gun and am dying to try it out!!!

 

Thanks for that bit of info.

 

Well, I'll be leaving for Big Bear tomorrow so I'll have to deal with this later. Hopefully I don't get stuck and need a tow from the front.