Rear tow hook

[RiotfunK]

You guys do know that the rear receiver shackle is only meant to be in when you’re going off-road. Not all the time like the civics with the dumb hoops installed.
You’re also only gonna use them to get pulled out easy. I wouldn’t snatch strap on these if you like your ass end attached to the vehicle. Using it to pull people out is just gonna fuck your stuff up. These aren’t built for that type of recovery. No matter what trim. Ford will also give you the eye hook if yours didn’t come with one.

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[sajohnson]

Thanks for sharing, just ordered one. Seems a real oversight that Ford did not include this AND did not include any front recovery points in the lower trims. I

'Oversight' is being generous. A cynical person might suspect the towing eyes were intentionally left out of the vehicles.

As for a front recovery point, you can use the same tow eye.

BTW, no one should have to pay for a tow eye, any more than an owner should have to pay for the spare and/or the jack if they were missing.

Our dealer (or Ford?) paid for a Curt Shackle Hitch Receiver because we have the tow package and it covers/deletes the hole for the tow eye. We needed a rear recovery point.

The BS owner's manual says you must carry the tow eye at all times, so it really should be supplied.

 

[sajohnson]

You guys do know that the rear receiver shackle is only meant to be in when you’re going off-road. Not all the time like the civics with the dumb hoops installed.
You’re also only gonna use them to get pulled out easy. I wouldn’t snatch strap on these if you like your ass end attached to the vehicle. Using it to pull people out is just gonna fuck your stuff up. These aren’t built for that type of recovery. No matter what trim. Ford will also give you the eye hook if yours didn’t come with one.

Wait a minute -- you're saying we can't rescue F-350s buried to their frame rails in mud? I want my money back!

In our case, my wife and I got the shackle hitch receiver primarily as a replacement for the towing eye, which we can't use because we have the tow package (there's no threaded hole).

The tow eye is fine but the factory hitch is stronger than the tow eye. It is a good recovery point as long as a strong receiver shackle is used. The Curt that Ford gave us is rated for up to 13,000 pounds, so it's definitely not the weak link.

I don't think I've heard anyone say they plan to leave the receiver shackle installed -- that would be a real shin hazard.

Now if you'll excuse me I have some stumps to pull...

 

[JerryC]

I think the worry is that we don't really know what load can be put on the receiver.

Tow rating is not the same thing as recovery load. The receiver might be able to handle much more load than the tow rating, or maybe not so much more.

To be a little easier on the BS I would definitely use a kinetic rope when using the receiver as a recovery point.

 

[sajohnson]

I think the worry is that we don't really know what load can be put on the receiver.

Tow rating is not the same thing as recovery load. The receiver might be able to handle much more load than the tow rating, or maybe not so much more.

To be a little easier on the BS I would definitely use a kinetic rope when using the receiver as a recovery point.

Good points.


I'm not aware of a rating for the hitch (aside from the tongue/trailer weight rating) -- like the 13,000 pounds for the Curt shackle hitch receiver -- but it is clearly better than a single tow eye. If I'm not mistaken, one of the hitch mounting points is the threaded hole intended for the tow eye.

At the end of the day, we really have no alternative for a rear recovery.

A kinetic rope is a great idea. It is certainly not a good plan to hook up a logging chain and have the recovery vehicle take off at full throttle.

FWIW -- I can't recall the website, but it was a serious off-roading site and it had a list of hitches that were considered acceptable recovery points. The larger ones, classes 3-5, were OK. Class 1 definitely was not. Not sure about class 2. This was for full size, body-on-frame 4x4s though.

Anyway, definitely something to look into.

 

[Mark S.]

I think the worry is that we don't really know what load can be put on the receiver.

Tow rating is not the same thing as recovery load. The receiver might be able to handle much more load than the tow rating, or maybe not so much more.

To be a little easier on the BS I would definitely use a kinetic rope when using the receiver as a recovery point.

As a reference, the wife's Escape (same C2 platform and 2.0L engine) has a tow rating of 3,500 with the factory hitch. I crawled under my Badlands to inspect the hitch attachment to the car. The bumper and hitch are essentially integral with unibody--I don't believe the attachment could be any stronger.

 

[JerryC]

As a reference, the wife's Escape (same C2 platform and 2.0L engine) has a tow rating of 3,500 with the factory hitch. I crawled under my Badlands to inspect the hitch attachment to the car. The bumper and hitch are essentially integral with unibody--I don't believe the attachment could be any stronger.

Yes, but "any stronger" than what? .
What are the maximum static and dynamic load limits?
IOW, how much does it take to damage the structure of the vehicle and/or the receiver?

 

[Mark S.]

Yes, but "any stronger" than what? .
What are the maximum static and dynamic load limits?
IOW, how much does it take to damage the structure of the vehicle and/or the receiver?

I get your point. From my observation it appears the hitch is essentially part of the unibody frame, so it should be able to take any stress the frame can take. I guess what I'm saying is if you bend the unibody frame using this hitch during a recovery then ANY place you attach a recovery rope will bend it. In other words, if the frame bends that easily then off-road recovery using a rope is not an option for this vehicle. Since Ford included recovery hooks on the front that doesn't seem like a reasonable assumption.

 

[hwildey]

'Oversight' is being generous. A cynical person might suspect the towing eyes were intentionally left out of the vehicles.

As for a front recovery point, you can use the same tow eye.

BTW, no one should have to pay for a tow eye, any more than an owner should have to pay for the spare and/or the jack if they were missing.

Our dealer (or Ford?) paid for a Curt Shackle Hitch Receiver because we have the tow package and it covers/deletes the hole for the tow eye. We needed a rear recovery point.

The BS owner's manual says you must carry the tow eye at all times, so it really should be supplied.

I have the big bend, as far as I can tell there are no front recovery points to screw the tow eye into? Anybody else found a solution there?

 

[sajohnson]

I have the big bend, as far as I can tell there are no front recovery points to screw the tow eye into? Anybody else found a solution there?

See page 264 of the owner's manual. There should be a small square "door" in the front and rear bumpers. The threaded hole is behind it.

 

[AndyMac204]

got the tow eye for our camping trip. made a great spot to step for setting up the rtt and putting gear up there.

 

[hwildey]

See page 264 of the owner's manual. There should be a small square "door" in the front and rear bumpers. The threaded hole is behind it.

I did see that in the owners manual, (pg 252 for mine) and it describes the fixed front recovery hooks that I am assuming are in the higher trim models. I cannot find a small square door in the front bumper. Rear, yes, but not front that I can see.

 

[sajohnson]

I did see that in the owners manual, (pg 252 for mine) and it describes the fixed front recovery hooks that I am assuming are in the higher trim models. I cannot find a small square door in the front bumper. Rear, yes, but not front that I can see.

Strange.

Under "Towing Points -- 1.5L", our manual says:

"Carefully remove the front or rear towing eye attachment point cover." That's on the page prior to the one that mentions "Towing Points -- 2.0L"

So there should be at least one attachment point at each end of the BS. That said, there are mistakes in some of Ford's literature -- printed and web-based.

I'm only familiar with ours. Since it has front recovery hooks there is no towing eye attachment point in the front -- otherwise I'd post a photo.

 

[magicbus]

You guys do know that the rear receiver shackle is only meant to be in when you’re going off-road. Not all the time like the civics with the dumb hoops installed.
You’re also only gonna use them to get pulled out easy. I wouldn’t snatch strap on these if you like your ass end attached to the vehicle. Using it to pull people out is just gonna fuck your stuff up. These aren’t built for that type of recovery. No matter what trim. Ford will also give you the eye hook if yours didn’t come with one.

All of these points are to be used to rescue a BS. I would never use my BS to snatch a stuck vehicle because a unibody isn’t built for that and it’s too lightweight. I would us my BS to give a stuck driver a ride until they can get a signal on their cellphone so they can call someone with the proper equipment .

 

[sajohnson]

As a reference, the wife's Escape (same C2 platform and 2.0L engine) has a tow rating of 3,500 with the factory hitch. I crawled under my Badlands to inspect the hitch attachment to the car. The bumper and hitch are essentially integral with unibody--I don't believe the attachment could be any stronger.

Your post motivated me to look at ours. I agree with your assessment. The hitch appears very strong -- thick steel; well reinforced; good welds. Based on Curt's website (and others) it is a Class 3 hitch (Class 2 has a 1-1/4" receiver vs 2"):
https://www.curtmfg.com/trailer-hitches/rear-mount/class-3?weight_carrying_capacity_wc=759

Their Class 3 hitches are rated up to 8,000 lbs.

The mounting is very secure. The hitch ties the two "frame" rails together. It is inserted into them, and secured with 2 large bolts on each side.

See the excellent photos in this thread:
https://www.broncosportforum.com/forum/threads/ford-factory-hitch-yakima-cargo-basket-installed.4311/

If there is a weak link it is the unibody itself.

I suppose if our Badlands was attached to a solid anchor point (maybe a D8 dozer) with a long thick cable and someone was going drive it away at 70 mph to 'see what would happen' I'd rather use the tow eye and have it (likely) rip out with relatively little damage done -- vs using a shackle hitch receiver, which could be ugly.

Back in the real world, the shackle, which can be set to swing L>R or up and down, and is clearly stronger than the tow eye, is preferable.

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