Tow hooks installed

Major Kong

Base
Well-Known Member
First Name
Major
Joined
Mar 5, 2022
Threads
14
Messages
1,029
Reaction score
2,391
Location
Right Here Right Now
Vehicle(s)
Bronco Sport aka "Spark Plug"
looking at this as a "hook of last resort"
lower trim lacking any real front end extraction points
still very questionable as presented
modification
something like a drawbar would be nice

Ford Bronco Sport Tow hooks installed 1663708397889
Sponsored

 

sajohnson

Badlands
Well-Known Member
Joined
Dec 1, 2021
Threads
17
Messages
1,199
Reaction score
989
Location
MIDDLETOWN, MD
Vehicle(s)
'22 Badlands ordered 12/17/2021 - Arrived 3/25/22
The lower trims are missing a steel bracket welded to the frame that the badlands threaded end connects to. So the factory welds that bracket to the frame on the badlands but ford decided to save a few pennies and not included it to the frames of the lower trims.

You can bolt the badlands tow hooks to the bumper support if you want the look but they wouldn't have any strength without the rear frame bracket.
Exactly.

I just crawled under the front of our Badlands to see how the tow hooks are attached. They are very serious looking. It appears as though the BL could be hoisted completely off the ground by one hook.
 

sajohnson

Badlands
Well-Known Member
Joined
Dec 1, 2021
Threads
17
Messages
1,199
Reaction score
989
Location
MIDDLETOWN, MD
Vehicle(s)
'22 Badlands ordered 12/17/2021 - Arrived 3/25/22
looking at this as a "hook of last resort"
lower trim lacking any real front end extraction points
still very questionable as presented
modification
something like a drawbar would be nice

Ford Bronco Sport Tow hooks installed 1663708397889
Function over form, that's my motto. 😎
 

Adam CW

Badlands
Well-Known Member
Joined
Apr 22, 2022
Threads
14
Messages
328
Reaction score
443
Location
Wisconsin
Vehicle(s)
2022 Bronco Sport Badlands
The lower trims are missing a steel bracket welded to the frame that the badlands threaded end connects to. So the factory welds that bracket to the frame on the badlands but ford decided to save a few pennies and not included it to the frames of the lower trims.

You can bolt the badlands tow hooks to the bumper support if you want the look but they wouldn't have any strength without the rear frame bracket.
Is there any point to adding them to non-Badlands models if they are not strong enough?
 

69cuda340s

Badlands
Well-Known Member
First Name
Bill
Joined
Mar 16, 2021
Threads
8
Messages
2,316
Reaction score
3,242
Location
USA
Website
www.billsgarage.info
Vehicle(s)
"21 BS Badlands, '16 F150 Platinum FX4
Is there any point to adding them to non-Badlands models if they are not strong enough?
Some ppl on this forum have done that knowing only for looks. They just want their ride to cool
 


69cuda340s

Badlands
Well-Known Member
First Name
Bill
Joined
Mar 16, 2021
Threads
8
Messages
2,316
Reaction score
3,242
Location
USA
Website
www.billsgarage.info
Vehicle(s)
"21 BS Badlands, '16 F150 Platinum FX4
Exactly.

I just crawled under the front of our Badlands to see how the tow hooks are attached. They are very serious looking. It appears as though the BL could be hoisted completely off the ground by one hook.
Someone up in Canada last winter on this forum said they ran Badlands off road into snow bank. They had truck pull them out with one of the front tow hooks. Then later realized they left it in park and got pulled out with wheels locked up. They said no damage afterwards.
 

69cuda340s

Badlands
Well-Known Member
First Name
Bill
Joined
Mar 16, 2021
Threads
8
Messages
2,316
Reaction score
3,242
Location
USA
Website
www.billsgarage.info
Vehicle(s)
"21 BS Badlands, '16 F150 Platinum FX4
I took this picture a while ago. I pulled the felt wheel liner back and looking in from the wheel well this is how the tow hook frame bracket looks:

Ford Bronco Sport Tow hooks installed Tow Hook Bracket Annotated
 

sajohnson

Badlands
Well-Known Member
Joined
Dec 1, 2021
Threads
17
Messages
1,199
Reaction score
989
Location
MIDDLETOWN, MD
Vehicle(s)
'22 Badlands ordered 12/17/2021 - Arrived 3/25/22
Someone up in Canada last winter on this forum said they ran Badlands off road into snow bank. They had truck pull them out with one of the front tow hooks. Then later realized they left it in park and got pulled out with wheels locked up. They said no damage afterwards.
After looking at the OE tow hooks I'm not surprised. They're pretty stout.

I have to say, while the hooks the OP installed look alright, I'd be concerned about the way they are mounted.

Here's the factory tow hook. Not the best image, but you can see how it reaches back and attaches to the unibody 'frame'. There are also 2 large bolts that attach it to a thick bracket at the front.

Ford Bronco Sport Tow hooks installed 1663719487759


It appears that most aligned pulling force is applied to that rear connection and the two front bolts prevent any angular forces from acting on the rear.

The aftermarket hooks rely on 2 bolts, and all pulling is creating sheering forces.
 

Escape2Bronco

Badlands
Well-Known Member
First Name
Steve
Joined
Oct 9, 2021
Threads
4
Messages
2,639
Reaction score
3,296
Location
Wisconsin
Vehicle(s)
2013 Lexus, 2022 Bronco Sport, 2023 Heritage 2 dr
After looking at the OE tow hooks I'm not surprised. They're pretty stout.

I have to say, while the hooks the OP installed look alright, I'd be concerned about the way they are mounted.

Here's the factory tow hook. Not the best image, but you can see how it reaches back and attaches to the unibody 'frame'. There are also 2 large bolts that attach it to a thick bracket at the front.

Ford Bronco Sport Tow hooks installed 1663719487759


It appears that most aligned pulling force is applied to that rear connection and the two front bolts prevent any angular forces from acting on the rear.

The aftermarket hooks rely on 2 bolts, and all pulling is creating sheering forces.
It would be preferable to spread the load between both hooks and to do that safety, it would be best to switch sides that they are currently mounted on. Shear strength of a 10mm grade 8 equivalent bolt would be approximately 7k pounds. I wouldn’t stand underneath it hanging but probably ok to yank out of the snowbank or sand with a recovery rope and bridle.
 

Meanderthal

Badlands
Well-Known Member
First Name
Eric
Joined
Mar 19, 2022
Threads
10
Messages
2,008
Reaction score
2,760
Location
Colorado
Vehicle(s)
'08 BMW R1200 GS Adv, '23 Norden Expedition
After looking at the OE tow hooks I'm not surprised. They're pretty stout.

I have to say, while the hooks the OP installed look alright, I'd be concerned about the way they are mounted.

Here's the factory tow hook. Not the best image, but you can see how it reaches back and attaches to the unibody 'frame'. There are also 2 large bolts that attach it to a thick bracket at the front.

Ford Bronco Sport Tow hooks installed 1663719487759


It appears that most aligned pulling force is applied to that rear connection and the two front bolts prevent any angular forces from acting on the rear.

The aftermarket hooks rely on 2 bolts, and all pulling is creating sheering forces.
Shearing a bolt takes a lot more force than pulling out the threads. If at all possible, design should rely on shearing the fastener instead of ripping out the threads. That being said, I don’t know what those aftermarket hooks are attaching to.
 


sajohnson

Badlands
Well-Known Member
Joined
Dec 1, 2021
Threads
17
Messages
1,199
Reaction score
989
Location
MIDDLETOWN, MD
Vehicle(s)
'22 Badlands ordered 12/17/2021 - Arrived 3/25/22
I took this picture a while ago. I pulled the felt wheel liner back and looking in from the wheel well this is how the tow hook frame bracket looks:

Ford Bronco Sport Tow hooks installed Tow Hook Bracket Annotated
Very helpful, thank you!
Shearing a bolt takes a lot more force than pulling out the threads. If at all possible, design should rely on shearing the fastener instead of ripping out the threads. That being said, I don’t know what those aftermarket hooks are attaching to.
Agreed. I said nothing about 'ripping out the threads'.
 

Meanderthal

Badlands
Well-Known Member
First Name
Eric
Joined
Mar 19, 2022
Threads
10
Messages
2,008
Reaction score
2,760
Location
Colorado
Vehicle(s)
'08 BMW R1200 GS Adv, '23 Norden Expedition
Very helpful, thank you!


Agreed. I said nothing about 'ripping out the threads'.
My intention was to point out that axial strength is lower than shear strength. Your comment seemed to imply that shear was a bad thing. Maybe you didn’t mean it that way?
 

sajohnson

Badlands
Well-Known Member
Joined
Dec 1, 2021
Threads
17
Messages
1,199
Reaction score
989
Location
MIDDLETOWN, MD
Vehicle(s)
'22 Badlands ordered 12/17/2021 - Arrived 3/25/22
My intention was to point out that axial strength is lower than shear strength. Your comment seemed to imply that shear was a bad thing. Maybe you didn’t mean it that way?
Agreed, all else being equal.

As it happens, the solid steel rod portion of the factory hooks on the BS BL (see illustration above) is significantly larger in diameter than the bolts supplied with the aftermarket tow hooks. It appears to be at least as large as the Ford towing eye, if not larger.

The 2 front bolts would seem to have primarily a shearing force on them with an off-axis recovery. They also appear to take some of the load with a straight pull.

Regardless, what I was trying to point out (diplomatically) is that the aftermarket hooks, as designed to be installed with the supplied hardware, do not appear to be as strong -- and are not a replacement for the OE hooks. Are they still strong enough to be used for recovery? IDK. Probably in some cases.

It's too bad the OE hooks cannot be installed (as a bolt-on) on all trim levels. Unfortunately, as 69cuda said:

"The lower trims are missing a steel bracket welded to the frame that the badlands threaded end connects to. So the factory welds that bracket to the frame on the badlands but ford decided to save a few pennies and not included it to the frames of the lower trims.

You can bolt the badlands tow hooks to the bumper support if you want the look but they wouldn't have any strength without the rear frame bracket."

It's really a shame that Ford does it that way.
 
Last edited:

sajohnson

Badlands
Well-Known Member
Joined
Dec 1, 2021
Threads
17
Messages
1,199
Reaction score
989
Location
MIDDLETOWN, MD
Vehicle(s)
'22 Badlands ordered 12/17/2021 - Arrived 3/25/22
Some ppl on this forum have done that knowing only for looks. They just want their ride to cool
Nothing wrong with that.

The only potential drawback I can think of is if a tow truck operator, or other person doing a recovery, assumes the hooks are OE and the hardware fails. That's probably unlikely to happen, it's just a thought.
 

RiotfunK

Banned
Badlands
Banned
Joined
Apr 10, 2022
Threads
15
Messages
630
Reaction score
530
Location
Mass
Vehicle(s)
22 Bronco Badlands
You’re going to put more force on them by pulling since they are so low. Plus looks like they are just through the front subframe stamped steel there on bottom. I’m surprised a mechanic would install them. They may work, but I wouldn’t be anywhere in the open pulling on those things. I’m thinking it’ll deform the frame or shear off and missile.
Sponsored

 
 




Top