and here is the reason i say the factory FDII tow hooks may be the best option. all of the holes are there. and the metal in the front bumper is very thin and probably not a good idea to attach tow hooks to.

front view of were factory tow hooks would be. you can also see the mounting holes in the bottom of the bumper

a possible mounting hole from underneith the chasis

the thin metal in the front bumper

unused threaded hole in frame possibly for factory tow hooks?

tell me what you think?

 

Schoat, First let me thank you for taking these photos and posting them... Takes alot of guts to take apart such a large part of your Jeep. I know for one I appreciate these type of how to posts...

So, you going to cut the bumper and post those pics too?

 

im planning to go to the chrysler dealer tomorrow and see if they can get the FDII tow hooks.

I was going to go custom because i thought the Chasis itself may be different from the FDI to FDII.

I decided to take it all apart and find out for sure. It was well worth it since i now know that the FDII tow hooks can be made to fit the FDI with little or no modification to the Chasis since the frame itself is already open for the hook to go into (possibly only drilling a hole or 2, or adding an aftermarket bolt to attach it). If my dealer can get the tow hooks i will be ordering and cutting the bumper very soon.

 

wow! Do I understand correctly you did this for fun? Do you have the tow hooks?? I bet they'll be dead simple to install now.

 

Well for fun and for a purpose at the same time. I will be doing many mods over the next few months so stay tuned. this was just to get and idea of what to do for front tow hooks. I hope it helps everyone else out as well. :smiley_thumbs_up:

 

if it's still off, could you take a picture of the inside of the bumper cover?

Looking at your front end, it's going to be quite difficult to design an aftermarket steel tubular bumper like other Jeeps have. Just too much plastic...

 

i have a few... let me get them on my photobucket and post em up.

 

heres the inside on the cover

and here were the tow hook holes would be. you can see an outline of were the cut should be if you look close.

 

Schoat,

What's the trick to those push rivets?

 

pry the ceter out while holding the outer piece in place. a neat trick i found was i used my little 7mm wrench like a small pry bar and stuck the open end under the center of the push rivet and it poped out, then you can remove the rest of it.

 

Hmmmm,

I had the 'pry the center part out' but then they wouldn't go anywhere, so I ended up breaking the heads off and poking them all the way through. I'm obviously missing something, maybe patients! Perhaps a photo step by step would help.

 

Thanks so much for posting the pictures. What tools are you going to use to cut the fascia?

 

Do you think maybe a drill hit to start, a reciprocating saw, and then a large coarse file to tidy up and make sure the holes end up with straight edges?

Will need some colour-matched paint to tidy up the cut edges, I think.

 

I'd make a rectangular hole into a piece of aluminum sheet with said drill and reciprocating saw (or get a machinist to mill a nice hole), and then I'd use this as a template to cut the bumper with an X-acto blade. Much less chance of screwing up.

 

I thought about drilling a hole in each corner and then using a straight edge to guide an X-acto knife on each side of the rectangle, but I have never cut material like the fascia before.

 

I would tape the painted side with the blue painters tape (clean off any wax/bugs/etc first so the tape sticks well) then drill and hand saw it myself. I'd probably use a small hacksaw and take my time following just inside of the guide lines on the inside of the bumper. Staying to the inside of the guide will give you some wiggle room and a chance to straighten the edges with a file. Just go real slow to minimize any paint chipping/damage.

 

Great how-to!

 

Thats what I like to see, great "how-to" I am impressed. Good to see someone getting down and dirty with their Patriot...Keep us posted on your progress...glad I have FDII, lol!!!

 

Good news. i ordered the front tow hooks yesterday. hopefully i cant do another how to this weekend .

 

If you can, that would be awesome. I want to do the same thing with the tow hooks but just havn't had the time yet to play around with it. Thanks for the pics.

 

If I were you I'd think about replacing my horn with something a little louder/deeper while I had all that stuff pulled off...it'll never be easier to get to.

 

Hey schoat could you do me a huge favor? When you were removing the turn signals from the front bumper, did you only have to remove those 3 star shaped (triple square) screws and the turn signal came out?

 

those 3 star shaped (triple square) screws

they're called Torx screws - just FYI

 

I think the best way to cut the holes for tow hooks is tape off the area like mentioned before and drill out the corners. You don't want a square corner. Then I plan to use a dremel tool with a cutoff wheel. An exato knife will take forever and a recipercating saw will be too agressive. A dremel tool is small and easy to control. I also will use the black rubber door edge molding to go around the opening to hide any imperfections. I also plan on cutting the holes with the bumper still in place. There is nothing in the way and using the dremel and cutoff wheel I can take shallow passes until its cut through.

 

I can guarantee you won't be able to install the front towhooks with the bumper in place.

But the Dremel is the right way to go!

 

Great picts and how to! Thanks!

 

As promised i took pictures of my removal of the front bumper cover so here is the how to.

Any ideas on how a 6,000lb hidden winch mount might fit in there?

... Just had to ask!

 

Could you please take some more detailed pictures of the Patroit without the fount bumper on it? Maby a few from the side would help. Also some detailed pictures of the bumper off of the car would be nice. I want to do some drawings in AutoCad for a new frount bumper design based off of the SEMA bumper and I have been too lazy to take my bumper off. Thank you.

 

sorry shes all back together now and im still waiting for my tow hooks. (on back order for some reason :icon_rolleyes: ). I might try to install them without taking the cover off.

 

Schoat,

Do you recall if the bumper is empty on the inside? I want to drill down into the top of the bumper, through the plastic into the metal to mount lights on the top of the bumper.

Do you know if there's anything inside the bumper (like an airbag sensor or it's filled with foam)?

 

I'm not sure if the above picture is looking straight through the bumper, clear to the other side. If it is, then my question is answered.