questions in fzj80?

[stuck in GA]

hey yall. im new to the board but my best bud bailey got me into cruisers and the board. im sure a lot of yall know him. I got a couple of questions. I got a lifted 97 cruiser with ome heavy duty, 285 m/ts, factory lockers, and arb winch bumper. One of my q's has to do with the winch bumper. the guys installing it forgot to put the tow hooks back on and lost em. i have shackles on the bumper right now for towing. is this ok? cause a kid told me that it might bend the bumper if you towed from one of the shackle points. which sounds stupid cause why the heck would they be there in the first place then?

another q is with the bumper and the air bags. i heard that you have to buy an air bag thing for the arb bumper so that they dont go off when you hit something by accident when wheelin. is there something to get?

the last question is does anyone know where i can get a nice rear bumper for my 80 but that holds a tire and hi jack lift? slee has a great one but its 2000 bucks once one pays for shipping. any advice is greatly appreaciated. Thanks and i hope to see all yall on the trails in georgia and in the southeast.

P.S. bailey get your ass out of the shop and lets go wheelin soon. haha call me!

 

[concretejungle]

I'll try to answer,

Q1: You can pull from the shackle points, that's why they are there as you suggested. If you are talking about they didn't put the OEM tow loops back on, that's because the bull bar mounts in their place.

Q2: You don't need anything for the airbag. Just ask christo and others who have banged theirs on rocks pretty hard with no airbag deployment.

Q3: 4x4labs, hannaquality are two others that make really nice rear bumpers.

 

[stuck in GA]

thanks man that helped a lot!

 

[MTNRAT]

If you mean the two holes on either side of the winch, they are for a high lift jack attachment. They are not meant for pulling IIRC.
Cheers,
Sean

 

[MTNRAT]

Here is a thread that discusses the ARB for recovery.
https://forum.ih8mud.com/showthread.php?t=1873&highlight=arb+tow+points .
Cheers,
Sean

 

[concretejungle]

Not arguing with you Sean, but i think you could use them for recovery. Maybe if you are pulling at them at an angle and your 6,000 lbs. 80 is stuck up to the frame in mud, then probably not the best point.

 

[NorCalDoug]

The two points on the front bumper are really not strong enough to pull. If you REALLY REALLY want/need a tow point, let me know. You can have one of the ones I removed from mine -- I got tired of banging them on rocks. I wanted a better approach angle -- these hoops get in the way more often than not. You pay for shipping and it's yours.

You could have some plates welded to these points (on the ARB front bumper) to make them stronger. Robbie @ SleeOffroad did this on his and it works fine.
As is, I don't think it'll bend your bumper if you use them, but they might not hold on a really hard tug.

Next question...I have heard of switches being available to disable airbags, but don't know where you'd get one. Maybe a dealership? To be sure, if they're available, C-Dan would be the one to check with. That said, I've wheeled my 80 pretty darned hard and have never had a problem with an airbag deployment. Typical wheeling is slow enough that if you do hit something, it's not at enough speed to deploy the bags. I feel that if I hit something fast enough to cause the airbag to go off, it's probably a good thing that they do deploy.
FWIW, Robbie's and Christo's rigs are both pre-airbag...but I've never heard of an 80s airbag deploying while wheeling.
Don't sweat it.

As for the rear bumper...you get what you pay for. I guess the least expensive option available (unless you DIY or get something custom near you) might be a Kaymar rear with the swing out.
I have Slee's rear bumper and love it. The build quality is very high and is definitely worth what I paid (I bought mine a couple years ago when it was less expensive ). 4x4labs has a great bumper, but it requires modification to the rear cross-member. Hanna's rear bumper is very nice too, but the price, I believe is comparable to Slee's.

 

[stuck in GA]

yeah you guys have good input thanks. the two holes next to the winch i know are not for towing. i am talking about the ones at the bottom of the bumper where you put shackles . i know that this is what they are for cause i saw them in pics. but all the other info on the bumpers and stuff was great. thanks again!

 

[MTNRAT]

stuck, those are the ones we are talking about.
Cheers,
Sean

 

[stuck in GA]

oh ok. then why would you see most cruisers with shackles on them there?

 

[stuck in GA]

are they just like last resort type deals?

 

[concretejungle]

If it were me, and i need to get pulled out, by golly i would attach to those suckers and pull. I mean, come one folks, we are always talking about getting rock rash and such, you you are worried about bending a tow point?! If you can stuff a 12,000 lbs. winch in there and pull the entire truck by the bull bar, why not from a tow point?

But, i guess the smartest thing would be to weld a extra super heavy duty tow point on the arb for reassurance.

 

[stuck in GA]

yeah concrete i agree with you

 

[NorCalDoug]

...you are worried about bending a tow point?!...

Bending? Who cares about bending. Take a BFH and pound the thing back in place.

Breaking...that's what I'd be sweating if I used those holes for anything but a light tug.

 

[NorCalDoug]

oh ok. then why would you see most cruisers with shackles on them there?

Cruiser Bling...
Kewl factor...
Have-a-hole-must-put-shackle-through-it mentality...

 

[stuck in GA]

haha good point norcaldoug. your right it is cruiser blinghaha

 

[MTNRAT]

Not worried about bending a tow point, (mine are bent all the time),but having them come off under extreme load. The winch distributes the load over a larger area, and is a constant tug with a limit. A tow point places all of the load on a single small point and we shock load it to much higher loads than a winch will ever create. Those "tow points" on the ARB were not designed for recovery points, they are for a highlift jack adaptor.
Cheers,
Sean