Tow bar mounts torn off my WG

[ohmygrodd]

Thank you all very much, both for slogging through my lengthy post and also for your comments and feedback.

Scarps, you nailed it re Jeep not being at least sympathetic. The bottom line was that a jeep owner has had some distressing damage occur and could have sounded interested at the very least.

Thanks Hanna, did that search and found some interesting stuff. I cancelled my booking with dealership and will invest that cash towards repairs. One good thing about Mackay is that it is full of engineering shops so should find a good one to do the work.

Hey Duggy, thanks for your input. I cetainly have never used a WDH but the 1 previous owner that I bought it from said he bought it to tow a "great big boat" that they had bought so who knows if they had one or not. You have raised the point of my 4 bolts as opposed to 6. I will be removing the bar myself and see better then exactly how many bolts are there.

Hi Layback, now looking through clearer eyes as you say I'll find the right tradie and make it better than it was before.

Projoe, I'll talk to my trailer insurer to see if they can contribute anything but have now resigned myself to accept that the repairs will come out of my pocket.

Thanks Fester, I'll be keen to hear from Drover. He actually contributed to a thread back in 2007 on this same problem that revolved around the same dealership in Mackay so I might send him a PM and get his thoughts and outcome.

Thanks again everyone, I'll continue this thread as a "How I fixed the problem" theme and keep those who are interested up to date that way.

[drover]

Been there' done that, forget about Jeep, waste of time, hard enough to get a warranty job done let alone something like ths. Insurance will run you around but still say no. Find a top repairer who will reconsruct the rear end, strengthen it all to better than new and you will be right.
The tow bar should have 6 bolts and the failure is caused by metal fatigue, the 2 rear bolts on mine tore away with the other 4 starting to tear away as well, they where still torqued up but the metal just gave away. Not enough structural support around the nutserts, the whole weight is supported by the size of the washer on the nuts anyway mine now has big plates spreading the load and with about 8000 towing kms on it and lots of visual checks, even removing the bumper a couple of times to check tension all is good, I even dropped the bar after 5000 to look for any hairlines in the welds.
You will find some references to rivets being used to repair but they are used to fasten the rear tie down points in the back as per original, so not a worry.
Mine just towed an off road camper and I've had it for 7 yrs bought it when it was 2 and it may have towed a boat then but this showed itself after 6 yrs and happened when I hooked my new van on, 1800kg.
I had to shell out to fix it myself and I think the fella took pity on me as it didn't cost half as much as I thought it would. PM me if you want more info.

PS: My ZG had the same thing happen and it's not uncommon on WJ's .

[ohmygrodd]

Thought I would post a quick update for those that might be interested.

I got under the car finally today and removed the tow bar. As you can see I can confirm that the bar has only ever been fitted with four bolts to the car. The bolt on each side that was not fitted was the rear-most bolt which would take most of the downward pressure I assume so I guess I am just lucky that this has not happened much sooner.

I am going to contact the previous owner (who bought it new) to see if he has any document showing that the bar was fitted by Jeep so that I can try to pursue things that way but I have accepted that I will no doubt get no-where with this approach and be in the same position I am in now.

So once my wife gets back from Townsville in a week's time I will be taking the car for pricing to repair.


Here are the two bolts holding the towbar in place on either side of the car


Here is where the third bolt was supposed to be on each side


With the towbar now off the car it is clear that there has never been a bolt at the third hole


This is the damage which has occurred on both sides at the middle mounting hole. You can see the torn pieces of metal and the exposed captive nut


The bar removed and the (only) four bolts that were holding it in place. You can see the piece of metal and captive nut that came away after the bar was removed



Thanks again for your interest and I will continue to update with future developments

[scarps]

Thnx for the update, I was interested to know how you ended up.

[drover]

Be buggered !! amazing it lasted this long, there certainly should be 2 more bolts at the spot where the square tube joins on. With the bumper off you can see the nut serts thru the square hole in the panel on each side.

PM me if you want info about my panel beater and the job he did.

[ohmygrodd]

Gidday Drover
Yep you're spot on. Pics attached showing the nut serts you are referring to. Upon close up inspection the nutserts still have the paint on the inside on the thread so certainly have never had a bolt wound into them.
With the paint still in there and clearly no evidence on the bar itself to suggest any bolts were ever in place I may just have a case if I can get hold of the paperwork showing it was fitted by Jeep.
We'll see I guess but just happy to have an answer to why it broke and now look forward to getting it sorted.
Drover PM sent to you thanks.

[bodgie]

If you can prove this was fitted by Jeep I'd reckon you have a good argument to claim against the dealer/jeep for an incorrect installation.