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Maximus-3 JL Tow Loops (Front & Rear)

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Twojayhawks

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I currently have the tow loops installed and use the tie rod. If I want to add the frame tie in brackets, will the slots that I cut into the bumper still line up?
Yes, the frame tie in doesn’t change the orientation of the loops.
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lightsout

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Appreciate the info on this, @B&ZRubi + @lightsout.

At this point, I'm considering just replacing the stock skid plate with the RockJock kit to do the trick. Any complaints on that option?
The Rock Jock is the worst of the bunch as it only attaches to the bottom of the frame horn and the bottom of the stock bumper which provides NO support. this is the weakest setup I have seen. What the hell were they thinking. Let me add that the Rockjock isa beast of the base plate itself but the way it connects to the Wrangler is extremely weak.


Jeep Wrangler JL Maximus-3 JL Tow Loops (Front & Rear) 2022-06-02_19-02-17


This is there set up pictured on thier website wold you trust towing your Wrangler with a company that shows this as thier tow setup? What a JOKE

Jeep Wrangler JL Maximus-3 JL Tow Loops (Front & Rear) 2022-06-02_19-20-42
 
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lightsout

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I currently have the tow loops installed and use the tie rod. If I want to add the frame tie in brackets, will the slots that I cut into the bumper still line up?
To elaborate on what @Twojayhawks said. the only reason we had to change Tie Rods is we moved our Tow loops to the inside of the frame which reduces some of the stress on the tow bar and latteral forces. here is a graphic that @Gaffer posted that explains the benefit to less expansion of the tow bar.

Jeep Wrangler JL Maximus-3 JL Tow Loops (Front & Rear) tow angles
Gaffer posted that explains the benefit to less expansion of the tow bar.
 

Gaffer

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To elaborate on what @Twojayhawks said. the only reason we had to change Tie Rods is we moved our Tow loops to the inside of the frame which reduces some of the stress on the tow bar and latteral forces. here is a graphic that @Gaffer posted that explains the benefit to less expansion of the tow bar.

Jeep Wrangler JL Maximus-3 JL Tow Loops (Front & Rear) tow angles
Gaffer posted that explains the benefit to less expansion of the tow bar.
Thanks for the credit but that chart was posted by @Fftodster.
 

Al B

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The Rock Jock is the worst of the bunch as it only attaches to the bottom of the frame horn and the bottom of the stock bumper which provides NO support. this is the weakest setup I have seen. What the hell were they thinking. Let me add that the Rockjock isa beast of the base plate itself but the way it connects to the Wrangler is extremely weak.


Jeep Wrangler JL Maximus-3 JL Tow Loops (Front & Rear) tow angles


This is there set up pictured on thier website wold you trust towing your Wrangler with a company that shows this as thier tow setup? What a JOKE

Jeep Wrangler JL Maximus-3 JL Tow Loops (Front & Rear) tow angles
Yeah, after digging a bit deeper myself I fell out of love with them pretty quickly. Posted this thread about them here.
 

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Gaffer

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I was sold on Rock Jock tow bar as well. That is until it was pointed out to me that they were not actually mounted to the frame.
 

B&ZRubi

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Stopped by NSA on our way thru Kansas. This is why I am glad I went with the Ready Brute tow bar. Not sure there are that many companies that stand behind their product like NSA does. Upgraded to the latest version. NSA and Maximus is a great combination.

F2F6F38B-A0ED-4E3D-8799-A543134647CD.jpeg


9D25EC63-1B93-4BF9-AEEC-84AA04CBBBE2.jpeg


79A798DC-C6D7-43FE-9AD6-BDFA1C6B3212.jpeg
 

Electrified

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Stopped by NSA on our way thru Kansas. This is why I am glad I went with the Ready Brute tow bar. Not sure there are that many companies that stand behind their product like NSA does. Upgraded to the latest version. NSA and Maximus is a great combination.

Jeep Wrangler JL Maximus-3 JL Tow Loops (Front & Rear) 79A798DC-C6D7-43FE-9AD6-BDFA1C6B3212


Jeep Wrangler JL Maximus-3 JL Tow Loops (Front & Rear) 79A798DC-C6D7-43FE-9AD6-BDFA1C6B3212


Jeep Wrangler JL Maximus-3 JL Tow Loops (Front & Rear) 79A798DC-C6D7-43FE-9AD6-BDFA1C6B3212
Nice setup.
 

lightsout

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Stopped by NSA on our way thru Kansas. This is why I am glad I went with the Ready Brute tow bar. Not sure there are that many companies that stand behind their product like NSA does. Upgraded to the latest version. NSA and Maximus is a great combination.

Jeep Wrangler JL Maximus-3 JL Tow Loops (Front & Rear) 79A798DC-C6D7-43FE-9AD6-BDFA1C6B3212


Jeep Wrangler JL Maximus-3 JL Tow Loops (Front & Rear) 79A798DC-C6D7-43FE-9AD6-BDFA1C6B3212


Jeep Wrangler JL Maximus-3 JL Tow Loops (Front & Rear) 79A798DC-C6D7-43FE-9AD6-BDFA1C6B3212
I have been towing with the NSA tow bars for years and still do, great bars but the Ready Brake sucks and frankly should not be legal. Mechanical inertia braking is a major problem causing significant wear on the RV brakes. We live in the PNW and drive windy and steep mountain passes nearly every outing and not unusual for us to do 5-6 passes in a single outing. problem is the Ready Brake does not activate on soft braking events like slowing on long down hills there simply is not enough inertia to activate the TOAD brakes so your RV is doing all the braking work. We started out with Gas Class A and even with our Current Tiffin Diesel pusher with engine braking we still use a fair amount of braking on passes especially the windy ones. We dumped the Ready Brake part of the towbar 3 years ago and will only tow now with wired (air actually) Airforce one which is true proportianl braking. My 4xe is pushing 6000lbs. I originally had a 2018 JL at 4900lbs and it NSA ready Brake cost me a set of Brakes on my 2017 Bounder 35K. While we have no issues on the flats, however in the mountans it is very problematic.
 

Fuel Fire Desire

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Older thread, but I’m in the process of installing the rear and had a warning.


I have a 2017 build 2018, so one of the oldest JL’s out. When removing the drivers side bolts first, I had some big problems. I started with the underside bolts, used an impact on the first bolt. It immediately broke the weld on the inner frame weld nut. Well…..I guess that’s fair….next one was the side bolt, used a standard length ratchet. Got it to back out about 1/2” with moderate resistance. When continuing to power through the resistance (nowhere near the torque it took to break free from tight), that weld nut broke off too.

Fine……..I’ll just cut a hole in the bumper behind the license plate to get access to the inner frame. Plastic bumper, easy to get into. The problem is, the weld nuts aren’t nuts. They’re round threaded collars with tack welds. Nothing to get a wrench on, and no room to get vice grips on. The factory bolts were so fuzzed up with rust on the inside I’m surprised they broke free at all.

I move to the other side. I hose down the inner areas of the frame with PB blaster and let sit. The bolts on the passenger side came out freely after break away. There was no rust on the bolts at all. Not only are they a different size on that side, but they’re also finished differently. Still look factory fresh. The drivers side bolts are smaller, and likely had no protective finish at all. Combined with the very weak tack welds on the inside of the frame, the weld nuts didn’t have a chance. Cutting an access hole in the bumper is useless, since there’s no way to put a wrench on them from the inside.

I’m going back at it today with a cut off wheel to try and cut the bolt heads off to push the old bolts into the frame and replacing them with grade 8 hardware.


The tow loop finish is a textured powder coat, and did not flake off under torquing. I have other parts with a similar powder coat, and I fully expect these to loose their finish within a couple seasons of salt, especially with D ring s being yanked into them. So I would like to keep them removable to redcoat down the road.

Point being…BE CAREFUL removing old hardware. Using an impact is a hard no, but as these JL’s age and accumulate rust, even going slow with a short ratchet won’t be gentle enough to keep the weld nuts from breaking free. If FCA had used the same bolts on the drivers side as they did on the passenger side I wouldn’t be cutting access panels or getting my cut off wheel out.


EDIT: after instal, I really would have liked the rear to have been 3/4” instead of 5/8”. While the 5/8” of the Maximus is thicker than the 9/16” of the factory tow hook at its most narrow point before transferring the load to the frame, the Maximus loops are longer. Adding a D ring further increases the amount of leverage on the loop if being yanked by anything other than a straight line. I have not needed to use them yet, but have made the decision that if I ever need to do an offset pull I’ll run a bridal from the outer most loop to the receiver (using a dedicated receiver D ring insert) to reduce the side load on the Maximus. I still really like the concept and overall execution….but really would like to have it be 3/4”.

5716AC46-AD3C-4228-9A60-90ED8FDAC5AD.jpeg
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