Adjusting front bumber after using towhooks

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derag2

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Anyone else have to adjust the front bumper after you use the front row hooks? Every time my bumber moves tilting down forcing the back of the bumper up into the body..... I'm putting the impact on her next time I adjust it.... Never had a problem with my 3rd gen
 

tjfdesmo

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Some time ago somebody posted photos of a tweaked bumper, and said the same thing. It was pretty extreme IIRC. It appears that they really cheaped out on the mounts.
 

07MegaCabRam

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The tow hooks mount to a plate that mounts to the frame. They do not mount to the bumper at all..

However, the bumper does mount over the tow hook mount. The plate is the same as the 3rd gen.
 

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RubberFrog

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You must really be tweaking that plate of your bumper is moving.
 
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derag2

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Its the second time I've tweaked the bumper... Never had the problem on my Cummins 3gen.. And I beat the tar out of that truck.
 

Buckfat

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I have seen where people tweaked their bumpers so I planned on not ever using them. Then I removed mine to add a 40 light bar. Did not want to go without any hooks so I added the 5500 tow hooks.
Can't believe my 1500 hooks are stronger than my 2500 hooks??
 

AzRamLover

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Can you post a photo of a tweaked bumper?

I'm struggling to visualize the kind of load that would deform that plate (and the frame itself!)

Are you pulling the hook off center to the frame rail? I.e., the force is not parallel to the longitudinal frame rail?
 

opie

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It's not that the bumper is being damaged. It's the mounts moving because they have adjustment built in to align the bumper to the body.

sent from a field
 
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derag2

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It's not that the bumper is being damaged. It's the mounts moving because they have adjustment built in to align the bumper to the body.

sent from a field

Right. I'm just wondering why it keeps happening. I'll post a picture when I get home
 

opie

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Right. I'm just wondering why it keeps happening. I'll post a picture when I get home
Because the hooks are bolted to the bumper mounts. The mounts have adjustment built into then to align the bumper and at some point the energy being placed on the hooks overcomes the torque on the bolts for the bracket and it moves.

It's a bad design.

sent from a field
 

tjfdesmo

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Here is a video of the issue from an "unhappy camper":
https://youtu.be/6A3sORwx3ts


While it can be said that he is pulling off-angle, I personally think that an anchor point like this that you would potentially hook a snatch-strap to should be stoutly mounted to the frame, not a chintzy bracket.
 
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derag2

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That video is right mine is worse than his.... I'm guessing the 1500 are frame mounted and the 2500 are not? When I fixed it the first time it was the slack in the holes..... What a **** poor design..... Another reason I should have kept the 3rd gen.
 

jaflowers

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Makes me wonder if larger or higher grade bolts can be used and then tightened down to a much higher torque. While I don't use my hooks often, and not at all yet on my new 2015 2500, I do use them occasionally and when I do I don't expect them to move my bumper out of alignment. Have to crawl up under my truck and have a look at what can be done.
 

AzRamLover

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Whoa that is seriously messed up . . . thanks for sharing that video.

Does anyone from RAM know? More importantly, do they care? :(
 

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I haven't had mine apart to look at it but is the adjustment in the bracket or in the frame? If it's in the bracket would it be possible to mark where the bolt head is now and weld some thick washers on there and take the adjustment out of it? Only down fall I could see is if anything ever got tweaked you wouldn't have the ability to re-adjust everything, maybe just have to buy new brackets.
 

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Just watched the video, my question is why were they chaining the truck down with the tow hooks in the first place? Last I knew you were supposed to chain or strap the axles so the suspension could do its job. If they're chaining to the frame (or hooks) wouldn't it jolt the **** out of it every time they hit a bump?
 

AzRamLover

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Fair point but I wouldn't say that use case should be considered "abusive."

I agree with opie that it's crappy design.

It's not even obvious (to me) how you could easily fix this (decouple the tow hooks from the bumper).
 
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derag2

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Weld it solid I guess......
 

07MegaCabRam

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Here are the mounts. They are not all that weak.

I think people are mis-using them..

I've used mine a few times. ****** to pull out someone stuck in sand too. But I was doing the correct angles and height.


I bet it's got to do something with the crumble zoning for a front end collision.
 

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