Tow Hooks and Raising The GA GT

[RABS]

Big storm up here last week and was bogged down really good. Car was so low to the ground I was being hung up on the snow drifts.

Buddy with 4X4 came by to the rescue and tied tow ropes to his truck.......and we looked and looked for a place to tie them to the car. To my surprise I had no tow hooks. Ended up getting 5 guys on the back and pushed me out of the back lane.

1. Do I have tow hooks and just not looking in the right place ?
2. If not, where is the prime spot to tie such ropes for a tow ?
3. Has anyone raised there GA in the winter so they did not get hung up ? Is this advisable and how much could you really raise it ?

Much thanks.

[97mintga]

I've never heard of anyone raising a grand am.

[rixGAphx]

Cars don't have tow hooks.

Jeeps and pickups sometimes have factory tow hooks or D-rings, or have aftermarket stuff.

Some cars have formed steel tie-down brackets for shipping. The brackets are designed only for the minor loads of tying a car to a container, railcar, or trailer.
They will bend and break under the severe forces of towing, especially any sideway force.

Tow truck operators won't trust tie-down brackets.
They'll sling their hook around the trailing arm of the front suspension to grab a vehicle.
It might upset the alignment, but it won't rip loose and kill somebody.

* * *
I used to run a Plymouth Reliant, fwd-4 cyl, to jobsites in the muddy backcountry of northern Arizona.
A couple hard-rubber bushings in the coil springs gave about 1" lift, and I ran tall-sidewall lighttruck M&S tires which gave another 1" lift/2" diameter.

Can't do that with the GA:
1. The front strut/spring seat is so close to the tire shoulder that taller tires won't fit.
2. The 'aero' front (and rear) of the GA overhangs soooooo much that even a couple inches of lift won't do any good.
You'd have to remove the bottom 4 inches or so of plastic because of shallow angles-of-approach/departures.

Best you can do is get skinny tires and chains that will fit between the tire shoulder and the strut/spring seat, and have a good tread pattern that gives some snow grip.

Good luck.
-Rick

[4kQuad]

My Toyota has 2 tow hooks up front and becuase it was first sold in Canada it also has a hook on the back of the car, for removing it from snow.

I have the only Camry I've seen with the hook on the back. But my Owners manual calls then tow hooks.

I would not hook up the car and take off for miles that way, but they tow a car out of snow and are put there for that reason.

[RABS]

My buddies Prelude has tow hooks but not my Grand Am. I told him I guess they put it there casue he's gonna get stuck but seriously wtf is that ?

[urweak]

get something like this welded and bolted onto a strong area on your car http://www.keepercorp.com/prod/tow.htm

[rixGAphx]

Originally posted by urweak
get something like this welded and bolted onto a strong area on your car http://www.keepercorp.com/prod/tow.htm
Now THAT is a tow hook!!

I have a couple on the front of my Cherokee, and one on the back.

But even tho it has a 10,000 lb. rating according to the website, I doubt there is any part of the GA's unibody frame that can take the force of the GA's weight concentrated thru two bolts.
Even on the Cherokee, a 9" length of 3/16" x 2" steel bar was required to distribute the force so the hook wouldn't be torn loose from the chassis member.

A heavy forged steel hook can't be welded to the light-gage steel of the GA frame: The heat necessary for good penetration of the hook's steel mass would burn a massive hole into the light-gage GA member.
So a load-distributing bracket would be necessary for safe mounting of these hooks.

Good luck.
-Rick

[1mean99grandam]

I learned one lesson when I had to get my butt saved - never use the rear contraol arms.......... I bent the f- outta those!

[GaSC/Tnfs]

3. Has anyone raised there GA in the winter so they did not get hung up ? Is this advisable and how much could you really raise it ?


LOL... why not air bag it. I'm not sure if this would raise it any but it seems like it might. (no experiance air bagging before, I'm kinda workin off common sense here so if I'm wrong someone let me know.)

[twisted]

Originally posted by 97mintga
I've never heard of anyone raising a grand am.

could be the new thing. put it on a truck frame lol

[Eldaron]

What about the factory reciever hitch, do they put a subframe in back or what?