Next up... recovery points for the rear end of the rig.
While the forward bumper of the Trailhawk is adorned with red powder coated tow hooks, a large part of the aggressive appearance of the vehicle's front end, the back has nothing readily available but a trailer hitch receiver. In the interest of being ready for things like trail recovery scenarios, I wanted to put something in the hitch to allow for being yanked backwards if ever necessary. While Harbor Freight has their classic $19 option, but obviously (wouldn't trust it with my life) it isn't really an option at all.
After scouring the internet I recognized a name from the ExpeditionOverland guys' front bumpers - Factor 55. A product by the name of "Hitchlink" caught my eye as the perfect solution to my needs for a rear recovery point. A block of aluminum weighing in at just under 2 pounds and rated to 9,500lbs , this thing is a beast. Their website depicts the ultimate failure point at 51,000 pounds... a point by which the trailer hitch and frame would have been yanked out from underneath the WK2. With a multitude of color options I rolled the dice for the dark grey to match Halley, and was quite pleased to find that it did. I bought some powder coated red 3/4" shackles to add a nice accent to the back of the Hitchlink, keeping with the grey/red theme of the entire vehicle. A few minutes on Amazon found me a locking hitch pin, since I've now got nearly $120 into my rear recovery point... not something I'm ready to have stolen off the back end of the Jeep.
While on Amazon I also picked up a 125-piece first-aid kit for a whopping 20 bucks. Never a bad thing to have, and it even goes so far as to include a glow stick and space blanket. Hopefully never are needed, but for now they're stored in the nifty zipped up kit in the trunk's spare tire organizers.
*Update 04/13 - Factor 55 has become a sponsor of the 2180miles Trailhawk build, so more products will be installed in the coming months! Huge thanks to them for providing products at discounted prices for me to use, photograph, and review.
While the forward bumper of the Trailhawk is adorned with red powder coated tow hooks, a large part of the aggressive appearance of the vehicle's front end, the back has nothing readily available but a trailer hitch receiver. In the interest of being ready for things like trail recovery scenarios, I wanted to put something in the hitch to allow for being yanked backwards if ever necessary. While Harbor Freight has their classic $19 option, but obviously (wouldn't trust it with my life) it isn't really an option at all.
After scouring the internet I recognized a name from the ExpeditionOverland guys' front bumpers - Factor 55. A product by the name of "Hitchlink" caught my eye as the perfect solution to my needs for a rear recovery point. A block of aluminum weighing in at just under 2 pounds and rated to 9,500lbs , this thing is a beast. Their website depicts the ultimate failure point at 51,000 pounds... a point by which the trailer hitch and frame would have been yanked out from underneath the WK2. With a multitude of color options I rolled the dice for the dark grey to match Halley, and was quite pleased to find that it did. I bought some powder coated red 3/4" shackles to add a nice accent to the back of the Hitchlink, keeping with the grey/red theme of the entire vehicle. A few minutes on Amazon found me a locking hitch pin, since I've now got nearly $120 into my rear recovery point... not something I'm ready to have stolen off the back end of the Jeep.
While on Amazon I also picked up a 125-piece first-aid kit for a whopping 20 bucks. Never a bad thing to have, and it even goes so far as to include a glow stick and space blanket. Hopefully never are needed, but for now they're stored in the nifty zipped up kit in the trunk's spare tire organizers.
*Update 04/13 - Factor 55 has become a sponsor of the 2180miles Trailhawk build, so more products will be installed in the coming months! Huge thanks to them for providing products at discounted prices for me to use, photograph, and review.
