made myself a tow hook
 

first off i know alot of people dont like them but i dont think it looks bad but i wont get offened if you say it looks like crap so what do you think. i made it out of 6061 1/2" aluminum plate. i made a cardboard design and first bored the hole and then bandsawed it out and lapbelted it to smooth it out. i didnt like the normal design of the benen ones and so on that just clamp over the stock tow hook so i made a small piece that fits snugly inside the stock tow hook so there is no movement or adjustment what so ever of mine, it works great and i think it looks good.

http://i167.photobucket.com/albums/u...6/100_0473.jpg
http://i167.photobucket.com/albums/u...6/100_0468.jpg
http://i167.photobucket.com/albums/u...6/100_0467.jpg
http://i167.photobucket.com/albums/u...6/100_0466.jpg
http://i167.photobucket.com/albums/u...6/100_0465.jpg
http://i167.photobucket.com/albums/u...6/100_0464.jpg
http://i167.photobucket.com/albums/u...6/100_0463.jpg

I think it looks nice! How much did it cost you out of pocket and how much time did it take you to make?

hmmm out of pocket $1.59 lol just had to buy the bolt and nut and got the stock for free. took about 3 hours to make while doing other stuff at work so they dont complain

AHHHHHHHHHHHH why cant i see picutres today!



Edit: Got it lol looks great i love your car besides thouse rims :D

looks pretty good. i like it

You trying to make one for me? I could pay you, it all depends on how much. Any other colors available? Have you thought about making one for the front?

thanks for the comments

as far as the rims go i kinda like them plus how could i say no for only $200, i showed to look at them cause the guy didnt have a pic on craigslist and he was asking $400 so i went to look cause he was close and i said no so asked if i would take them for 3 so i said $200 and he accepted lol, thats a great deal no matter what rims they were, the tires are toyo proxes 4 brand new! and only 1 rim has the smallest scratch, plus i had steelies still, the car has only been mine for like a week now

and with the mount i was going to make one for the front at the same time but i dont want to cut my bumper and idk where to mount it so i dont have to, the radiator support is like 4 inches below the slots in the bumper where i thought people mounted them so idk...

and the color is just aluminum, no paint or anything. i was thinking about paint but idk what color yet, at my work we do have a nice black wrinkle paint i could do either that or a black hardcoat thats smooth but for now im sticking with the plain aluminum, until i get sick of it

and idk about selling them, i just made most of it on the manual mill and only make the edges you can see look nice so the pieces that clamp it together are just bandsawed so they dont really look professional, i mean you cant see them once its on but if you got it from a company you would be like wtf is that?

You can make some money off of that stuff sir. $20 on ebay. I know it would sell.
The only thing ugly that I see is the end. But thats hidden once its put on the car, so its all good.

Looks pretty good. What kind of work do you do where 6061 is just laying around? haha

machining work, you'll be amazed how much scrap we accumulate, especially now considering the scrap prices are really down.

well i work at the ls starrett company in athol MA. im in the special gage department that specializes in gages for all kinds of things, every gage we build is for one dimension for one part and sometimes is only used a couple times, they are very expensive and can range from about $3000-$50,000 for one gage. so we use all kinds of material to build with for the different applications and 6061 is the common plate aluminum for a lot of our c-frame gages so we always have like 2 4x4 foot sheets of each thickness laying around lol

this is a link to what i do
http://www.starrett.com/pages/459_gallery.cfm

Black wrinkle paint ftw!!! Post up a pic of the wrinkle black if/when you paint it.

Let me know if you decide to make an extra. Good work overall.

i would gladly buy one off you. Let me know!!!. Also if you decide to make a front one too, I would buy that also. LOOKS AWESOME good work!

I don't think tow hooks look good in general but this looks just as good as any you'd buy from an online store, so goal achieved.

^ Im not a fan of the looks too much, but I had to have my car towed a few weeks ago when my slave cylinder went out, and it makes me want a front tow hook. I hated seeing my bumper and lip flexing a lot trying to get it on a flat bed.

Nice work. Not really a fan of the tow hooks but it definitely looks good. Any plans for paint or powdercoating?

no plans to paint this one but i guess i might have to make a couple more when i get a chance and see about paint and maybe sell a couple.

the black wrinkle looks great, i have done a couple things with it for me so far, tomorrow ill try to get a good pic of my B18 valve cover that has the black wrinkle but i dont know if it will show how nice it really is, this stuff is great and heat resistant up to like 500 degrees or something like that

so since im going to make a couple more one day does anyone know if the different models of the same era civic at least have the same dimensions as far as being away from the bumper and the same size stock tow hook?

i pm`d you about one!!!!

Great job!! u should've paint it red

just a little up date since some people were interested in tow hooks, dont really have the time to make any now but im trying to find some one of these days.

i tryed to get a pic cof the black wrinkle but you cant see what it really looks like from a pic.

and yesterday i was unfortunate enough to figure out how tough these tow hooks really are. i was rear ended at 20 mph and i pulled up the road a little cause it was on a bridge so i pulled up and went to pull over and he flew by me, i flew after him about 100 yards and then he stomped the braked and got out. i was started to get out and he was swearing and saying he was gonna punch me and slammed the door on me back shut, i then called the cops, gave them the plate number right before he got back in his car and sped away, the cops said they knew the guy from the description since he has tattoos on his face it was easy. i then got to look at the back of my car which was why i was pist, i just replaced the front bumper the week before. well i couldn't tell anything happened at all hmmmm wtf? it was kinda dark then so i looked after work, there was paint from his bumper right on the end of the tow hook, and if you stand above it, it is bent maybe 1/8 inch but the good news, nothing at all happened to my bumper. the cops had me then go to the police station to gave another complain cause the got the guy. his bumper is totally ruined hahahahahahaha i was so happy that he ruined it i just started laughing. it was cracked in half and hanging. in the end the only thing i could press charges for was assault and battery but i didnt cause he just yelled and slammed my door and no damage to the car at all so they gave him a warning and let him go and not even a written warning, just verbal but in the end my tow hook saved my bumper and probably the whole hatch and idk about the normal tow hooks that you can buy that you adjust where ever you want and tighten them but im guessing from a rear end crash it would just bend down, well mind didnt move at all, take that all those big name companies with expensive tow hooks that dont work as good( im assuming lol but from being a machinist and training for engineering i think i have a reasonable opinion)

looks good man, i like the look of those hooks

yea i like this hook..id want one if i knew it would fit my sedan