2003 Jeep Grand Cherokee Overland Tow Bracket

An update...It seems that the Overland may be a tad bit different with a thicker radiator and other stuff that limits the room available to slide the cross bar underneath and position it properly. I chatted with Roadmaster about this problem and also asked about the function of the crossbar.

Their comment is that the crossbar was there to help provide proper spacing and a bit of stability. Since my tow bar is a Roadmaster All Terrain those functions are duplicated with the crossbar that is part of the Tow Bar....this one is not needed and can be omitted. Just need to make sure the bracket spacing is correct.

I had sort of figured that might be the case since the mounting method didn't provide much structural support anyway. I was glad to hear my suspicions were correct.

Just put a Roadmaster bracket on a '99 GC and it had the cross brace. The tech had the Jeep on a lift and the bracket slipped right in, no problem. The '03 is no different.

I can't remember which one I copied for building a base plate for my WJ, but I did put a cross brace on. Including building the base plate (welding) and installing, was about 3.5 hours. The front bumper cover does come off. It is not difficult to do.

enblethen wrote:
The frames are weaker. Cross bar is to prevent frame from coming together.
Make sure you put the bolts into the cross member.

I suspect there must be another reason....frames are definitively not weaker than the '97 since they share the same uni-frame construction. plus there is a crossbar on the tow bar if that were indeed the case.

Frames are massive, brackets are massive with gussets, four heavy bolts including the roll bar brackets seem that it would do the job without a cross beam. Can not imagine these things moving.

When I installed the BlueOx baseplate on my 2004 Grand Cherokee the entire front fascia had to be removed. Was't a particularly difficult job.

I think when we put this on my Dad's Outland ten years ago the whole bumper had to come off-turned out to be a pretty big job.

The frames are weaker. Cross bar is to prevent frame from coming together.
Make sure you put the bolts into the cross member.