Mobtown hidden hitch failure. Need suggestions

Need some help here. Last month I installed the updated second gen Mobtown Hidden hitch set up (the one with the side frame-tie straps and lower frame supports intended to prevent the frame/bumper mounting bolts/plate bending experienced in the 1st gen design) on my 2017 Taco. Aside from them still not having the Gen 2 installation directions on the website it all went
on well and it lined up spot on as you can see below. Very happy with the fit (below).
For the first month or so and had only used the hitch for fishing rod holders and the shackle mounts for kayak tie downs..until this weekend when I pulled a small Subaru Impreza out of shallow sand in a beach parking lot with a 30ft snatch line using both the D rings and soft shackles. After the recovery I was surprised to see my OEM bumper cover pulled out, breaking all of my bumper tabs and trim and the bar bending down around 20 degrees! Ouch!
Upon pulling the bumper off (faster now with the tabs all busted..haha) you can see how it bent and the issue with the design of pulling so far up. The frame straps did their job well but it caused the tabs that bend at 90 degrees to stretch and twist badly with the force, bending the main mounting plate and and pulling the mounting bolts forward.

I have 2 other heavily built Taco's and am well aware of the weakness of the OEM bumper mounts and how they do not like pulling forces on them. This is why I liked this updated design with the frame straps for my daily driver but hey are clearly in the wrong place and need to be much further apart (and higher up on that side plate) to deal with the forces that these hidden hitches can apply being so high up in relation to the mounting plates (vs where the D rings are (lower) on a traditional plate bumper).

I guess my question is has anyone experienced something like this and come up with a better solution? I really don't want a full on plate bumper on this truck as this is a daily driver and I don't want this machine to look or too "overlander'd" (+ I really need the front receiver hitch set up). I reached out to Mobtown and while they were initially interested in seeing the pics, they have been silent for the past few days.

For a product that is pitched as a "strong recovery bar", I'm disappointed at the ease of failure here especially since I've had good luck with other Mobtown products over the years on my other 2 trucks.

 

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...rmarket-bumper-reinforcement-brackets.612276/

 

Looks to me like the big bolts between the hitch thing and the frame straps were not tight enough.

 

Yep, appears to be the culprit.

 

I initially thought that too but they were tightened to around 90-100ft lbs each. Upon disassembly I was expecting to see elongated holes or damaged bolts at that point but that was not the case (and there is virtually no slack for them to move as the hole tolerance is pretty tight). Upon closer measuring of the frame tie in bend, I found the top bent way out (increasing its radius), yet kept its original radius at the bottom.

 

I actually talked to Jerry at BAMF about this application today and unfortunately it won't help as the Mobtown back plate will likely just bend again at or above the top mounting bolts (hidden hitches pull forward from a much higher point then a traditional plate bumper (also their design would interfere with the side strap tie-ins of this bar).

 

Most of these bumpers are 3/16" steel but I doubt any of the frame or supports on the Tacoma are any thicker, which would be just as big of a concern.

 

Hard to tell from the pics, but I guess I can see that. Must have been a damn hard pull..

Probably should stick to the factory OR tow point in the future, or better yet turn around and use the receiver hitch

 

Seems like that design encourages that failure, with the rings being offset instead of inline

 

This may be obvious but have you tried contacting @Mobtown Offroad

 

You obviously didn’t read all of his original post.

 

Class III hitch receivers for our trucks (back and front) have a greater moment arm than these pull tabs, and they are plenty strong. It’s just a matter of design.

As far as I’ve seen, all the hidden hitches for Tacomas and a lot of bumpers have the same weakness, so you’re doing us a service by illustrating it.

I was planning on ordering a hidden hitch receiver today and am glad to see this post, because now I will be drawing up a reinforcement bracket for that area, if @Mobtown Offroad don’t beat me to it.

@Surfguygriff, will keep you in the loop for whatever I come up with.

 

Not really gonna help now but just FYI, you generally don't want to snatch someone out in reverse.

 

This. OP was likely pulling up too further making the problem worse. Definitely not a good design if you wanna pull from there heavier stuff.

 

Yes, pull from rear! Forward gears are stronger too. Now, that doesn't help if you are stuck and need to be pulled from the front.

 

Without being a professional, I would agree. I think I would have had the pull tabs come out from the bottom black part of the bumper if I homemade one. That's a lot of leverage.

 

TLDR; That design is a lever and the load increases significantly the further away it gets from the center of the frame rail.

You MAY be able to tow the vehicle from that hitch design but I would never use that as a recovery point. As others have said you want that recovery point a close to center line to the frame as possible. I would consider those eyelets as 'decorative' from here on out.

A lever redirects effort force from one end and transfers it to the other end as load force. By studying the ratio of effort force to load output, easily calculate the mechanical advantage of a simple lever. This requires knowing the output force for any given input force. Because levers operate by rotational torque, calculate mechanical advantage (or disadvantage in this case) by using the arm lengths of the lever.

Measure the distances between the fulcrum, or balance point of a lever and each end. Divide the length of the lever's effort arm by the length of its resistance arm. According to Utah State University, the effort arm is the input force and the resistance arm is the output force.

 

If we are talking about levers, the receiver tube in the middle of a Class III hitch receiver (which can easily bend a Tacoma frame while suffering zero damage itself) is a lot farther offset from the frame rails, both vertically and horizontally, than those pull tabs. Even the factory tow hooks are vertically offset farther from the frame than any pull point on this hidden hitch receiver.

So there’s nothing inherently undoable about the positions of these pull points. That weak corner just needs a rethink. It wouldn’t take much metal at all to make something that surpasses the strength of the truck frame.

 

True but there is generally a max tow rating of 5000lbs (or similar)and often triangulation behind to accommodate some momentary forces while towing a trailer that needs relatively low enertia to get it moving. Recovery can have loads that far surpass those numbers. Its not recommended to use a tow hitch as a recovery point and never use a hitchball as a connection point for snatch strap. They are not rated for the loads. Have I done it? Yep, and cringed every time.