First of all, the tow bar didn't really cost $175, it was only $125.  But to use it legally, you have to add safety chains and lights for the towed vehicle.  Now for the story behind the tow bar addition.  Let's face it, there isn't enough room in a TJ for a family of three and all of their "stuff", for a weekend of camping or an extended trip (at least not with the amount of "stuff" we bring with us on our trips!).   So I've spent the past six months trying to decide whether I wanted to load us and all of our stuff in the Caravan and flat-tow the Jeep, or to build a small utility trailer to haul all of our stuff behind the Jeep.   There are pros and cons for both.  The Caravan is super comfy for long trips, and there's tons of space to bring lots of extra stuff with us.   Also, if (when?) the Jeep breaks somewhere, I will save lots of money by not needing a tow truck!  On the other hand, a loaded-down Caravan pulling a 3,500-pound Jeep is, at best, only good for traveling on the highway.  If we wanted to get us and all of our stuff deep into the back country, we would need the utility trailer.  But since we usually only camp at easily-accessible camping areas,  the trailer didn't seem to be critical at this time.

Okay, so I purchased the tow bar and a set of safety chains from Pepboys.  Installation was pretty straight forward.  The hardest part was drilling the four ½-inch holes in the front bumper with my little 3/8" drill.  (I've since purchased a 7.8 amp, ½-inch drill, which works much better on thick metal).  The location I chose for the mounting brackets required one of the bolts to go through the horizontal tube that sits behind the front bumper, so I had to purchase 2 longer bolts.  Although I'm confident that the heavier Olympic bumper could have handled the stress, I feel better that two of the four bolts go through part of the frame. 

To the left is a close-up of the bracket that remains permanently attached to the bumper and how the tow bar attaches to it.  To the right is the whole set-up, with safety chains installed.

         

Next, I made myself a set of magnetic tow lights for the Jeep, which sit on top of my rear bumper.  I got everything I needed at AutoZone (except for the magnets, which came from Lowes) for about $20; much less than the $65 price I've seen on some aftermarket magnetic tow light sets!  First, I mounted a magnet to the bottom of two each pedestal-mount, 3-function tail lights, then placed them on the rear bumper.  Using the short side of a trailer wiring harness (plus some extra wire), I wired the two lights together and into the flat connector.  The other side of the flat connector is just laying inside the driver's side rear corner of the Jeep; the wires run through the tub, through the firewall, and to the front of the engine compartment.  There's about 5 feet of extra wire with another wiring harness on the end, that extends to the wiring harness attached to the tow vehicle.   When not towing, I coil up the wire up front and use a twistie to secure it inside the engine compartment.  In the back, I unplug the lights, tuck the wire harness inside the Jeep, and store the lights in a small plastic box I had laying around my workshop.

The whole tow bar set-up works pretty well.  It's a little squirrelly pulling the Jeep with a minivan; it would work much better with a ¾-ton pickup, but we don't got one of those!  Here are some things I learned about towing my Jeep:

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