truck is a 97 old body f350.

i was flipping through the owners manual the other day, and i read through the section on towing. i found out that my truck's bumper is rated as a class III for towing. i cant remember exactly what the weight is, but from the underside, it looks super beefy. its just the stock step bumper. it looks like its built in a way where you could seperately remove the chrome sides and still have the step/hitch ball area tied into the frame. im only looking to use it to be pulled out/pull others out. i wanna put a 1" clevis through the hitch ball hole, and since that part is tied into the frame, it looks like it would be strong enough. what do you think? heres some pics so you can get the idea.

http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a3...umper2edit.jpg
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a3...ro/bumper2.jpg

 

I dont see why you cant. People (including myself) have used bumpers to tow and pull stuff for years. When I was in school I didn't know what a receiver hitch was.

 

yeah, I would say it will work for decent tugs with a somewhat stock truck. just dont do any running start with chains or cables.

 

yea you can but you gotta be smart about it. just dont be too surprised if it buckles

just get ya a class V receiver hitch and never worry about it again!

-cutts-

 

build you the matching rear to this real cheap

 

lol chrono, "real cheap" to me means under $100. if you can do that, id consider it.

 

yeah.....you can pull or get pulled from your bumper....as long as you dont get stuck and have me hook up to you.....i have a problem of pulling bumpers off.....hehe

 

97, where you at?

 

im right here.

 

no way!.....ME TOO!!!!!!!!!!

 

LOL, long day at work...im like 30 minutes outside of philly.

 

ah ok, a little far away. I was gonna offer to do another bumper like my rear for around your said price, but shipping would kill on that.

 

yeah man, i definatley take one. hell, id take a matching front and a back, cause i need both, but your right. shipping would kill any hope of that. what does one of those things weigh anyway? probably on the better side of 200lbs id guess.

 

Well, its a piece of 12" structural C channel cut down to 8 inches in the middle, tapered down to 4 on the ends. The c channel is probably 3/8 thick or a 1/4 thick on the front and top, and the corner is a good 5/8 thick. Then i took 2 40 000 pound rated weld on d rings and put them right in front of the frame rails. triple passes with the Beta mig turned all the way up. On the rear I did the same thing only I has a 2" reciever dead center.
Lets just say I've done some serious shock load testing with them.