It is nice to have some help with removing and replacing the bumper other then that not to hard. You need to bend the tabs on the special bolts in the right spot so they clear everything thou. Just do one at a time don't bend them all the same.

 

Used a Reese unit and pulled the fog lights. Be carefull sliding a hitch or winch in the receiver so it doesnt go in too deep and smash the coil surfaces

 

What receiver is that? I want to find a single sided one just like that.

 

It is a receiver tube with a piece of 5/16" flat stock welded to it. There is a vertical brace too. Drilled to th bolt pattern.

 

My 08 350 has a front hitch ,from towing products plymouth michigan part #65049,it dosen't require removal of fog lights,I have an 8000lb winch on a milemarker reciever winch mount I use welding cable twist lock connectors I have battery cable to the front of truck and at the rear,thru a 250 amp on and off switch to kill the cables when not in use,I gave nearly 200 bucks for the mount,I was toooo lazy to build one I have notice harbor freight tools has one much cheaper and dosen't look too bad either,usually if you get stuck it's easier to back up then continue on so I made it to work on both ends.

 

anyone know a manufacturer and part number for the hidden one on a 00 excursion/superduty?

 

I got a Curt for my 2011 and the install was real easy.

 

2000 Ford F-250 and F-350 Super Duty Front Mount Trailer Hitch | etrailer.com

I have the Draw-Tite style one. I don't know about the Curt, it appears to attach differently and doesn't say you have to remove fog lights.

 

P.S. It appears from the Curt website that the Curt one shown above mounts lower and comes out under the bumper, so you don't need to remove the fog lights. But if you put in Excursion instead of F-250, they show the other style that mounts just like the Draw-Tite.

 

I want to install a front hitch on my 2006 F-250 but i want to confirm some of the points brought up earlier in the thread.

The truck weights roughly 8000lbs. The front hitches I'm seeing online are rated at either 5000 or 9000 lbs straight line pull and 500lb tongue weight.

I would be using the front hitch primarily for winching. Have any of you used these hitches for this application and not destroyed the front hitch. I understand using a ****** block so that you are in fact doing a straight line pull and not torquing things at an angle but at an 8000lb truck I would be exceeding the capacity of the hitch for anything greater than a flat ground pull. I'm just worried when I have it axle deep in mud and go to pull something bad's gonna happen.

I also am kind of thinking that things fail at about 2.5 times what their rated at so it may be ok. Just looking for some experience to give some answers.

The winch is a 12000 lb winch if that matters.

 

Got the Curt on my 05 and left my tow hooks on and installed a light bar. Everything mounted up easy. I got the Curt from Amazon for 160 and got it in in 3 days. Just keep in mind the instuction say to leave out the spacers I did this and my bumper was at a funny lookin angle so I put the spacers back in and perfect.

 

But what I'm asking have any of used a front mount hitch with a 5000lb or 9000lb straight pull rating to winch out your stuck Super Duty without issues. Because I think that on anything worse than flat ground you will put much more than 9000 pounds on the hitch pulling the truck out. Seeing how they weigh 8000lbs to start.

 

The rating on that front receiver is basically the same as the rear receiver on these trucks. So, can you tear it up? Yes, I'm sure you can tear up the rear receiver too. Can you still use it to get your truck out of bad spots? I think so, but there are limits. The main key would be to use a ****** block, and return the line to the tow hooks, NOT to the receiver. Then with a 12k winch, which is what should be mounted on these trucks, you would see about 6k on the receiver, depending on angles involved. The potential is still there to bend something, but that is usally better than spending a cold night in hostile territory.

 

Ok so in using the mechanical advantage of a ****** block setup the actual load on the hitch would be more reasonable and like you said even if you pushed it a little its better than the other alternatives.... plus if you break a $200 hitch that still would probably cost less than alot of the other options of trying to get out.

 

Amen!