Correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't it be great to launch (and retrieve) your boat at the lake going head first instead of backing in? To accomplish that you would need some type of setup on the front. I'm sure I could weld something up but maybe someone already makes it or someone has made one and is willing to share the how to. I have 99 super duty.

If you have 2 wheel drive your drive wheels would be out of the water which if the ramp was low tide and mossy could save some wheel spin.
I know I have seen front receivers but never paid them much attention.
And all the times I've been at the lake, river, or harbor I've never seen anyone putting their boat in head first.

 

my opinion,it would make it easier to launch,but not as easy to find parking spot in reverse,plus you have to take the time to swap back to front & front to back.

 

Growing up the '3 on the tree' transmission in our truck had a lower ratio reverse gear which helped in pulling the boat out of the water.

We never found parking to be a problem but that was our experience. We also never swapped font to back to park. A trailer is very easy to 'drive' and much easier to learn than trying to teach someone the goofyness of backing a trailer. It may look funny but once you do it you will wonder why you didn't do it sooner. Just my opinion though.

 

I spent a few years at Lake Arrowhead in its hey-day.....not uncommon to see.

 

Even better, put ur winch on cradle and swap it from front to back when needed - and u can keep it out of elements when not in use!

 

Here's the one I use...

 

Y2KW57

what type of hitch is that...anyone have a links to what will work in the front? can I move my rear hitch to the front....beams are the same width all the way down right?

 

It is made by WARN. They are application specific, so enter your year for the correct model number. Be WARNED, however, that these front receivers are $300. Absolutely worth it in my opinion, because I don't like the designs of any other front receiver hitch for the 99-04 Super Duty.

The Cequent Products (DrawTite, Hidden Hitch) versions block air flow to the transmission cooler, and force those who have factory fog lights to have to get rid of them.

Also, the Cequent hitches mount to the thin steel bumper mounting flanges, which are design to fold away to absorb crash energy. Those bumper mounting flanges do not appear robust enough to trust pulling 10K lbs, in my opinion.

By contrast, Curt Products has a front receiver hitch that mounts to the Blocker Beam mounts, instead of the breakaway bumper flanges. I think this is a superior mounting location, but unfortunately, the receiver inlet tube on the Curt is welded below the bottom of the cross tube, so it ends up hanging too low (in my opinion) for stock vehicle heights. This isn't an issue for those who run lifts or big tires, but I don't do that, so that hitch wasn't for me.

The Warn receiver tube abuts directly into the cross tube on the same level, so the receiver tube doesn't extend any further down than my first air dam. You can barely see the square plug just below the front license plate in the pic below. The lower air dam passes entirely underneath the hitch.






Most receiver cross tubes are 2.5" x 2.5" nominally, at 1/4" wall thickness nominally, in order to fit 2" x 2" draw bars and accessories. While Warn's receiver opening is also 2" x 2", Warn's receiver cross tube is actually much beefier at 3.5" by 2.5", because Warn is a winch company, and is thinking of strength in the pulling direction. The increased distance between the vertical flats of the tube in the pulling direction make it less likely that the cross tube will buckle on an offset side pull.

Also, instead of mounting to the break away bumper mount flanges, or to the Blocker Beam (which wasn't out yet when my version of this hitch was made), this Warn hitch mounts to 1/4" side plates which mount to the sides of the frame itself, as well as the spring hangars. I upgraded these side plates to 1/2" thick plates, custom machined solid spacers, and bought new spring bolts from Ford that were longer, to accommodate the increased thickness.

Here is a view of the custom 1/2" thick side plates, seen before the second air dam was added. (Those two protrusions hanging down below in front are cooling air scoops)






Based on pictures I've seen online lately, is quite possible that Warn has since changed the design to their front receiver hitch, reducing the tube diameter to 2.5" by 2.5", and eliminating the robust frame and spring hangar mounting, instead taking advantage of the new Ford Blocker Beam mounts that became standard after 2001. That's one reason why even though the 99-04 Super Duties are largely the same, they are still different when it comes to mounting applications. It is hard to tell with the photos from websites that sell the hitch, because sometimes they use the wrong photo, and sometimes there is a design change.

 

there are different hitches depending on the year of your truck. The front hitch for an 05 f-250 is different than the front hitch for an 08, etc.

looks like the load limit for a front hitch is 500 tounge, 5000 tow and for winches..9000 straight line pull.

The last one I installed took tripple the install time the insturctions said.