In watching the video again it appears the battery powered impact driver was used to get them tight as it would do.. guessing something around 100 ft lbs. good and tight seem to be a good rule of thumb.

I was thinking, with the two bolts you drill into the bar, if there is enough space on top to drill through both parts of the bar and slide bolt through both top and bottom for a stronger hold of that area.

Was thinking about my airstream 31ft classic and the hitch weight on that thing is like 7-800 lbs. This hitch is rated for 5k with a 500 hitch.
was wondering if better bolts through the bar would help beef up that part. not to mention a small scooter on front bouncing around on the hitch.

 

I received a reply from from Richard Martin at Curt and he says the following.

"Thank you for contacting CURT Manufacturing with your inquiry. The 21 mm hex nuts—14 mm bolt size—should be torqued to 100 ft.-lbs. The 24 mm hex nut—16 mm bolt size—torque = 146 ft.-lbs."

This should help guys in the future.
Ed

 

Bringing up this old thread.

I just installed a Draw-Tite front receiver(got a great deal on it and some other parts). I was thinking of upgrading the fog lights anyways, but seeing if anyone has the Draw-Tite and what they have done with fog/aux lights.

 

In principle, fog lights, and I mean true fog lights, should be mounted as low as either the law or the necessary approach angle requires, and as wide apart as possible.

The low mounting height enables the fog light to actually illuminate the road, by taking full advantage of the boundary layer of clear visible space beneath the fog bank. This layer is only around a foot high, where the earth's heat and other dynamics prevent the fog from settling all the way down to the road's surface.

Another advantage of low mounted fog lights relates to the reduction of reflected light bouncing back off the fog toward the driver. If the lights are shining through the clear boundary layer, then there won't be so much of that blinding bounce back. The higher the lights shine into the fog bank itself, the more reflected light the driver will have to contend with, and these bright glowing clouds of fog can blind drivers from seeing the fainter tail lights of a stack of cars ahead, hidden in the fog.

This is why European vehicle safety standards require at least one very bright red REAR fog light, having about the same luminosity of FMVSS brake lights, only the rear fog light(s) is(are) continuously on during foggy conditions where the front fog lights are also turned on.

It has only been within the last 15 years that FMVSS finally required low mounted rear read reflectors on the back bumpers of most cars and SUVs under 8,500 GVWR. While not quite up to the European safety standards of illuminated rear fog lamps, (no doubt due to the strong lobby of the US auto industry geared to stall or prevent the US government from imposing any new standards that would increase costs), the low mounted rear red reflectors are more visible in the clear boundary layer that lies underneath fog than the typical rear reflector that is already incorporated into the rear tail lamp housing positioned higher on the vehicle.

So with forward facing fog lamps (as well as rear facing fog lamps and reflectors), LOWER is better.

Fog lamps also are more ideally mounting wider apart. Driving fast in the low visibility conditions of thick fog is plain stupid, so a far reaching long throw beam pattern doesn't make any sense in fog lamps. Rather, a short throw, widely dispersed beam pattern in a 180 degree swath that picks up the lane line reflectors / lines / bumps on both sides of the traffic lane are far more useful in fog.

Driving lights are typically mounted close together side by side, because their long beam pattern converges together and overlaps in the distance ahead. Important when moving fast enough to want to see far ahead of time what lies ahead. But the dangers of driving in thick fog are immediately in front, and still not seen, often until too late, judging by the multi car crash pile ups that ensnare as many as 100 cars and trucks in just one incident on interstates that traverse central valleys socked in fog.

Finally, fog lights that are amber in color, rather than white, have the advantage of not reflecting as much blinding white light against the fog back into the driver's eyes.

For these three reasons, Ford's original lousy fog light location for the 1999-2007 Super Duty and Excursion is not worth trying to replicate. The stock fog lights are mounted too high, and are positioned too close together, to be considered optimal for fog lights. The stock fog light mounting position may likely have been an ill conceived compromise to concede to the contours of Ford's final choice in bumper design. Here is one Ford sketch from the mid 90's of a potential design for the yet to be released Super Duty that at least had better fog light placement:





But the final design for fog light placement fell short on all three of the tried and true basic principles of fog lights... low, wide, and amber.



It was not until Ford's refresh in 2008 that front fog lights on the Super Duty finally got moved wider, outboard of the tow hooks, which broadened the beam pattern and better illuminated the lane markers.





Ford moved the fog lights outboard wider still in the 2011 major refresh...




Wide fog light placement remained in the most recent 2017 redesign as well.





If I had a DrawTite front receiver hitch, I would be looking at trying to mount fog lights outboard of the tow hooks, like Ford has done with the F-150's for the last 20 years, and with the F Super Duties for the last 10 years. I wouldn't try and replicate the mistake I think Ford made in the 99-07.

I'd probably try to mount the fog lights below the bumper as well, rather than in or through the bumper, especially if approach angle isn't an issue. I don't currently have fog lights, but am considering making holes in the lower air dam valance panel for fog lights, similar to how many big rigs arrange their amber fog lights, rather than mounting the lights in holes cored through the bumper itself, which on a 99-07 Super Duty, is still too high for optimal fog light performance. But a lot of people run fog lights just for "looks", so if that is the case, obviously ignore this post!

 

Could somebody explain what the "blocker beam" is? Thanks!

 

Earl, look at post #3 in this thread. It mounts behind the front valance on trucks that are equipped with it. Not all trucks have one.

 

TImmm... howdy there friend.. have a question on the front hitch you installed in 2016 on front of truck.. Now we are getting ready to hit the road and see the need to have front mounted hitch for bike rack.. Was wondering if you have experienced any issues with the hitch mount that is so low to the ground. I am on a 2wd model so not as high as 4x4 in the first place.. not sure which way to go on this so any input would be appreciated..