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Used some square trailer U-bolts from O-Reilly’s for $20 w/ tax. Had to use a mallet to bend them just slightly to make them work. Only took a few whacks of the mallet each. Came with flat washers, lock washers, and nuts. Total install time was less then 10 minutes.
Got some used 06-07 F-150 front tow hooks of eBay for $40 shipped. My findings were the 06-07 f150 tow hooks are longer then the ones that come on the front of our trucks (08+). Either sets of tow hooks will work with the same u-bolts but I wanted the longer ones so they can be used as a step and also a rear end deterent. Expect to pay more for the 06-07 tow hooks online. I guess between the fact it had a shorter run of production and they are more sought after since it seems everyone online prefers them since when installed front or rear on our 09-14 F150s they can be used as a step vs the shorter ones that come stock on our trucks.
not bad....not a bad idea at all...great execution.......hmmmm....I think when they installed my plow I think they took of tow hooks.......have to look and see......
The only problem with that is, it doesn't look like your chains are crossed. Ideally you want the right side chain of the trailer to go to the left side of the truck and vice versa. The criss cross provides a cradle for the tongue in case it comes off and it doesn't dig into the road or do other nasty things. Imagine the tongue coming off and hitting the inside edge of a deeper pothole.
The only problem with that is, it doesn't look like your chains are crossed. Ideally you want the right side chain of the trailer to go to the left side of the truck and vice versa. The criss cross provides a cradle for the tongue in case it comes off and it doesn't dig into the road or do other nasty things. Imagine the tongue coming off and hitting the inside edge of a deeper pothole.
jdunk54nl thanks for having my back! Hard to tell from my pic but the chains are criss crossed under the tongue of the trailer for when I pulled it today. I didn’t realize the reason was to catch the tongue though. I just remember my dad telling me to cross them. I just figured it was for better sway control if the tongue did pop off the ball. I am really liking these tow hooks since they are big enough for me to loop the safety chains through and hook the chain on itself and pull the slack out of the chain. On the stock hitch the holes aren’t big enough to loop through and all I can do is just hook them on there leaving a lot of slack on the chains.
Hard to tell from my pic but the chains are criss crossed under the tongue of the trailer for when I pulled it today. I didn’t realize the reason was to catch the tongue though.
Kind of. When the hitch becomes detached from the ball, all of the slack is gone so it doesn't necessarily "catch" the tongue, but keeps it more centered (than parallel chains) when the tongue goes under the tow vehicle and/or also when the breakaway brakes engage. I always put a twist in as well, so the left chain twists once or twice in the middle before hooking on the right side and vice versa.
Originally Posted by 2012FX4
On the stock hitch the holes aren’t big enough to loop through and all I can do is just hook them on there leaving a lot of slack on the chains.
any folks solve that with a quick link:
Not bashing your tow hooks, they're great, just if you or others run into that situation on any vehicle, a quick trip to Home Depot for these will solve it.
A question: What grade are the square U-bolts that you used? If they are just zinc-plated standard steel they might not be up to an impact load of a trailer tongue falling off of a ball. I couldn't see a rating at all on the packaging.
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