Hello,

I bought a salvaged 2000 Ex 7.3L. I had it converted to burn vegetable oil for fuel.

In any case, whoever owned it before me must have removed the tow hooks and installed PIAA fog lights in the void. Now however, the PIAAs are gone but the wiring harness is still there (although quite a mess).

I wanted fog lights but could not afford PIAAs so my hubby fabricated brackets next to the license plate and ibstalled my new fog lights. The void where the tow hooks were now look really empty so I went to a salvage yard and bought a couple of 2000 F150 tow hooks that match my original ones.

My question is does anyone know how to install them? I recently had some body work done to the front and they had the front bumper off. I had asked them to install my new tow hooks but they said there was no way to even with the bumper off. Are they telling me the truth?

Thanks guys,
Carol

 

You must remove the bumper to get to the tow hook bolts.

If yours are gone hopefully the PO put bolts in its place because the hooks are an integral part of the suspension system on a 4x4. IIRC, the front spring hangers are right there. (Haven't looked in a while)

You'll need the bolts that go through the frame and tow hooks with threaded holes to accept the bolts. You sure the F150 hooks are the same?

the tow hooks on my 05 are different than my 2000 in the way the bolt on. I have 3 Allen head bolts that go down through the hook and bolt at the bolt. The 2000 had bolts that went up through the hook and used the hook as the "bolt".

 

I thought the f150s used a different tow hook than the superduty. The superduty uses a loop with three nuts welded to the flat plate. I seem to recall pulling a set off without removing the bumper (99-04 body), skinned knuckles and scraped arms never bothered me though.

 

The bumper does not have to come off, I would say the F150's are not compatable.

 

I just typed like three paragraphs and lost them all when I tried to spell check them. Crimini!



Ok, so I'll try to be careful when I type.



No surprise, but I mistyped the Ford model I got the tow hooks from. I meant I got them from a F250 Superduty. I know that the Excursion was built on the F250 platform, I just went braindead for a moment there. I have the bolts and the proper tow hooks for my model. The bolts do come up from underneath, not from the top and the tow hook is threaded.



So I am guessing that the body shop never tried to get those hooks in there when they had the bumper off, did they? Bad, bad boys. I hate that.





So how do I do it now with the bumper back on? My hands are not tiny, but they are smaller than my hubby's. Should we take the bumper off?





By the way Monsta, not to change the subject because I really want to know how to do this, but I have been searching for chrome wheels and I love yours, will you tell me who the maker is?





Thank you gentlemen!


Carol

 

You just slide the hooks in from the front and fit your hands in there to get the bolts started or a long extension and a swivel socket. The slight bend in the hook faces upwards.

 

I didn't realize you didn't have to remove the bumper. I removed mine anyways to remove the tow hooks so I could put Hella 550s in their place on my 2000.

~~~~~~~~~
Gidg, I have 2008 OEM F250/350 Super Duty 20" 8-spoke wheels (with 285/55 Michelin LTX AT/2 tires). You need wheel adapters to make the wheels fit properly. WheelAdapter.com is your number one source for wheel adapters, wheel spacers, used wheels, and wheel studs.

 

I just looked at my hooks and the cruve faces down not up as I stated in my last post, Sorry

 

Ok, so my spacing was all off on my last post, yuk. Sorry about that everyone. Anyway thank you to both of you. But SFeintuch, how do I approach this task? From under the truck or directly in front of the bumper? I set the tow hook in there and there isn't much room for anything else including my hands and/or a tool. The bolts come up from underneath, right? Because bolting from the top of the hook down wouldn't work at all in terms of stability.

 

You need to work from under the truck, Bolts go in from the bottom up. It is tight but it can be done without removing the bumper.

 

Yep... it is a tight fit.... but it can be done.

I was able to install my chrome Harley D. tow hooks w/o removing the bumper.

Get on your back on the ground and come up from under the frame & bumper.

Like those 20's... eh? Get some and you can join our "OEM 20 Club".

 

i got a set of billet hooks that look way better than the stockers for sure and they will never chip the black paint off and rust. same goes for the chrome stock hooks. sorry for the pic size...

 

Remove 6 bolts and the bumper is off. Four 18 mm on the front that screw into a welded bracket,so no need to hold the nut on the back,and one 13 or 14 bolt on either side bracket and it's off.It would make the job a whole lot easier.

 

You are probably right Brickie and Racer, your billet hooks look great.

Someone mentioned in another thread about being careful of the paint in the front when the bumper is taken off. I guess it can really damage the area foward of the wheel well if we aren't careful.

I'll report back when we have completed the task and let you all know what worked.

Thanks a bunch!