Hey All,
Is it possible to remove my tow hooks without removing the front bumper?
I was just looking at it, and it seems that the only way to get to the tow hook nuts, I would have to in through the front of the frame they are attached to. I will be taking the valance off to swap out for an FX2, but that only provides a small opening to get to the nuts holding the tow hook bolts to the frame... follow what I'm saying?
Thanks,
Steve

 

I got mine off no problem w/o removing the bumper.

 

I've added them without removing the bumper, so removing them can be done.

 

Could either of you give me a brief explanation as to how?
EDIT: I guess my real question is how do you get to the Nuts?
The bolts I see no problem, but how do you access the nuts inside the frame?

 

there are no nuts inside the frame,. the 2 bolts screw into a bracket inside the frame..If you look at your tow hooks you have one bolt going through a solid hole and another bolt going through a hole with a slot. What you do it just loosen the bolt with the slot a few turns and thats it, remove the bolt with the solid hole.. then slide the tow hook along the slot and off..now screw the other bolt back in. If you unscrew and remove both bolts youll have a bracket swimming around in your frame.. I change my chrome ones out every winter.. Hope this helps.

 

You can remove both the Tow Hooks and their mounting plates inside the frame by only removing the Valence.

I did this over the summer when I installed my brushguard and accidentally stripped out one of the plates inside the frame and had to remove it.

All you have to do is reach in through the end and pull it out. Yu will have to angle it down and work it around a bit but it will come out without removing the entire bumper.

 

I had to remove the lower plastic valence in order to get inside the frame where the bolts are bolted thru to hold the tow hooks in place.

 

I can see that this is an older topic but I was wondering how far back the center of the first hole in the frame is. I would like to add hooks to my truck and I would like them to look stock (I already have the hooks froma local junkyard and just installed a valance from ebay for 81.00) I just want to find out the stock placement, Thanks for any help you guys can provide.

 

On my '99 4x4 the first hole is approx 4 5/8" back from the end of the frame. The hooks don't stick out past the end of the frame much at all.