weird thing in front of bumper

[icetruck]

hey all I bought a used '98 F-150 and I think it was used on a farm. Anyway, it has this cast iron cylinder welded to the frame and sticking out in front and below the front bumper. I've just been calling it a winch mount but that's probably because I don't know any better. Anybody have any ideas what it could have been used for? It looks like a home mod. I kinda want to take it off but how would you take something off that's welded to the frame? I don't want to tweak the frame at all. It's a seriously thick piece of metal too. I don't know, if it's useful for something I'll keep it on, but I go offroading so I'd rather have it off to increase my approach angle.

[greencrew]

It's hard to imagine what it looks like without a picture. Could it have been used to carry those orange cones that caution a work zone?

[icetruck]

it's a horizontally placed cylinder about 1 1/2 ft. wide and 3" thick. I'll try to get a picture up.

[Unlawful]

could be for towing the truck behind another vehicle, like a tow bar......picture would help

[icetruck]

here's a picture. hope u can see it in front there.



and another...

[Jay911]

Looks to me like part of a brush bar or grill guard that never got taken off..

--j.

[MitchF150]

Snow plow attachment point???

[greencrew]

I would guess that is is home made. There was a chain wrapped around it and carried at all times. A farmer could have used it to tow the truck behind his tractor and implement out into the field so that he could drive it back to the house at the end of the day. That's much better done with a solid pin hitch in case it has to be towed down a hill, but on flat land a chain works fine. Also, if he was running out into the field it could get stuck, and the chain would be right there to hook up to a tractor.

[icetruck]

I think those are all possibilities. But who knows. Yeah, I am leaning toward homemade though, and I'm pretty sure it was used on a farm in cold weather, so I guess it could have been any of those three theories. Any others? What would be cool is if the previous owner happened to subscribe to this website and could tell me himself!

[hmustang]

Looks like a home made brush guard of some sort to me.

[racajoje]

Looks handy ! I have a buddy with cattle and he's always towing or pulling something. He's talked about raising a beef or deer up with his truck and a rope and pulley or block and tackle. I like pulling from the front when possible for better visibility and control. Looks like it's seen some chain rub action. I sure wouldn't worry about cutting it off if you don't need it. A muffler shop could cut it off in no time.

[Aftrmidnite]

It looks like a winch cable guide for putting the winch cable under the truck and out the back. Should be another one half way back (double bars) and something near the rear bumper. If you want to use this get a cable a little longer than the truck so you won't have to climb underneath to thread it.

[icetruck]

why would you want to winch behind the truck?