I just bought a 97 flare side and have a wrecked 99 f-150 I don't know to much about body work. I was wondering if it is possible to use the nicer new bumper with the newer type of fog lights. Would it be a pain in the butt to replace

 

as long as you have all the brackets it will work just fine. just know that the 97 grille will look funny sitting above the 99 bumper. the 99+ grilles kinda dip down into the bumper, whereas the 97-98 are straight across.

 

Have you or anyone seen it done?

 

I've not seen anyone do it unless they changed over the grill surround also

 

Yep gotta swap bumper and grill to make it match up. And the newer style bumper will have different brackets

 

I just did this yesterday. My truck is a '97 and I went with a bumper off an '02. All you need is the brackets and it'll mount up. Get a 99+ grill surround though unless you want a gap showing between the grill/bumper.