looking at installing a 2" FRONT hitch on my truck and cant seem to find a picture of one installed.

does anyone here have one? brand? how was the install? Pics please!!

thanks

 

I've traded with these folks several times. Quality all the way.

http://www.hitches-forless.com

While I don't have a front reciever on my truck, they do show a picture of a Ford with one on their site. Though it may not be as detail as you'd like to see.

Good luck,

Joey

 

Guy on this site called Chemgod has one I think.

 

Oh, and btw, all the rear hitches I've installed have not been a lot of trouble. Bolt and go. Most likely the front hitch you're looking for will be the same. However, holding one up with one hand and installing the bolts with the other can tax you out.

 

In Petersons 4wheel and off road magazine/ and several other magazines there is an advertisement for Quaker State oil featuring a f150 with a brush guard and a 2" receiver hitch on the front of the truck. it's tucked in right above the bumper.

as a side question what make do you guys think the brush guard is, looks like the two hooks are retained.

 

Got mine for my FX-4 from www.drawtite.com (no hyphen), which is actually Plattsburgh Spring Inc. in NY. The Drawtite hitch bolts right up and has two installation heights to choose from. It bolted on with no problem. With a Draw-Tite hitch you can get a J-pin drawbar lock pin, which takes all the play out of the hitch connection and keeps your cargo carrier or bike rack from rocking. This is the second hitch I got from Plattsburgh Spring - they're great to deal with. On my wife's '04 Explorer we put the cargo carrier with three bicycles on the front, and tow a pop-up camper on the back. The F-150 hitch is 9,000 pull and 500 lb tongue weight capacity. Haven't carried anything on the front of the F-150 yet . . . I'd definitely go with the Draw-Tite hitch and with Plattsburgh Spring.

Amost forgot to mention - it's just (4) 6" long bolts, a couple of spacers, some nuts and washers. Use a floor jack to support it and it's a one man job. 7/8" wrench for the nuts, 3/4" wrench for the bolt heads, 75 ft-lbs torque. No foul with tow hooks, & looks great. I did have to loosen the right side fog light to get that side's front bolt in, it JUST missed going in without doing it.

 

Lets see a picture?

 

Pictures will have to wait - I'm going out of town in the morning. I'll try to remember when I get back! Not much to see though, from the front there's a receiver just below the bumper. Actually it touches & slightly deflects the lip of the bumper - I'm trying to decide if I care & want to trim a notch in the plastic. The hitch just bolts between the frame rails. If you go to the Hidden Hitch website you can punch in the vehicle info to see a copy of the installation instructions. Hidden Hitch and Draw-Tite are both owned by the same company (Reese is, too) - and they share this hitch, but apparently not every hitch. Draw-Tite doesn't have the diagrams on-line for this hitch, but Hidden Hitch does for some reason. Anyway, I'll try to remember to take a picture or two, then I just have to figure out how to post them!

 

ok- so the hitch does sit below the bumper? I am trying to figure out if it comes out between the bumper because i have the bumper grille insert.... if the hitch comes under the bumper that will be perfect!!!!

I am thinking of using the hitch for a front cargo carrier so when I go camping i can have a big chst cooler mounted up front.... or I can put a step to work under the hood- lol

 

Yes, the hitch is under the bumper. There are two height settings. I chose the higher one for more ground clearance, but now it just deflects the bumper lower lip a little. I'll probably trim it. I also had to relocate one power steering cooler hose holder - just pulled it out of the frame and moved it up to another hole. I tried the lower setting and didn't like it (about 1.5" lower) but with the lower setting I didn't have to move the hose, and it definitely didn't touch the bumper.

I did take some pics (I woke up early this morning for some reason), the pics are on my webspace. the address is:

http://users.erols.com/fischer3/Pictures/

and the pictures all have "hitch" in their names.

On my wife's Explorer we've carried bikes on a cargo carrier and we've also carried coolers. I bought a "skid plate" insert for the receiver on the F-150, you'll see it in one of the pictures, with the J-pin installed. Hope this helps!

PS - the Draw-Tite part number is 65043 (it's in one of the pictures) and I'd definitely deal with Plattsburgh Spring (www.drawtite.com, 1-877-HITCH-IT (448-2448)) - Melanie can definitely get you what you need. I made this purchase all via their web site, and she answered my e-mail questions very quickly.

 

A friend of mine that camps with us does not have much room for his travel tailer at his house, so he had a hitch installed on the front of his 02 F150, because this is the only way he could manouver his TT up his driveway and park it behind his house. He just got a new 05 F150, but I have not camped with him yet this year, I'm anxious to see if he got a front hitch for this one.

 

I have a hitch on the front so I can take both my pop-up camper and my boat on vacation with me.
Of course, I put the pop-up camper on the front so I can see where I'm going.

p.s.
I'm one hell of a driver.

 

thank you very much for the pictures!!!!!!!!! Looks great!

 

Glad the photos helped. From what you described this hitch will do what you want it to. Let me know if you have any other questions. -Lee F.

 

You da man, Raoul.