I use a draw-tite j-pin (#63201) with my front hitch and cargo carrier. The short leg of the J "reaches back" thru a hole on the hitch and presses the carrier tongue tight against the side of the receiver when you tighten a nut, then there's a locking assembly that keeps it secure and keeps folk from stealing it. I also drilled the Ford rear receiver with the same size hole so I use a J-pin back there, too. I got lucky and found two that were keyed alike. The J-pin really tightens up the cargo carrier and keeps the thing from rocking back and forth in front of your eyes during your trips. And the back one takes some play and rattle out of the trailer connection, and locks the drawbar in place. I also put a draw-tite receiver tube skid shield (#6771) in my front hitch when it is otherwise empty. Looks good and has a bit of a deflector in case I ever snag a curb pulling in some place (never have, though). It's pretty heavy duty.

Note: Just added a pic to my gallery of the J-pin and skid shield

 

I like it. Functional and yet strangely appealing.

Do you think you could put a hitch mounted winch there?

 

Yes, you could put a hitch mounted winch there. Draw Tite's instructions for the receiver say it is rated for 9000 lb max winch line pull, shows sketches of winch line setups, and says the rating is limited to a 15 degree up or down from horizontal and 45 degrees left or right. It also says if you use a ****** block and return cable that the cable end has to go to a factory tow hook, not the winch mount. I already have a high amp connection from the battery to the grill mouth for plug-in jumper cables, just waiting for the day I have the extra $$$ for the winch, since i really don't NEED it.

 

I found a video of installing a CURT front hitch on a 2006.

http://www.etrailer.com/tv-front-hit...ford-f150.aspx

 

That looks really nice, i have been wanting to do that to my truck, but was not too sure how tall i would need to have my trcuk and how it would look? How big of a lift do you have?

 

My truck is a stock height FX-4. No lift . . . .

 

where could I get one at?

 

Yeah not so much.

 

how is the hitch mounted behind the bumper

 

Yep thats almost identical to how mine is.

I have a 2" Bilstein level

www.etrailer.com is a great place to buy over the internet. Check your local craigslist though, thats where I found this one at.

Check out that video I quoted above, it shows you exactly how to install it.

 

Ive never tried to do any reverse towing? Seriously though looks good and I am sure it can come in handy!

 

The Draw Tite hitch just bolts through the frame, pretty easy and straightforward. I got mine from Plattsburgh Spring at www.drawtite.com (no hyphen). They were really good to deal with.

 

What would be the use for this type of addition? Could you tow your truck behind an RV with this modification?

 

Tough!

 

Some guys like them for carrying a cooler. My neighbor had a beautiful F350 ext cab Lariat and he had a truck camper and had two on the front for the massive cooler (he went out on beaches camping/fishing.