New Boat and Towing with bumper
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Joined: Oct 2006
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From: mobile, Al
Originally Posted by Zaairman
Although I'm not a fan of towing on a bumper no matter what the load is...
1. Yes there are proper places to attach the safety chains on the bumper.
2. Stress, yes. It will tweak the bumper and give it that custom slanted look...
3. The factory hitch is held on by 8 bolts too (usually). That's how it was done on my 1999 F-150 and 2000 F-250, both with Ford hitches, although the mounting system is much different on the 04 up F-150s.
Spend your money on a good hitch. Don't cheap out now, or you did the wrong thing by buying a boat...
1. Yes there are proper places to attach the safety chains on the bumper.
2. Stress, yes. It will tweak the bumper and give it that custom slanted look...
3. The factory hitch is held on by 8 bolts too (usually). That's how it was done on my 1999 F-150 and 2000 F-250, both with Ford hitches, although the mounting system is much different on the 04 up F-150s.
Spend your money on a good hitch. Don't cheap out now, or you did the wrong thing by buying a boat...
even the slanted look is better than the dented look! sorry just had to go there
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Joined: Mar 2005
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From: St. Charles, MO
Originally Posted by jmt0645
even the slanted look is better than the dented look! sorry just had to go there
The front bumper is both slanted and dented... But, if I hadn't of been towing my boat with my hitch, my rear bumper would have been f'd in that wreck also. And it probably would have tweaked it so bad that it would have hit the bed side, causing even more damage to my truck.
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Joined: Sep 2003
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Originally Posted by SlammaJamma
You're a ding-dong for even considering it. I haven't and will never put a ball on my bumper. I don't care if I'm only pulling my small trailer with my lawn equipment on it, it still gets hooked to the receiver.
I'm with this guy, I don't ever pull anything off the bumper and honestly I think the receiver hitch should be standard equipment on a truck. One of my buddies learned it the hard way pulling his popup he had for about a week. After I told him to get a receiver to go on his Exploder, his response was "na, I'll get one later." Fast forward a couple of weeks, he towed the little Coleman over to another buddy's house and learned the hard way of why not to use the bumper. While backing into the narrow driveway from the narrow street the tongue of the trailer ended up hitting the bumper, bending the support bracket for the front bed, busting part of the trim on the bumper and putting a nasty dent in the bumper itself. After disconnecting the trailer and noticing the damage, he looked up at me and stated that I told him so and he didn’t listen…..The Exploder had a tubular Draw-Tite on it the next week.
Of course he didn’t learn the first time to use my advice either. Completely unrelated but funny he started parking the Coleman on the street in front of his apartment being to lazy to carry it back to his grandmothers house…see where this is going. After telling him for a month that if he didn’t move it that it would get hit, guess what….It was the victim of a hit and run. He did get a mirror off the vehicle that hit it though, souvenir of stupidity I guess.
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Joined: Oct 2002
Posts: 5,358
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From: Commerce Twp, MI
The bumper on my 03 Screw (with OEM recevier) has a hole for a ball to mount in the bumper. The crome bumper is cutout larger diameter with a ball that would mount to the steel plate underneath.
Is that 2900 the dry weight? The boat may weigh 2900 pounds dry, but it will weigh more like 3400 when equipped with food, gas, lifejackets plus the 600-1000 pound triailer to tow it.
If you are towing 3000 pounds, you may try it first. The ball height is usually the problem with F-150's as most traielrs need it to be lowered by 2-6". If you are really towing 4500 pounds, I'd want a recevier anyway. You can try a junkyard for $50. I'd isntall it myself as they are designed to bolt right up to the truck's frame with OEM mounting holes. Should find a new one for $125.
Is that 2900 the dry weight? The boat may weigh 2900 pounds dry, but it will weigh more like 3400 when equipped with food, gas, lifejackets plus the 600-1000 pound triailer to tow it.
If you are towing 3000 pounds, you may try it first. The ball height is usually the problem with F-150's as most traielrs need it to be lowered by 2-6". If you are really towing 4500 pounds, I'd want a recevier anyway. You can try a junkyard for $50. I'd isntall it myself as they are designed to bolt right up to the truck's frame with OEM mounting holes. Should find a new one for $125.
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Joined: Sep 2002
Posts: 2,165
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From: Cabot, AR
I don't see if you have a 2wd or 4wd, but with a 4wd it is almost a must. The bumper on the 4wd is way too high for most boat trailers. Your tongue will be pointing up way too much. When you brake the trailer will want to push your rear end up unloading your back tires decreasing your braking ability. With a 6" drop hitch my bass boat trailer sits almost perfectly level.
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Joined: Sep 2002
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From: Cabot, AR
Originally Posted by Raoul
The U-haul guy couldn't prise loose the the cost of a hitch.
Do you really think that Ford salesman had any chance getting him into 4wd?
Do you really think that Ford salesman had any chance getting him into 4wd?
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Joined: Feb 1999
Posts: 6,182
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From: the moral high ground
Originally Posted by ualrgrad
...my truck is a 2 wd with a 6 cylinder. Will it pull the boat ok?
Here are the possibilities based on the info you provided.
(1999 supercab V6 2wd) = known
(transmission and gear ratio) = unknown
AUTOMATIC....3.55....Tow rating....5600 [Good]
AUTOMATIC....3.31....Tow rating....4600 [Good]
MANUAL.........3.55....Tow rating ...3400 [Fair]
MANUAL.........3.08....Tow rating....2100 [Uh-oh]
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From: the moral high ground
Originally Posted by glc
The manual should handle it fine if he takes care of it, doesn't beat on it, and knows how to use the clutch properly.
In my opinion he'd need to shed that heavy aftermarket hitch and find another way,
...say just a Ball in the stepbumper.
If you agree this is the only way to go let me hear a "Harumph!!"