Yesterday's project: Front receiver hitch

I put this front hitch on my Ford E350 work truck so that I can attach a bike rack to the front. Instructions that come with it and also online information from the hitch people say installation should take 20 minutes.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!

All told, it took me about three hours. I didn't count a trip to the hardware store to pick up some fasteners. For anyone installing one of these Kurt hitches on a truck like mine, you will definitely need to:

---Remove the front bumper. If you have a way to get the fasteners into the frame rails without taking off the bumper, then do it that way.

---Drill two additional holes in the frame for the front mounting bolts. The existing holes are not even close to lining up.

---Do a little grinding here and there to get things to fit the way they're supposed to.

Those were the most time-consuming things, and the bumper actually came off pretty easily. It was drilling straight up through the bottom of the frame that took a few minutes. It's a good hitch, light duty but perfect for mounting the kind of bike rack I want. I had one on another truck and it worked well.

One fun part of the job: I'd recently found a GearWrench 19mm ratcheting box socket on the road and it was the right size for the 1/2" bolts I used.

See photos.

Gerrit

When I was a kid,my Dad built a front carrier to carry a Honda Trail 90 motorcycle.It just hooked over the front bumper of his '66 GMC pickup.I remember being worried it would fall off because it
was MY motorcycle. LOL

I'll be looking for you backing down the highway towing a boat with that hitch.

Sway bar bushing looks okay to me.

The bestest part of a ready made receiver is fishing the bolts-on-a-wire thru some hole in the frame.
Three rubber arms required.

You give me an idea. I have a receiver hitch taken off of a 93 ford exploder. If that would bolt up to my 2000 f150 in front then I could run something up for a front brace to haul 20' long sticks, ladder, and a few boards over the cab. I've seen a front receiver used by people who can't back a boat down a ramp or use a rear wheel drive vehicle on the steep ones.

If its a V10 just wait till you have to put spark plugs in it are replace broken exhaust manifold bolts...

I have had a front hitch on my truck for all of 30 years. I push hay wagons around with it. I have front hitches on some of my tractors for the same reason.

Put a front hitch on my 26ft motorhome to make launching the boat a lot easier. Trying to back it in was a big guessing game
when you can't see the boat.