I have a 96 F150 4x4 and it has no front row hooks. I noticed none of them have tow hooks.
Who was the bright spark at Ford that decided to not equipped them without tow hooks.
I decided to make (prototype in progress) some mounting plates that bolt onto the front bumper mounts.

 

That'll probably work. Here's a pic of a front mount hitch that might give you a little inspiration. It mounts right where the front plate that holds the sway bar goes.






That funny plate on the bumper brackets is just my towbar piece. But this hitch seems to be the ticket. Good for putting the boat in the water too, I would think.

 

While custom fabrication is awesome, I think I'd look at a set of gm hooks and mounts. Drill the frame horns and the gm hardware should bolt right up. You would have to cut hook points into your bumper, but with the same great fabrication, it might look awesome and keep the hooks at working height. No shame in telling your buddies that you bought special GM hooks to pull their stuck gm's out of a hole! LOL

 

On a side note, ram feels front row hooks should be an "accessory" what a joke they should be standard most of them don't have any

 

I've got a set of hooks (cast iron) of a 98 F150. They will mount on the plate once I locate the correct position and drill the holes.
If it all works out the will protrude out just under the bumper and all I have to do is cut a slot in the valance.
I'll keep posting pics as progress goes on.

 

They must have had the same bright spark at ford and ram.
At least ram had a option, ford had jack.

 

Are you sure they didnt come with tow hooks? My 96 has front tow hooks bolted to the frame and perfect cutouts in the air dam to make them accessible. Maybe it was just a clean install by the previous owner.

 

Actually I believe you may be right about that. When I was ordering a new air dam (that I had to take off when I put bigger tires on) one of the options had cutouts which weren't big enough for fog lights - I'll just betcha they were for tow hooks. So perhaps the factory version exists.... but I think the ones he's building will be better anyway.

 

Finally got my toe hook plates mounted