This may seem like an odd question, but I'm a little puzzled. I'm adding tow hooks to my new '13 XLT 2wd, because I want to have solid front points to hook to and I'm planning to get the Rough Country Hidden Winch Mount to mount my Warn M8000 behind the front bumper.

Thanks to MPETE and his write-up here and info from Rough Country, I know this is possible. However, looking for used tow hooks on eBay, I'm running into a question: it appears that all 2004+ F-150s got tow hooks of similar design, the mounting brackets look identical, but there appear to be (2) versions, differentiated by distinctly different lengths of the "U" portion.
Short:

Long:


Can anybody confirm which type I need? I'm pretty sure it's the short version, but before I buy a pair off eBay, I'd like to try to confirm. Thanks.

 

they both fit, 09+ are shorter. I'd get the long if I could

 

Cool, thanks! I went ahead and bought the longer ones because they were a few bucks cheaper, came with the hardware, in theory should be accessible, and worst case, if I don't like how they look for some reason, I'll put them on my 08 XL and get a pair of the shorter hooks.

 

Someone posted a bit back that he switched his short ones for long ones and they worked well as steps to get underhood. Either will work. I would run the long ones if I had a choice. I can tell you from experience short tow hooks suck. My dodge had beefy tow hooks on it, problem was they were recessed so far back in the bumper you couldnt get anything around them so they were worthless