colt89

I have a 2012 f150 4x4, I've been wanting a westing bull bar but I'm just not sure because you have to take off the tow hooks and idk if the bb is strong enough to use to pull out the truck with if I were to ever get stuck in the mud, ditch, snow or anything. Just wanting some opinions on this. Thanks

t147

Not a fan on the new F150s. Grill is too big. Makes the bar look small and mis shapen.

rbrais

I wouldn't pull from the bull bar. Carry a strap and throw it around the frame if you need to pull it out. It's not as convenient, but that's the price you pay for looking good. LOL I've never had to use my hooks on my Ranger so I didn't care when I got rid of them on my F150. I don't go mudding.

benchwarmer4203

If I remember correctly my bar mounted with 4, 3/8" bolts and I think the tow hooks are mounted with 1/2". Basically the mounting bolts for the bull bar have less shear strength than the mounting bolts for the tow hooks. You'll also be adding a whole new direction of stress as the bull bar will try to "straighten out" and most likely will break the welds at the mount points depending on how much pressure is applied. I'm not going to say that you couldn't give it a little tug; but if you're really bogged down I wouldn't trust it. It will have nowhere near the strength of the tow hooks, IMO.

colt89

Thanks for the input man, I dont ever go muddin in my truck either but last year my old truck got stuck in our yard when it wasnt even wet while picking up a buncha branches and since it was a 2wd chevy it didnt have tow hooks and the front end was basically all plastic lol, long story short ya never know when it will happen, if it ever does, but if it does it sucks not having the hooks lol. Besides that though iv never needed tow hooks so far. I do carry a strap in my truck at all times though lol.

colt89

Thanks for the info man, I never thought about the welds breaking if they had to much pressure but it makes sense, I was focusing more on how it would probably bend it up or down but that does make sense.

Vandicate

I have a bull bar with 2 KC slimlights on it. This weekend I was going to take a look for somewhere else to mount the tow hooks.

Twisty

Could you drill out the holes in the bull bar and use longer bolts to reattach the hooks?

benchwarmer4203

No, the tubular steel does not continue all the way to the mounting point. There's a piece of flat steel that's welded to the end of the tubular body. Then there are two steel angle adapters for mounting the bar. Basically, you mount the angle using the existing bolts for the tow hooks, then use the bolts supplied with the bar to mount to the new adapters. So now, instead of the mounting surface being parallel with the ground, your mounting surface is perpendicular to the ground. If you want to do something like this, you'll pretty much need to fabricate a custom mount that you can attach both the bull bar, and the tow hooks to.

I know this description may be a little tough to visualize, so here's the installation instructions...it's pretty easy to see what I'm talking about using the pictures.

http://www.etrailer.com/instructions.aspx?pn=32-2405

Joseph Cichomski

why would you put something that's made in CHINA on the front of your truck that's made in USA? You are looking at a{ WESTIN }bull bar... There are other made in USA alternatives..