Has anyone installed tow hooks, loops or shackles on the rear frame rails?

[21st Century Truck]

I want to add tow loops on the rear frame rail ends to match the front bumper tow loops. I am looking for functionality here more than styling.

I heard today that an OEM Ford Raptor or Tremor rear hitch assembly with its welded tow loops might work on the Lightning (this was an experienced F150 owner's untested opinion).

Has anyone added such tow loops to the Lightning's rear frame rails, other than via the OEM hitch shackle insert?

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[21st Century Truck]

So today I am convinced that adding OEM rear bumper tow loops (yes I know most everyone calls them "hooks" and perhaps in the distant past they were indeed hooks) is likely possible by reusing a Raptor OEM horizontal rear hitch behind-the-bumper bar. I spent about 25 minutes comparing the setup under a new Raptor parked right next to my Lightning and this looks doable.

However, it seems the Lightning bumper will need two notches to be cut from the bottom to allow the tow loops to nestle into place and show enough to be usable. Alternately, I guess I can find a Raptor / Tremor bumper as well... then I'll face a choice to paint, or to not paint to match.

Now let's see what the wrecker / breaker yards have available, and what the price for a used assembly will be.

 

[21st Century Truck]

For what it's worth and after doing some hands-on research, I am convinced that either the late-model Raptor rear bumper horizontal hitch draw bar or the late model Tremor rear bumper horizontal hitch draw bar would work on our Lightnings. Both these horizontal bars with OEM welded-on tow loops appear to be a bolt-on item. However (there usually is a "however", right?):

The Tremor bar will cause the loss of the full-size spare tire underneath, although its welded tow loops will fit just fine under our Lightnings' rear bumpers without modifications. Part # is ML3Z-17D826-D. Details are in the next section below.

The Raptor bar will allow the retention of the full-size spare tire underneath, but its welded recovery tow loops will either force accomodating cuts in the Lightning OEM rear bumper end cap casings, or will necessitate the addition of Raptor end cap rear bumper casings. Part # is ML3Z-17D826-G. Details are immediately below.

WHY: on the Tremor rear horizontal tow hitch draw bar, its OEM recovery tow loops are welded onto the bottom of the bar, and furthermore angle downward from there, therefore, they will clear the Lightning's bumper end cap casings. Unfortunately, this horizontal hitch draw bar is straight all across (see picture #1). The Tremor's full-size spare tire allows this when nestled underneath the bed in its spot... likely because the Tremor doesn't carry a humongous axle-to-axle battery and motor down there to push the spare tire location further back, and also perhaps because the Tremor's rear suspension is old-style leaf springs and not the Lightning's huge independent rear suspension cast arms and so its mountings take up less front - to back space. And so, the center section of a straight horizontal tow draw bar from the Tremor's will simply not fit under the Lightning if our spare tire is nestled underneath. This might work for some but it wouldn't work for me.

On the other hand, the Raptor's horizontal hitch draw bar will fit just fine with the spare tire in place, because its center section has a nice rearward bulge shape just like the same bar on our Lightnings (see picture #2).

Maybe it's designed this way because the Raptor also has an independent rear suspension with its huge cast arms? Unfortunately, even though this horizontal hitch draw bar will fit, its OEM recovery tow loops are welded onto the top of this bar, vice on the bottom like the Tremor's... and so once bolted on, this bar's recovery tow loops will prevent the Lightning's end cap casings from getting bolted back into place (unlike the Tremor's recovery tow loops which would definitely fit under the bumper end caps with room to spare) unless the Lightning's end cap casing bottoms themselves are trimmed up about two inches in their centers... or unless we swap them out for Raptor end cap bumper casings, with the subsequent issues of different colors etc. See Tremor recovery rear tow loops welded under the bar (pictures #3, #4 and #5)

and Raptor recovery rear tow loops welded on top of the bar (pictures #6 and #7).

I personally will prefer to keep my full-size, full-function spare tire right there underneath the truck bed, so I'm now leaning toward trimming my rear bumper end cap casings where needed, with radiused cuts on every turn and corrosion protection on the cut steel etc. Too bad that Ford chose to weld one set of recovery tow loops onto the top and another set onto the bottom of practically identical tow bar components.

Again, there are perfectly fine aftermarket 2-inch hitch receiver inserts with a shackle instead of a tow ball to give our Lightnings one solid recovery anchor point in the rear. I just know from other past experiences that when towing someone out of a stuck spot, or when being towed out of a hole, it is always better to use two mount points instead of one, certainly if snatch blocks multiply the pulling force, and especially if the pulling force is applied at a wider horizontal angle, as can happen depending on the space and surface available. TBC...

I hope this information helps other Lightning owners here who are also looking to add rear recovery tow loops.

 

[Henry Ford]

Have you investigated older models? Maybe the hitch from a previous generation truck would work. They don't change frame geometry very often.

 

[21st Century Truck]

Not a bad idea. Thanks!

Alternately, get a junked Tremor bar and have a welder cut the loops off and weld them onto my Lightning bar.

Either way, same result.

Now this project'll depend on which used bar I get for the lowest price

 

[Henry Ford]

I'm sure crawling around under people's Rapters will have no undesirable unintended consequences.

 

[21st Century Truck]

I'm sure crawling around under people's Rapters will have no undesirable unintended consequences.

Yeah. That's why I go to dealerships he hee

 

[NCMike]

Why not buy the raptor version, take it to a welder and have them cut the loops off the top and weld onto the bottom?

 

[21st Century Truck]

Why not buy the raptor version, take it to a welder and have them cut the loops off the top and weld onto the bottom?

That's actually a pretty good idea.

 

[cdherman]

Somebody clue me in -- why not slide a good hitch into the receiver with a 1" bore and drop a heavy duty threaded clevis instead of a ball. You now have a central tow loop that you can pretty much levitate the vehicle from. Of course, it ain't pretty and being in the middle, you have less options to pull to one side or the other.

But?

Or are you doing this just for appearances? If so, feel free to proceed.

 

[21st Century Truck]

Somebody clue me in -- why not slide a good hitch into the receiver with a 1" bore and drop a heavy duty threaded clevis instead of a ball. You now have a central tow loop that you can pretty much levitate the vehicle from. Of course, it ain't pretty and being in the middle, you have less options to pull to one side or the other.

But?

Or are you doing this just for appearances? If so, feel free to proceed.

Per an extract from my earlier post here, this is why:

"...there are perfectly fine aftermarket 2-inch hitch receiver inserts with a shackle instead of a tow ball to give our Lightnings one solid recovery anchor point in the rear. I just know from other past experiences that when towing someone out of a stuck spot, or when being towed out of a hole, it is always better to use two mount points instead of one, certainly if snatch blocks multiply the pulling force, and especially if the pulling force is applied at a wider horizontal angle, as can happen depending on the space and surface available."

 

[NCMike]

Per an extract from my earlier post here, this is why:

"...there are perfectly fine aftermarket 2-inch hitch receiver inserts with a shackle instead of a tow ball to give our Lightnings one solid recovery anchor point in the rear. I just know from other past experiences that when towing someone out of a stuck spot, or when being towed out of a hole, it is always better to use two mount points instead of one, certainly if snatch blocks multiply the pulling force, and especially if the pulling force is applied at a wider horizontal angle, as can happen depending on the space and surface available."

If I understood the parts discussed earlier, your tow loops are still welded to and are apart of the draw bar. If that assumption is correct, then really the forces applied to the truck are still going to transfer to the frame at the draw bar bolts. By all means do this swap and document it for us, but I wouldn't do it thinking you will be able to put a substantial more amount of force on the tow loops that your adding instead of 2inch reciever with shackle. Your failure point will still be the draw bar bolts shearing off or if they hold, a bent frame, hitch reciever, or draw bar.

 

[21st Century Truck]

If I understood the parts discussed earlier, your tow loops are still welded to and are apart of the draw bar. If that assumption is correct, then really the forces applied to the truck are still going to transfer to the frame at the draw bar bolts. By all means do this swap and document it for us, but I wouldn't do it thinking you will be able to put a substantial more amount of force on the tow loops that your adding instead of 2inch reciever with shackle. Your failure point will still be the draw bar bolts shearing off or if they hold, a bent frame, hitch reciever, or draw bar.

Agree... but I note there'll be two separated attachment points rather than one such point. Especially with a More Power Puller come-along and snatch pulleys, and if the other vehicle or my Lightning is (are) pulled at a horizontal angle. Distribution of force instead of its concentration is an inherent advantage, right?

BLUF: I shake my head at Ford Corporate's sometimes-seen chintziness in little stuff like this issue. I mean, our Lightnings are pretty and all, yet they are still basically a truck, right? so they should be set up to do truck things that a sedan wouldn't be set up to do, but that pretty much all other F150 are set up to do.

Adding these Tremor-like rear tow recovery loops at the factory would have cost, what... $1.99 or so over the whole annual produced fleet, or some such tiny amount.

 

[21st Century Truck]

Agree... but I note there'll be two separated attachment points rather than one such point. Especially with a More Power Puller come-along and snatch pulleys, and if the other vehicle or my Lightning is (are) pulled at a horizontal angle. Distribution of force instead of its concentration is an inherent advantage, right?

BLUF: I shake my head at Ford Corporate's sometimes-seen chintziness in little stuff like this issue. I mean, our Lightnings are pretty and all, yet they are still basically a truck, right? so they should be set up to do truck things that a sedan wouldn't be set up to do.

Adding these Tremor-like rear tow recovery loops at the factory would have cost, what... $1.99 or so over the whole annual produced fleet, or some such tiny amount.

I had time in the Army's armored force and remember pulling our M1A1s out of stuck spots, sometimes with another M1A1 because that's what was available. I also remember the one time we could only get to one recovery point on a stuck tank because the frozen mud was THAT deep, and the resultant failure of that recovery point (yes, at night in the snow on Nightmare Range up in the mountains of South Korea - optimal Winter conditions for the event's memory to remain with me for life ). As the company commander I sure learned some good lessons from grizzled Armor and Maintenance NCOs on the wisdom and preparedness for the one event that "will never happen" haha. And on the mechanical advantage of having two good recovery points instead of one.

This anecdote only partially applies to our Lightnings... nonetheless, I do expect to pull out & be pulled out at some point in the truck's life. Hence, my search for two rear recovery points.

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