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.

 

[21st Century Truck]

So to revive this year-old thread, I finally was successful, despite life's usual attempts to distract me, in fabricating a strong bolt-on way to add rear OEM Ford tow loops to my Lightning.

I had help from a local friendly old-time machinist who took the fabrication of three sets of steel keyed mounts on as an interesting engineering project.

For those experienced in 3-D printing, which I am not: I made a mock-up out of red oak wooden pieces on my woodworking jig to dial the parts in dimensionally. I am sure that with the correct 3-D printing materials, now that the working dimensions are known, these three interlocking pieces per side can likely be 3-D printed far faster and likely far cheaper. My way was an old-timey way appropriate for my skill sets and experience... those interested are welcome to my red oak template pieces, as they are pictured below.

Pics are attached below, for a quick visual orientation.

Concept: I took a long look at the front tow loops and how they are mounted, with two vertical bolts through the front rail end and into the tow loop bracket (all under the front rubber shrouds). Then, looking at the rear rail ends, I realized a good way to replicate this is to use the two vertical rail end cap "ears" that come off each rail end and wrap around the horizontal bumper / hitch bar. My design thus locks the Ford tow loop bracket into and around (front and back) the C-shaped rear horizontal bumper / hitch bar, inside these two "ears" which anchor into the rail end cap on either side. This way, the pulling forces applied to the new rear-mounted Ford tow loop will transfer directly into the rail end on either side of the truck, and the horizontal bumper / hitch bar will also act as a horizontal brace between these two points.

Materials:
- two Ford Super Duty front tow loops. I got these because I really like the full-length welds on each tow loop between it and the bracket. I realize this is likely an overkill, but hey - these welds ain't going to fail, right?

- a length of 2 x 2.5 inch quality steel, cut and machined into six pieces, three per side.

- two of these three pieces are keyed into each other for dimensional stability once mounted. This here took a good machinist to get right. These two keyed pieces fit inside and behind the horizontal C-shaped bumper / hitch bar, and also inside the vertical rail end cap "ears" that secure the bumper bar to the end of the truck body rail.

- the third, largest piece with the angled machined face fits between the outer bumper cap and the horizontal bumper C-shaped bar. NOTE: its multiple non-bolt-bearing holes are purely to lighten this heavy steel piece. My wooden mock-ups and, likely, any 3-D printed piece would not need these lightening holes.

- two sets of three double-nut Ford OEM front tow loop silver tie bars. FYI: the Ford front tow loop only needs one such silver tie bar per loop, as the rail body itself provides the locating holes and dimensional stability. In my rear bumper solution, each side needs three of these silver tie bars: two tie bars on the top of the unit to lock in the four (4) tow loop bolts, and one tie bar on the bottom to dimensionally locate and stabilize the assembly around the C-channel horizontal bumper bar. NOTE: the one bottom tie bar per side is bored out so that the nut threads are eliminated to accept the flange bolts' shafts.

Assembly: once the machinist and I verified the fit, the assembly was just like a LEGO set or an erector set... 1). the female keyed piece went into the C channel, then 2). the male keyed piece went into it, secured in place against the rail end cap with five pine carpenter shims so that it wouldn't fall and bust my nose, then 3). the top (threaded) silver tie bar went on top, then 4). the bottom (bored out) tie piece and the heaviest, outer steel piece went on with two heavy gauge spacers and the strong flange bolt from Ace Hardware to lock the three pieces together around the C channel bar, and finally 5). the Ford Super Duty tow loop went in on the other end of this assembly with its two flange bolts and the other OEM silver tie bar.

Pics are below for reference.

Time of final assembly: because I had been playing for months with the wooden mock-ups, adjusting their dimensions etc, the final assembly only took about 20 minutes of careful work per side, and no nose was broken by falling steel .

Final thoughts:

- yes this is overkill unless it gets put to good use. We travel a lot across the USA, and I have been pulled out of complete off-road stuckness once already, from the front. I also want to pull others out when it is needed... after all, Winter is coming, right?

- A rear hitch receiver shackle is of course much cheaper and easier (btw I do have one stashed away in the truck's Decked drawer) BUT that hitch shackle won't help if my truck is already deeply stuck in the rear end... while these two tow loops are already always there, ready to serve. And no, my Bulletproof shackle is not mounted because A. I tow often, B. when not towing I use a hitch receiver-mounted Diode Dynamics hitch light for far improved back-up lightning, and C. nearly all hitch receiver mounted shackles I see on the road appear to be for looks as these shackles are mounted horizontally (flopping down) and not vertically, which weakens the shackle if it ever undergoes a significant load.

- two pulling points are always better than one pulling point, especially if they engage the body rails directly.

- While the Ford OEM front tow loops are nicely stashed inside the front bumper cap, there was simply no way I and the machinist could see to also tuck these rear Ford tow loops away under the bumper. Their final location was dictated by the size of the tow loop's welded-on mounting bracket, and also where the rear horizontal bumper bar is, anchored on both ends into the rail end cap vertical "ears". In the final setup, the new rear tow loops protrude exactly as far as the hitch receiver does, so a rear-end collision would hit the hitch receiver before, or at the same time as hitting these tow points.

So there it is. If I get to use these rear tow points in real-like recovery I'll add a note here.

If anyone would like to play with the wooden red oak mock-ups pls PM me and I'll send them to you for the cost of shipping.

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