advice on mounting front receiver ?

[CUMINNTSTRKN]

you can mount it up, and then cut it out. it will push out the bumper a little. punch a hole in the middle of the reciever hole. do it just like you would with sheet rock. go slow and take your time.



jim

 

[JWhitcomb]

I use my front hitch to carry a platform. I carry folding chairs and roll of I/O carpet for camping. After watching a fairly new truck and boat trailer turn into a submarine recently, I now carry chocks up there.

 

[jcbrown]

Mounting Front Hitch Receiver...

I have a Hidden Hitch installed. No modification's to facia, but it was a royal PITA to install.



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Install two rear bolt's and use floor jack to lift hitch to deform facia and install front bolt's.

 

[damon]

it's done !

I finally got it installed, with much thanks to Jim for apparently being the first on TDR to take the chance and start cutting into the front of our sport fascias.



With the pictures and instructions from jcbrown, and the pictures and info that Jim and I have added, any prospective front receiver candidate should have enough info to make a decision between the Draw-tite and Hidden Hitch and do the job. The Draw-tite will require cutting of the plastic fascia and the metal support behind it, where it appears that the Hidden Hitch requires no cutting.



So here's the steps to install the Draw-Tite on the sport model trucks:



1> Remove the 4 bolts attaching the sway bar to the frame and let the sway bar swing all the way back and out of the way.



2> Remove the 5 torx head bolts holding the rubber flap to the lower fascia, you will reuse 4 of these at the end. Also remove the 4 plastic rivets attaching the flap to the frame. I did not reuse the rubber flap but you could with some cutting.



3> Remove the 2 bolts with the tab washers on the outside of the frame cross-member. In the pictures of the hitch installed, this is where the big square washers can be seen. These must be removed from the inside of the frame, and I found it easiest with a 1/2" impact with extension and swivel adapter. Bolt heads are 11/16".



4> After pre-fitting the hitch, I found that the lower center portion of the steel fascia bracket needed to be removed. This is done easily on the truck with a sawzall and a very short blade. The peice to be removed is an upside down "T" shape with 1 horizontal cut and 2 vertical cuts. Remove the whole section of the bracket so you can get to the pin on the hitch. It's pretty obvious what to remove once you are in there. Don't worry about left over rough edges on the bottom, they look dangerous but will be drawn tight to the fascia at the end.



5> Now mount the hitch by lifting it up into place, let the bottom of the fascia hold the front of the hitch, and start two of the frame bolts in the sway bar mounts. Install the 4 sway bar bolts, then the two cross-member bolts, then the 4 torx bolts on the fascia.



6> With a drill and saw, or better yet I used a rotary tool (Dremel may be too light duty) punch a hole through the front of the fascia that will land inside the hitch tube, and then route to shape just like you would drywall. I used the rotary tool like a router on the inside of the 2" hitch tube, and then used L and R hand cut metal snips and a knife to finish more precisely. If you cut this just right, only the bottom of the steel hitch will be protruding from the fascia, and the fascia will fall right back into its original location.



Like Jim said, this can all be done without removing the fascia or brackets, as long as you take your time and have the right tools. To me, the 1/2" impact, sawzall, and rotary tool were the necessary specialty tools, with the rotary tool being the easiest to do without.



I hope this thread helps anyone wanting a front receiver to make a decision and go for it. Total time was about 2 1/2 hours, with much of that being the finish trimming of the fascia.



Damon



Here's a picture of the finished job (I know the truck is filthy):