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Little help removing tow hooks

9K views 22 replies 10 participants last post by  noel55 
#1 ·
So I was wanting to remove factory tow hooks and replace with rough country shackles and can’t get the bolts behind bumper. Just don’t have the clearance to get a wrench to seat because of bumper brace. Looking for help to remove them. Worst case senerio remove the bumper.
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#3 ·
Tried to bring the tow hook dilemma this morning to the dealership. After all who better to have the right tools that I don’t to get the job done. The dealership say sure no problem it’s just two bolts we won’t even charge you. With the truck in the air and eight technicians under it one says I can get the air hammer and make some room I told them all good I’ll just bring it home. So after much head scratching and internet searching finding not a lot of help other than, “all you gotta do is remove two bolts”. Ended up removing the entire bumper just to get to the tow hook bolts and remove them. But 15 min later look great.
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#4 ·
Interesting. Glad you got it sorted out. Wonder if they make those for Gen1 Titans?
 
#6 ·
Thank you for taking the time to post this. I bought the same conversion kit and have been scratching my head for the last hour regarding those front bolts. Someone mentioned being able to get at that front bolt by removing the plastic bumper insert but I can see there is a bumper mounting bracket in the way. The bumper has to go. Will try that some day when I have more time. I have a 2017 Pro-4X
 
#9 ·
Update: I was able to easily remove the tow hook by taking one side of the bumper loose at a time. Problem then was getting those Rough Country hooks in since the vertical height of the mount is taller than the opening of the bumper, so the bumper has to be brought in until the holes line up for the hook mount. That did not leave much room for the wrench. I managed to get it, but the bolt has an air gap of about 1/4" due to the location of the mounting bracket. So, I now need to remove the Rough Country hook to put some washers or some sort of spacer. If I had known it would be such a pain in the A$$ I would not have bought them. Since I am all in, I decided to beef up the Rough Country hooks before re-installing them. If anyone is interested in pics, let me know. I was not happy with the design of the RC hooks but now I am confident they will be way better than the OEM hooks when I am done.
 
#10 ·
Glad you were able to get the hooks installed. I know it was a pain in the a$$ and I did lots of head scratching as well. Before you try spacers try to rotate the hooks 180 deg then reinstall bolts should take care of the gap. I actually tightened the bold for the hooks all the way down letting the bumper rest on the hooks with a towel then once torqued slid the bumper back and reinstalled the front bumper bolts.
 
#14 ·
It wasn’t actually to hard to do. There are bumper supports in each wheel well then behind the cover the parking sensors there are three more bolts to each side. I used two jack stands and a 2x4 with a towel wrapped on it to rest on. So no scratches then pulled the bumper forward about 3-5 in and that was enough to clear a socket wrench and take off the factory tow hook bolts. The bolts in wheel well and bumper are 12mm and the bolts for the tow hooks are 17mm. You have trim the plastic the tow hooks come through on the bumper because the shackles are slightly bigger.
 
#15 ·
Cool yea that was my biggest worry was scratching my bumper bc my truck is white. But nice thank you! I've been looking everywhere on YouTube for a video to do it but I'll try that this weekend. And when u say trim the plastic u mean trim the plastic cover that the sensors are on?
 
#16 ·
Sorry for the muddy truck but where the tow hooks come through originally is like an x. I used a box cutter to trim out a small square since the shackle is much larger. So after the shackle and all bumper bolts back on but before I reconnect the parking sensors I rotated the plastic the sensors were on pushed the cover over the shackle rotated back to normal position attached sensor and snapped back on
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#17 ·
Also when I say slid the bumper forward I just let the side I wasn’t working on rest on the tow hook with towel on it after then using the shackle/towel to hold up bumper till I completed the other side. That still allows the bumper to move down about 3 in and forward 3-5in enough to get a ratchet wrench in to larger tow hook bolts.
 
#19 ·
So I just got my shackles out in my 18 SL.

I took my factory hooks off and and in attempting to do so it landed me here.RC lied with the 30min install time!!!

the back bolts are easy once you get the Skid plate off. The front bolts especially the drivers side is difficult. I ended up buying this Serpentine Belt Tool Set—>


and it did the trick it was short enough to bite on the bolt to loosen it up and then once it was loose enough I backed it out with my hand. It took some time but the bumper didn’t have to come off and I didn’t have to take it to someone to do it. Took about 60 min to get the original hooks off and 45 to get the new ones on
 
#21 ·
Was hoping for an easy answer here but no luck. I would think a 17mm ratchet wrench wouldn’t be able to handle the torque. It is possible to get a flat wrench in there through the center grill but a regular wrench doesn’t have enough spacing to be able to get the right position. I will be loosening the bumper tomorrow to accomplish this
 
#23 ·
Automotive tire Gesture Finger Bumper Thumb

Ok so remove the bolts for the number alignment support is what I call them. The two bolts in each front wheel well facing you when your looking in the wheel well then undo the clip that hold the cover for the parking sensors. Behind that plastic are three bolts on each side. Undo those and you can slide the bumper forward.
 
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