User:HoT DoGgIN
From Faq
Chevy Tow Hook Mod (1998 xtra cab) With Fogs in Bumper
This will help you when installing late model chevrolet truck tow hooks onto your 95-00 toyota tacoma, and briefly describe how to add Hella FF75 Fog lights to the factory bumper and retain stock appeal with both.
- You will Need:
- Late Model Chevy Tow Hooks
- Hella FF75 Lights (optional install)
- Welder (or access to preferrably an Arc/stick welder)
- Dremel Rotary Tool (or tool with comparible ability)
- Sanding Drum for rotory tool
- Laminate/Wood Cutter for rotary tool
- Side cutting type shaft bit
- Hand File (round/flat with small grain)
- Masking Tape
- X-Acto Knife (Chisel blade and standard blade, both very sharp)
Begin by taking your old shipping loops and tow hook(s) off of the front of the tacoma, and keeping all pieces handy. You will use the shipping loops for spacing/hole guides later.
- First thing you will want to do, is fill in the hook-side hole on both tow hooks with your welder. Make sure you have the entire void filled, and then grind it smooth to match the rest. You will now need to take your shipping loops which you removed from the frame, and use this for a guide to re-drill the hole for the second bolt (so it will match the toyota frame).
- You will need to order replacement bolts and washers for the new hooks. They will need an M12 Thread, with a 1.25 thread pitch (if your truck is a 1998 tacoma). You will only need them to be as long as the previous 'long bolts' with the difference in thickness of tow hooks+shipping loop against the old hook and loop combination added on.
- After you have re-drilled the appropriate hole size in the correct place on the tow hooks, and have finished the metal as you like (I chose to powdercoat mine in a gloss black finish) then you are almost ready to mount them to the frame and start yankin', however first things first. This is what you should have prepared at this point.
http://www.tacomaterritory.com/wiki_images/b/b3/Powder_Coated_HookSetup.jpg
- You will first need to remove appropriate pieces of your front bumper to accomodate the new tow hooks, which are larger, and the new fog lights we're about to add to the bumper as well. Find a tile or cutting board of sorts, and draw up a template on a large portion of masking tape to place on the bumper as a guide for where you are to cut for the tow hooks. Be careful not to destroy what you don't use when you cut it out, as it will be a perfect guide to get a second, identical pattern for the opposite side.
http://www.tacomaterritory.com/wiki_images/f/f7/Frame_Pre_Hole_Cut_Underside.jpg
- Look at this image, and you can see that the factory hooks, bolts, and loops have been removed, and the masking tape has been cut and added to the bumper as a stencil to cut the holes.
- Note The connecting tabs will also need to be removed in order to correctly attatch the new Chevy tow hooks.
