Tow hook installation question

[79 300]

I have tow hooks and the trim bezels on order for my truck. Today I crawled under the front to see how things looked. I can barely get my hands up behind the bumper to reach the bezels. Is there some trick in removing and replacing them to get at the nuts and clips? Someone on here must have done this by now.
It looks simple enough on the instructions I found online, but reaching in there, especially with a wrench seems impossible.
Thanks.

 

[Lateralus]

It's not too bad if you have small hands. The nuts are not very tight. I recommend dropping the aero spoiler as it gives you better access to the body mount bolts, and makes it easier to torque the bolts down.
There are just two nuts on each side that hold the aero spoiler in place.

 

[79 300]

Thanks for your help Lateralus!!

 

[rbram]

I have tow hooks and the trim bezels on order for my truck. Today I crawled under the front to see how things looked. I can barely get my hands up behind the bumper to reach the bezels. Is there some trick in removing and replacing them to get at the nuts and clips? Someone on here must have done this by now.
It looks simple enough on the instructions I found online, but reaching in there, especially with a wrench seems impossible.
Thanks.

Im looking to do the same. Please let me know how it goes and any info that may help me. Ill be ordering my tow hooks soon. Thanks.

 

[Jordan2929]

Installed mine a few days ago. I agree its tight but there's enough room, dropping the air dam would help if you want to save a few minutes. I also skipped on getting the plastic trim pieces and just cut mine out, looks exactly the same and I saved $20.

 

[Jhill]

You will find that the two long silver body mount bolts (one on each side) will unscrew to a point that they drop an inch or so and act loose but won't come out further. There is a tin keeper (on upper part of bolt) that is hanging them up and an end wrench on shaft above bolt head with a hammer tapping down on it will pull tin keeper on through. Bolt will then come all the way out. Use pliers to twist off keeper and discard. You are then ready to reinstall bolt through tow hook and add second bolt that came with it. There is a video maybe on Youtube about this. Search "2019 Ram tow hooks" I pulled mine out so I could prep and paint them flame red. Rebels are very open under the tow hook bolts area as no air dam in the way. Hope this helps!

 

[Jordan2929]

You will find that the two long silver body mount bolts (one on each side) will unscrew to a point that they drop an inch or so and act loose but won't come out further. There is a tin keeper (on upper part of bolt) that is hanging them up and an end wrench on shaft above bolt head with a hammer tapping down on it will pull tin keeper on through. Bolt will then come all the way out. Use pliers to twist off keeper and discard. You are then ready to reinstall bolt through tow hook and add second bolt that came with it. There is a video maybe on Youtube about this. Search "2019 Ram tow hooks" I pulled mine out so I could prep and paint them flame red. Rebels are very open under the tow hook bolts area as no air dam in the way. Hope this helps! View attachment 12036

If you have an impact an easier way to remove the longer bolts is once they don’t seem to be coming out anymore pull down on the washer with your fingers while still using the impact in reverse and they will come right out. Basically you’re putting enough pressure on the retaining ring so it doesn’t spin and simultaneously unthreading from the bolt.

 

[Tlaug01]

Can you install the bezel after the tow hook is in? Or easier just to do it before?

 

[Jordan2929]

Can you install the bezel after the tow hook is in? Or easier just to do it before?

It’d be easier to do it before.

 

[Ram1984]

I just did mine last night and it wasn’t too bad. I removed lower inner fender piece to allow more room(only 5 8mm bolts). I however did not reinstall bezels before install. I will find out how much harder it is now!

 

[Dmalonecentral]

Did my tow hooks yesterday. As always this thread really helped along with the YouTube video. Pretty straight forward but the space is tight. Had to rake of the front wheel well liner as well to even be able to get at the bolt. Just take off the front 3 screws and loosen the 2 inside of the tire as they are slotted and you don’t need to take them all the way out. Probably pretty obvious if you do it in the daylight. Took some pictures this morning.

And a mock up of what I am thinking about doing to them.

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[Lateralus]

Did my tow hooks yesterday. As always this thread really helped along with the YouTube video. Pretty straight forward but the space is tight. Had to rake of the front wheel well liner as well to even be able to get at the bolt. Just take off the front 3 screws and loosen the 2 inside of the tire as they are slotted and you don’t need to take them all the way out. Probably pretty obvious if you do it in the daylight. Took some pictures this morning.

And a mock up of what I am thinking about doing to them.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Looks good. Go Hawkeyes!

 

[79 300]

How did you get the little clips off the lower part of the old bezels?

 

[Dmalonecentral]

How did you get the little clips off the lower part of the old bezels?

Crescent wrench under the bolt head and hammer.


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[Jordan2929]

Crescent wrench under the bolt head and hammer.


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I think he’s talking about the plastic covers that are in the bumper. They have two retaining rings on the bottom, I just used a flat head screwdriver and they came right off.

 

[Dmalonecentral]

I think he’s talking about the plastic covers that are in the bumper. They have two retaining rings on the bottom, I just used a flat head screwdriver and they came right off.

You are right, I just reread. I also just used a flat head screw driver. You just need to get under part of it and they do slide right off.


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[79 300]

Thanks for the quick reply about the clips.