Bumper

[SWWAFordGuy]

Here's the deal, had a minor, not at fault, low-speed collision with a camry. The impact was to the right side of the bumper. It shifted the bumper to the left a couple of inches. I'm taking the bad boy to the mechanic later today to have him look underneath and see if the brackets are tweaked. he had already looked at it on the day of the accident to pull the right side away from the tire (running 285/75/16s so it rubbed) and mentioned the bumper is bent and won't be able to be straightened. Didn't think it could anyway. Pretty sure the brackets/mounts will need to be replaced.

Any aftermarket hardware that is better than OEM or should I stick with OEM hardware?

Overall, the bumper will need to be replaced.

From what I've read on here, the 97-98 models are interchangeable. However, the 99-02, something about the bolt pattern changed that might require fab work or welding or drilling new holes.

Has that been verified?

I'm running a 97 XLT 4wd 4.6, 1st gen. Leaning towards finding a bumper from a 97-98 Exp or a same model year F150 as I read on here those are compatible as well. I have a local source (junk yard) that has several bumpers from those model years in stock. From those on here that have done the swap, is the fascia piece on top of the bumper easily removed?

Another train of thought is if I'm taking the bumper off, I could just upgrade to something a bit more rugged and off-road looking. Sadly, is also seems those options are limited as well.

If I roll with an off-road type/style of bumper, I've noted the weight difference. The original is something like 60lb while the off-road styles can be upwards of 200lbs. Will I need to upgrade suspension if I add something designed for off-road use such as the Trail Ready Legend that weighs about 215lbs?

 

[Killer Ride]

I would stick to stock because of weight

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[98eb5.4]

I did the swap years ago but forget the details other than it was an easy bolt up deal. New brackets (not oem) were cheap & easy to get along with an unchromed steel bumper. The 97-8 bumper (prob 3+ times bigger) setup iis way more robust.

 

[SWWAFordGuy]

Found an OEM bumper from a similar model year F150 (think that would be Gen 10 for the F150?). Anyway, I removed the top valance as it didn't match the color of the expd. Thing is, in all the excitement I didn't keep any of the plastic push rivets(?) or whatever they're called. Are they 10mm or 18mm? What is compatible as a replacement? I was thinking maybe something like a bolt, washer, and lock nut. Its just for the matching color valance so it doesn't really have to be heavy duty, just enough to hold it in place and keep it there.

Also, the 'new' bumper has the built in fog lights, kind of an upgrade. However, my Expd does not have a 'live' connection in the under hood power box, F27. The slot is there but there are no metal contacts. This was discovered a couple years back when I went to install after market fog lights thinking I could use the existing wire harness and just slip in F27 and the 20amp fog light relay.

Is it possible to tap into the headlight wire harness/circuit and have the in-bumper fog/aux lights come on with the headlights?

 

[rjdelp7]

I changed my 2000's front bumper. I went from a chipped up painted, to a chrome one. The whole assembly, has 8 bolts attached direct to the frame rails. The actual chrome bumper had a top cover, lower valence and a fog light panel. The 97-98 were all chrome. I am pretty sure, the bumpers are installed before the body, at the factory. A few of the bolts are hard to get at, but not impossible. You may be able to use a 99-2002 bumper.

 

[SWWAFordGuy]

I was able to get a Gen 10, F-150 bumper, chrome with the bumper installed fog lights. Bumper is now on, but, and this goes back to the whole aftermarket fog light issue, there is no power for the wiring harness under the hood. I tried using it a couple years back for the aftermarket fogs I installed and ended up running a separate wiring harness and switch as F27, I think it was, is there but there are no contacts as in no metal contacts to power up the harness.

With the 'new' bumper and the factory installed fogs, the only option I'm seeing now is to replace the under hood fuse box with one that has a live fuse slot for DRL/fog light relay, replace the headlight dash switch, pop in the fuse under the dash and then power up the existing harness so I can use the factory fogs.

Maybe there's an easier way? If not, that's the plan for later on this year.

 

[98eb5.4]

For 98, the fogs are wired into the headlight switch via push/pull action.

 

[Trainmaster]

Ford made a retrofit kit for fog lights to add them to XLT's. It contained wiring and pins to add to the connectors. I may have a kit around I bought for my 2000 and never used.

 

[rjdelp7]

Ford made a retrofit kit for fog lights to add them to XLT's. It contained wiring and pins to add to the connectors. I may have a kit around I bought for my 2000 and never used.

My 2000 XLT has fog lights. Pulling the headlight switch out, turns them on.

 

[Trainmaster]

When fog lights are installed, a different, illuminated headlight switch must be installed.