1952-59 Ford Bumper alignment question

‘54 owners:

My front bumper points upward after it wraps around the fenders. Is this normal? Do the brackets at the fenders really have to pull the ends down to look right? Seems wrong to me to have that much tension on the bumper and fenders all the time.

My bumper is straight as an arrow and the brackets are all untweaked. Nothing is hitting the splash pan or anything else. I’m about to start heating and bending the brackets to fix this problem unless I hear from you that it’s not a problem.

Thanks in advance,
Eric

 

My rear bumper does it. My front was slightly off and I played with the brackets mounted to the frame. I was able get it closer by using 7/16” bolts instead of the 1/2”. I was able to tip it enough so it looks better. I wouldn’t go any smaller than 7/16”. I used shoulder bolts and cut some of the treads off to make them as strong as I could. It’s a pain but if you had the bumper and brackets off you could use a die grinder on the rear hole lowering it about 1/4”. That would do it and still make the front look good. Ford thru these cars together....we make them right.

 

Thanks for the reply. Yeah, I hogged out the bracket holes with my die grinder already. Didn’t think about smaller bolts, though. I’ll play around with that.

 

I ended up heating and bending the two outermost brackets right near the (bumper) ends. That plus elongating the holes in the brackets on the (frame) ends seems to have worked. Note for anyone else dealing with this: check the holes in the frame first. Mine were not the same left to right. The driver side holes in the frame were about 1/8 higher than the p***enger side.

Eric

 

Your work on the front looks great!

 

Thanks!