Technical 1940 Ford Pickup rear bumper and braces questions.

I'm in the process of trying to get my '40 Ford Pickup together. I'm trying to figure out the rear bumper, as I currently have none. I have seen where some people are using the passenger car braces to tuck the bumper a little closer to the bed, and I was thinking of going that route, but was wondering what those who have done that are using for the bumper itself. My understanding is that the passenger car rear bumper has different bolt spacing as opposed to the Pickup rear bumper, and I'm also aware that the pickup rear bumper is flatter. If you've done this, did you just use the passenger car rear bumper with the car brackets, or did you modify the truck bumper to work with the car braces?

 

You just jogged my memory.
I think I still have a bumper with the brackets on it out back.
I’ll see if I can spot it and take some pics for you.

 

It will work. Just don't plan on running bumper guards or a plate frame that extends over the bumper very far or when you drop the tail gate...contact!

The truck bumper irons are dropped so the bumper sits below the open tailgate just for this reason. But they do stick the bumper out further from the truck than I like. I used the truck irons and it looks good but I sure would like to bring it in a few inches. I run super deluxe bumper and bumper guards and a 41 super deluxe front plate bracket that I louvered a plate light into to use in back. At this angle you can see the drop in the irons and imagine my gate down, no contact. But if the bumper were higher my bumper/guards/plate would not work.

Figure out where you are going to hang your number plate. I was at a show recently and saw a couple of fantastic local 40 trucks that had front irons in back. They had their plates hung off the driver's side of the bed and were completely behind the bumper and not visible from behind. That is illegal and will prompt a ticket from johnny law. So do your homework first. Select a mounting place for your plate that is illuminated, then tuck that bumper as you like.

I want to tuck this one in and possibly build a gravel pan while I am at it. Elevation wise, I could bring it up an inch, maybe two? Not sure about that. Hope this helps.

 

Thanks for the info! That's a sweet looking truck you've got!

 

This is car rear bumper irons with '39 car bumper. You can see what BB referred to about the license plate being visible. When I re-assemble the truck I am going to try to mount the plate off the panel below the tailgate. I like the more tucked look of the car bumper.

 

I made bumper brackets with old 1 1/2” wide springs to make bumper fit and place holes to match bumper i was using.

 

On my old '40, I also used car brackets/bumper, and placed plate under tailgate.

 

Yes, I that's the look I like. Thanks, guys!

 

That's how I am planning to mount the plate eventually.

 

I just turned the pick up brackets over and swapped side to side so they curve up instead of down. Then reworked the ends under the truck to pull the whole works in towards the bed and up off of the ground.