I found a cheap used repop bumper and threw that on my Suburban, but I couldn't bring myself to throw out the old one. It's got a nice big dent in it (and small bend). What's the best way to go about knocking it out? I'm not expecting 100% success, but more of a learning experience. I figure I can't make it worse, right? You can see the big dent: Heat it up and whack away with the 8lbs sledge? Throw it in my hydraulic press and slowly work away at it?
I don’t have a ton of experience with bumpers, but hydraulics is controlled and predictable. You can always heat it later. Making some rudimentary jigs and push tools might help the situation along. That bumper does not look bad at all.
I'm very interested in this, I picked up a pair of bumpers for my '60 'vert that are far straighter than the ones on it but also not perfect. I've got a 20T HF press, any direction here would be welcome... Mine are chrome, so I'd say heat is out of the question.
When I "straightened" the bumpers on my 53, I made a couple of "reverse" templates out of oak and used my HF 20T press to get them close. The rest was done by Tri-City Bumper prior to chroming.
When you get bumpers back from a chrome shop that had dents straightened, there are air hammer marks on the back side where the dents were. At home a hydraulic press is where I would start.
Put a vertical cut through bottom of the bumper where the dent is. It will be much easier to straighten the metal with hand tools. Weld the cut up afterwards.
I had the rear bumper for a o/t gto replated, the front were the dent was is perfect and the back side was full of marks 1/8 by 3 inch. I guess from a die and press, that’s how I would try doing it.
I started in a bumper shop in 1970, that's the old fashoned way and the best. Press it out as close as you can. Hammer any low spots with a BFH. With lighter bumpers you can use a cross peen. That heavy a bumper requires a 2# hammered against a solid steel table. Clamp the bumper down and use a 50 grit disc grinder to smooth out the hammer marks. have fun.
Done similar many times. Heat and pressure works better for me. I have straightened bent steel rims as well, using heat and pressure and then rolling round again. Go for it, practice makes perfect. Good luck!
Looks like it would press out close with a short chunk of roll bar tube. If you don't have a press do a heat n beat the same way, red hot, smack the tube.
It really depends on the bumper thickness and steel-type used. I found my 61 to 64 Dodge pickup front bumper to be extremely difficult to hammer / press back into shape. In some places I had to make cuts with a cutting wheel to allow re-shaping to be done followed by welding and grinding after I had it were I wanted it.
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