I've been looking around for ages for a straight original bumper for my 57 IH Metro van but it's not materializing. I'm just trying to figure out if I can straighten out the bumper in images attached. (Good side also shown) It's 10 gauge metal, pretty heavy stuff... Thinking I might spring for the heaviest horror fright press and get some railway line or similar immovable force to have a go at strong arming it back into shape. I've beaten out most of the significant body damage behind the mangled bumper and the rest of the van is now very straight and nearly ready for paint. Is my strategy going to work and do I need to get the metal cherry red or any other tricks? Is this a heavy duty blacksmith job or is it possible? (Ans if you know of a straight bumper I'm all ears - cheers!)
if you have access to a press and a hammer and torch you can straighten it.depends how much patience you have and a good helper to help hold the bumper in the press.just press a little at a time in the reverse way it was damaged,get close to the shape as possible and finish with hammer and torch.if you have flat areas that just wont come flat then you can cut out the bad area and weld in new 10 ga.you might have to use dies with the press to get crisp lines or curves ,you can grind small sections of r.r.track or i beams and use as dies.i work on heavy equipment and weld and fix damage worse than that all the time but its not fast or easy,just hard work.
a press, torch with a rosebud tip, large vise (attached to something immobile) and a couple of big hammers. good thing is if your going to paint it you can use filler, if your going to powder coat it then it needs to be straight. you might need to make something to get the center rib back, the heat and bend (not cherry red) the twist out, then use the vice to re form the top piece straight. at least the other side is straight so you have something to go off of. but like said above it takes time so go slow and have patience.
Keep in mind to watch out as areas heated will shrink just like body panels. This can be used to move it in the correct way(s). I'd warm it...and whack it.
If you arent't up to the task, just talk to your local bumper chromer, if they have been in the biz and work on vintage iron they can handle it no problem...it just depends on how much you vlaue your time and extra $$$...BUT as well if you start the work many tiimes you can make it worse that it was to begin with before takingit to said expert, so then you are out your time plus money...I would take off and get some quotes to get it fixed then evaluate your time/skills vs cashola ....just a thought. good luck, Hans
It is funny how common that type of damage is on any IH vehicle. My Scout had the same damage, a friend had a P/U with the same damage and all of the grain trucks I ever drove had it. People just love to hook chains to IH bumpers and pull them off. For my Scout, my Dad and I built a new one out of 2x4 tubing.
Hey, Before you unbolt that facebar be sure to jack up the end tip so it's in correct alignment. Next I'd work on getting the areas with the bead/swage shapes straightened just where the facebar blends to the top & bottom. Heat only the badly mashed areas, and press or bump these out. Once these areas are straight, most of the rest of the damage is just forge work with blocks of wood or steel flat & round stock. The nice thing about a 10 gauge facebar is you've plenty of material to work with to metalfinish as your skill allows. The bad thing about a 10 gauge facebar is it's 10 gauge! Rotsa Ruck! " Meanwhyle, back aboard The Tainted Pork "
I'll just add a little to what has been mentioned. You can make some inexpensive tooling to help put the bead detail back into the bumper using the press.
Cheers guys - I'm going to start by carefully jacking up under the damaged bumper side to align (jack up the end tip so it's in correct alignment as pimpin paint put it). I've had the bumper off and the frame horn where it attaches is a little bent back so I'm planning on using a come along on that to align it to get it square. (May have to weld a small spacer if I can't move that metal, which is 1 gauge or something - thick!) Then I'm going to find some heavy stock and see if I can clamp, heat and hammer against a form made out of railway line or similar. If it won't move I'll try the press method, just worried I may overdo that a screw it up more. I'm painting it so not too worried about perfection....will post progress pics...
Chain type 10 ton+ come along - thanks, good point. I've got chain floor anchors in my shop but not sure they will take that kind of pull. I need to get a v heavy duty puller and find adequate anchor points to do this
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