28/29 front bumpers

[Tom Wesenberg]

I bought a nice front 28-9 bumper at Hershey several years ago. It had a bow back about an inch or two across the center. I seperated the bars and placed them each on 6 x 6 wood blocks at the first curve. I had to bounce on them several times to get them to spring back straight, but it did work with no chrome damage.

[pooch]

Originally Posted by wrndln

Rojo,
Since the bumpers are made of spring steel, at least that is what I have been told, you really have to "overbend" the bumpers to try to make them the way you want. I tried jumping on the center of the bumper bars, one at a time, and nothing happened. You might get another bumper bracket for the side that is bent and see how much that helps. I think the brackets are also made of spring steel, so they are hard to re-form. I hope your frame horn isn't bent. I suspect only a big time press would correct the bent end.
Rusty Nelson

It is surprising how little pressure it takes to bend the spring steel.

As stated you have to just get it past the overbend stage where it actually permanently bends and does not fully spring back.

Practice on a modern spring , it easy .

Put 2 wood blocks about 4 inches apart and push carefully in the middle .

[Rojo]

Thanks for the advice, wrndln. I don't think the frame horns are bent but can definitely see the bow in the right bumper bracket. I've thought about using a big pipe for a lever and trying to re-bend the support....would definitely take it off the car before trying that. Sure would like to get it right myself before having to pop for any more report parts, but that might be the only solution. Incidentally, that '29 did manage to push that lead sled Buick several blocks....probably didn't do it any good but it got the job done! Might just leave the bent bumper for my grandkids to sort out in another 40 years.....

[wrndln]

Rojo,
Original front bumper brackets aren't that expensive and show up on eBay fairly often. I try to stay away from repro parts if possible. However there are at least 2 styles - the longer ones for 28/29's and shorter ones for 30/31's. Swaping the bracket side that has the problem is just a suggestion that isn't very hard to do.
Rusty Nelson

[Pappabob]

Mocking up front bumpers on my 29 CCPU and having this same problem. These are "Gennie" bumpers that have been re-chromed. There's evidence on the back side of one bar of some "corrective" work done @ the chrome shop I'm assuming.

Installed them on Repro brackets and they bowed "back" towards the radiator.
Checked them, on the bench, with a straight edge and found they both were bent so they would present a "concave" shape when installed on the vehicle. The bumper brackets also weren't bent the same.
Got the brackets to match (with a slight overbend so they would lean towards a "convex" installed shape and spent hours jumping on and using a jack under a beam getting the bars to have a slightly convex shape and match each other.
Re-installed them only to find they still bowed about 1/4" back towards the radiator. Don't sound like much but quite noticeable.
Just discovered the cause. The bumper brackets place the bumper mounting holes where they are about 2 3/8" into the first bend where the 29 bumper curves to the rear on the ends. Obviously, tightening that bolt and making that curve of the inside of the bumper conform to the thick bracket causes the bar to bow in the center.
The fix appears to be either make the back side of the bumper bracket conform to the curved back side of the bumper bar or re-bend the brackets so the mounting bolt hole is at a straight section of the bar (about 2 3/8" each towards the center. Also would need to bend (change the angle) on the bracket at the end AND where it leaves the frame horn.

[wrndln]

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Little Dearborn in Minneapolis when out of business roughly 6 or 8 months ago.
Rusty Nelson

[BRENT in 10-uh-C]

Rusty, I realize this post is nearly 10 years old, but because this has surfaced, it is probably worth noting that there IS a difference in shape between a 1928 and a 1929 front bumpers. Terry at L/D never manufactured the 1928 bumpers. I have an email in to Jr. right now (-who was manufacturing bumpers for Terry) to see if he is still going to supply them.

For clarification, the A-17757 was the open-ended bumper bar. Then in October of 1927 the A-17757-A Bumper bar was implemented. This is the bumper bar that Ford used on 1928 models. Around November of 1928, the A-17757-B bumper bar was introduced for the 1929 model year. (-the A-17757-C was the 1930 model year 62⅞" bar, ...and the A-17757-D was the 60" bar). Hopefully this clears up some shape issues and for those building to F/P standards.