lightening a late model bumper

[74fldart]

anyone had success with the heavy 73 or 74 on bumpers w the shock absorbing mounts . these are very heavy as you know if you have had yours off . im going to take the shock absorbing brackets and gut them out and weld it back together but im having trouble getting the shock part out. also im thinking about the inner bumper frame , taking it and cutting alot of the heavy metal out to make it much lighter. in the front the 2 bracket arms are massive so i want to drill holes to lighten them . i was just wondering short of buying fiberglass ones if anyone had tried this.

 

[RedFish]

Why not just gut the chrome bumper skin completely and make up hangers from unistruct or even flat bar like earlier models had ?

 

[Popdart]

anyone had success with the heavy 73 or 74 on bumpers w the shock absorbing mounts . these are very heavy as you know if you have had yours off . im going to take the shock absorbing brackets and gut them out and weld it back together but im having trouble getting the shock part out. also im thinking about the inner bumper frame , taking it and cutting alot of the heavy metal out to make it much lighter. in the front the 2 bracket arms are massive so i want to drill holes to lighten them . i was just wondering short of buying fiberglass ones if anyone had tried this.

I agree . . . should remake the brackets, I'm in the same boat. I will be pursuing this also. If I find a solution, I'll pass it on .

 

[tobysoldblue]

Mine dont any ways,its a 73 dart swinger.It does how ever have a thick(1/4 inch)plate deal,tha same shape as the bumper that can be omitted,to save a LOT of weight.After i took that piece,and the heavy bumper guards off,the 73 bumper weighs about the same as my 71 bumper.Also my 73 rear bumper had that thick plate too,i took it out to get rid of even more weight,now it weighs the same as my 71 rear bumper

 

[pastortom1]

What Toby said........saves a lot of weight......then you could gut the shocks as well, utilizing the existing mount as your bolt up point for the new lightweight strap brackets, and you'd save a little more weight...but just the inner frame elimination will save you a LOT.....could save a LOT of labor and achieve the same result or better.......

Those chrome skins weigh much of nothing compared to the inner frame. :read2:

 

[74fldart]

ok guys the front bumper went well, the strengthening plate came out easy and the bumper went back on with no problem. i also oblonged the bracket mounting holes so i could get the bumper to tuck in closer. now the rear has been a real booger. the bolts were rusted up and to seperate the strenthening plate from the crome part i had to use my torch and burn the nust and bolts off . now on to fabricating the new mounts. thanks for the ideas and encouragement. that inner frame was very heavy.