Need 1973 Duster Front Bumper Measurement

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Bookmaker

Bookmaker

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Hi,

Can someone with a 1973 Duster measure the width of the front bumper across the top from the widest points? I'm trying to determine if it is the same width as my 1974 bumper.

Thanks!
 
If it takes the same bumper mounting brackets, it will be the same. If one takes the "regular" brackets ('73 and most '74 - if not all) and the other takes the "shock absorber" brackets ('75 - '76), the latter may be wider. They have a different carriage bolt mounting pattern and don't interchange.

I have a '75-'76 bumper at home I can measure, but not a '73-'74 to compare to.
 
Bookmaker said:
Hi,

Can someone with a 1973 Duster measure the width of the front bumper across the top from the widest points? I'm trying to determine if it is the same width as my 1974 bumper.

Thanks!
Click to expand...
73/74 are identical bumpers. 75/76 are the same dimensions, but have different mounting holes
 
whitepunkonnitro said:
73/74 are identical bumpers. 75/76 are the same dimensions, but have different mounting holes
Click to expand...

Thanks.

The 74 front bumpers seem to stick out front further from the car than on the 73s. I'm hopeful that I can change to the 73 bumper brackets and remove the steel brace to tuck the non-shock bumper in on my 74.
 
19.jpg
I slotted the mounting holes about 3/4 of an inch on the stock 74 non shock mount brackets and tucked it back in. I like how it turned out. If I ever get the bumper re-chromed, I may get it narrowed a bit too but I think it looks real good stock width too,

Cley
 
whitepunkonnitro said:
73/74 are identical bumpers. 75/76 are the same dimensions, but have different mounting holes
Click to expand...

^^^This is incorrect information

73'- Early 74' will have the standard metal brackets
Late 74' to 76 will have shock bumper brackets

The late 74' to 76' have the outside mounting bolts spread out closer to the fenders than 73' to early 74' making them incompatible to swap

This has been confirmed on our Late build 74' Valiant and through comparing it against my 73' Duster bumper.
This is also evident by the fact that our early build 74 Swinger has the standard style mounting brackets
 
Oh boy. All kinds of strange info here.

'74's were all kinds of messed up. The early 1974 cars actually had shock mounted front bumpers. That went until at least mid-November. DionR has a '74 Duster built 11/21/73 that had shock mount front bumpers, and no captured nuts to mount the standard brackets. But starting in December sometime, the factory went back to standard, or non-shock mount bumpers. There are several members with December '73 build dates that have standard bumpers. That ran through at least June, because my '74 Duster with a 6/4/74 build date had standard bumper brackets. Not sure why the change happened, probably some problem with the shock mount bumpers. But the actual bumpers are different.

There were at least two different 1974 bumpers, and they aren't interchangeable. The mounting holes to bolt the bumper to the bumper brackets are in a different spot.

My '74 non-shock mount bumper
img_2036-jpg.1714942232

Another '74 bumper. I assume this is for a shock mount, although it's a picture from eBay. It was from a '74 Duster though, and you can see the holes for the brackets are in a different spot.
s-l1600-6-jpg.1714942231
 
74DartSwinger360 said:
^^^This is incorrect information

73'- Early 74' will have the standard metal brackets
Late 74' to 76 will have shock bumper brackets

The late 74' to 76' have the outside mounting bolts spread out closer to the fenders than 73' to early 74' making them incompatible to swap

This has been confirmed on our Late build 74' Valiant and through comparing it against my 73' Duster bumper.
This is also evident by the fact that our early build 74 Swinger has the standard style mounting brackets
Click to expand...
Yes, I agree about the LATE 74 being the same as 75/6, but the vast majority of 74's have the earlier design.
Either way, the OP asked about dimensions, and they are the same for all 73-76 cars.
 
whitepunkonnitro said:
Yes, I agree about the LATE 74 being the same as 75/6, but the vast majority of 74's have the earlier design.
Either way, the OP asked about dimensions, and they are the same for all 73-76 cars.
Click to expand...

Well, I don't know about you, but June of '74 is pretty late, and my car had standard brackets and a bumper that would NOT interchange with 75/76.
 
Here's a quote from another thread about a few '74 cars, build dates, and which bumpers they had. To add to the info on my car, it was a St. Louis built car. According to this info, '74s from December 7, 1973 all the way to July 15th, 1974 had standard, non-shock mount bumpers.

Here's the thread How many CURRENT owners of real '74 360 Duster 4 speed cars on here?

daniel_depetro said:
This is very interesting.
DionR you may be onto something with it being a production plant discrepancy...

My 1974 Plymouth Duster 360 4-speed (a good photo of the fender tag is posted in this very thread) was built on December 7th 1973 ('C07') with the bracket style front bumper attachments. It was built in Hamtramck, MI ('B' code production plant)

My other 1974 Plymouth Duster (VL29C4G) was built on July 15th, 1974 ('715') at the St. Louis, MO production plant ('G' code) also has the bracket style bumper attaching.

1974 Dodge Dart Sport #1 (LL29G4G) was built on December 14th, 1973 in the St. Louis, MO production plant ('G' code). It has the bracket style bumper attachments.

1974 Dodge Dart Sport #2 (I just purchased this past week from a FABO member - LL29C4B) was built on April 10th, 1974 (410) in the Hamtramck, MI production plant ('B' code). It has the bracket style bumper attachments.


I find it extremely odd that I have early 1974 model (late 1973 production date) and late 1974 model (early 1974 production date) cars and they all have the bracket style bumper attachments.
it's very strange that DionR's Duster with a November 21st, 1973 build date from the St. Louis, MO production plant could have the shock absorber bumper attachments and yet my Dart Sport #1 from the same St. Louis, MO production plant built a month later still had the bracket style bumper attachments.
In fact my slant six Duster built 8 months after DionR's Duster was still had the bracket style bumper attachments.
Click to expand...
 
Thanks everyone. I should be in good shape to do this. My car was built in 4/74 and has the brackets. The bolt pattern on the front bumper is the same as on the 73 Duster in the pic above.

When I get to the rear bumper, that will be a bigger challenge, based on all of the old threads I've read.
 
I cut, gutted then welded the stock rear shock style bumper brackets. This photo is taken before it was final fitted, but it turned out good in my eyes. I left the heavy reinforcing steel in on the back too. It wasn't a bad job.

Cley

22.jpg
 
T
89on35s said:
I cut, gutted then welded the stock rear shock style bumper brackets. This photo is taken before it was final fitted, but it turned out good in my eyes. I left the heavy reinforcing steel in on the back too. It wasn't a bad job.

Cley

View attachment 1714952014
Click to expand...

That looks good! So you just cut and gutted the shock mounts, pushed the bumper in, and welded the shock mounts?

I think I saw a couple done that way at Carlisle and they looked really good.
 
The only problem with doing it like that is the bumper is still a few inches wider than the body, and leaves a large gap on either side where the bumper sticks out further than the quarters. If you look at the left bottom corner of the tail panel above you can see what I'm talking about.
 
As I said about the front bumper, I may eventually have them narrowed but I think it looks fine as is at least for now.

Cley
 
Locomotion said:
If it takes the same bumper mounting brackets, it will be the same. If one takes the "regular" brackets ('73 and most '74 - if not all) and the other takes the "shock absorber" brackets ('75 - '76), the latter may be wider. They have a different carriage bolt mounting pattern and don't interchange.

I have a '75-'76 bumper at home I can measure, but not a '73-'74 to compare to.
Click to expand...
Shouldn't they be the same from 73 up?
 
Ironracer said:
Shouldn't they be the same from 73 up?
Click to expand...

Nope. ‘73 front bumpers used standard brackets (no shock bumpers). ‘74 started with shock mounted bumpers, then switched back to standard mounts in December. Then 75/76 went shock mount again.

The ‘73 standard bracket bumper has different mounting holes from the ‘74 shock mounted bumpers. And the 74 standard bracket bumper has different mounting holes than both of the others.

So ‘73 is a year only bumper. ‘74 had two different bumpers and they don’t interchange. And 75/76 is different again. The bumpers all basically look the same, but they can’t be interchanged unless you take the brackets too. If you look at the pictures I posted earlier in this thread it shows some of the differences.
 
No. As mentioned, '73 and a lot of '74's had regular bumper brackets. Late '74 model run started using the "5mph" bumpers which stuck out more and used shock absorber style brackets in the front. All '74's on up had the shock absorber style brackets on the rear.

The later bumpers also have massive & heavy bracing inside. Bolt pattern of the carriage bolts on the surface is different so the bumpers don't interchange. I believe the later ones have an extra pair of carriage bolts near the top on either side of the front license plate area.
 
Locomotion said:
No. As mentioned, '73 and a lot of '74's had regular bumper brackets. Late '74 model run started using the "5mph" bumpers which stuck out more and used shock absorber style brackets in the front. All '74's on up had the shock absorber style brackets on the rear.

The later bumpers also have massive & heavy bracing inside. Bolt pattern of the carriage bolts on the surface is different so the bumpers don't interchange. I believe the later ones have an extra pair of carriage bolts near the top on either side of the front license plate area.
Click to expand...

Nope. Shock mounted front bumpers started in ‘74, but then in December they went back to standard mount bumpers because of some kind of production or supply issue. My ‘74 Duster, built in June of ‘74, had a standard mount front bumper. It also has all three mounting holes on the frame rails, so you can bolt standard brackets or shock mounts to it. Which is why I was able to put a ‘71 front clip on it without adding any frame mounts.
 
72bluNblu said:
Nope. Shock mounted front bumpers started in ‘74, but then in December they went back to standard mount bumpers because of some kind of production or supply issue. My ‘74 Duster, built in June of ‘74, had a standard mount front bumper. It also has all three mounting holes on the frame rails, so you can bolt standard brackets or shock mounts to it. Which is why I was able to put a ‘71 front clip on it without adding any frame mounts.
Click to expand...

Ok, so it still boils down to '74 fronts having either. Just gotta I.D. them by the carriage bolt pattern and/or brackets.
 
72bluNblu said:
Yup.
Click to expand...
My 74 has the bolt holes in the frame. So, after sourcing the correct (. Arrg) brackets, I'm still going to need another bumper? Or drill / weld holes? Both of my bumpers are painted so that's not a major issue. I saw amd had a kit for 70-72 brackets for the front and the rear for like 249 bucks. However if I'm reading this correctly (it's been a long stressful week) that is not the be all ,end all solution?and thank you all very much for your time and knowledge!
 
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