75-76 Bumper Tuck, looking for ideas

[Hyper_pak]

Has anyone done this with the energy absorbers?
My Dart Sport lost the fillers years ago and I want to suck them in at least 1 to 2 inches.
Here is the front unit blowed up!

 

[abdywgn]

use 73 bumper brackets?

 

[Hyper_pak]

use 73 bumper brackets?

Frame is different.
Bumpers have different mounts.
I need to use the aluminum bumper fillers

 

[Oldmanmopar]

Frame is different.
Bumpers have different mounts.
I need to use the aluminum bumper fillers

Modify the rail.

 

[jos51700]

Frame is different.
Bumpers have different mounts.
I need to use the aluminum bumper fillers

Aluminum bumper fillers?
What specifically are you referring to? Are you saying there are aluminum versions of the elastomer pieces that fill the gaps around the bumpers?

 

[Hyper_pak]

Aluminum bumper fillers?
What specifically are you referring to? Are you saying there are aluminum versions of the elastomer pieces that fill the gaps around the bumpers?

No, the reinforcements behind the 75-76 Dart Bumpers.
I have a Dart Lite, it uses aluminum, not steel.

 

[qkcuda]

Can you just shorten the outer tube and bolt them together?

 

[Dartswinger70]

Look it up on YT 318 WR did a video on it.

 

[72bluNblu]

Has anyone done this with the energy absorbers?
My Dart Sport lost the fillers years ago and I want to suck them in at least 1 to 2 inches.
Here is the front unit blowed up!

View attachment 1716422438

There's a thread here Tucking factory 74 bumpers

It shows a couple of different ways to do this. You already have the shock apart so that's a lot of progress already. You can remove the spring, drain the oil and just weld the tube once you've got the bumper where you want it. You can also just make a new bracket, since on the shock bumper cars they're basically just a straight hunk of metal. Both approaches are covered in the linked thread.

Modify the rail.

There's two problems with this. One is adding a captured nut into the frame rail and doing it cleanly isn't the easiest thing to do. The other is that if you added a new mounting hole for the shock mount, the shock mount can still collapse but the bumper would be tucked against the bodywork already. So in a minor fender bender the shock mounts would still collapse, but the bumper would hit the bodywork before the shock bottomed out. It would be worse than having regular bumper, because in a 5mph crash the standard bumpers don't necessarily get pushed into the rest of the car.

 

[Dartswinger70]

Never liked the fat bumper cars...even the 74 Nova looks wonky with them.

 

[72bluNblu]

Never liked the fat bumper cars...even the 74 Nova looks wonky with them.

I prefer the earlier bumpers and body style myself, but, swapping the bumpers to the earlier style requires A LOT more work than just tucking the later bumpers in. Whole new front clip, new tail panel, modifications to the frame rails and cross members depending on the year, etc.

There are a few members here that have done a really good job of tucking the later bumpers (as shown in the thread I linked), and that's far less invasive than what amounts to cloning an earlier year car but still makes a pretty big visual difference.

 

[jos51700]

No, the reinforcements behind the 75-76 Dart Bumpers.
I have a Dart Lite, it uses aluminum, not steel.

Oh, wow, didn't know that. If you have pics, that would be sweet.

Do the Lite/Feather cars have issues with aluminum corrosion? I've heard the aluminum Ford pickups get ate up something fierce

 

[George Jets]

Tucked >

Front, remount frame brackets 1 1/2" back drill one new hole.

Rear, pull in with come-a-long and hold in position with a left and right bracket to the lower bumper.


☆☆☆☆☆

 

[72bluNblu]

Tucked >

View attachment 1716422692

Front, remount frame brackets 1 1/2" back drill one new hole.

Rear, pull in with come-a-long and hold in position with a left and right bracket to the lower bumper.


☆☆☆☆☆

"Drill one new hole"

So, what did you do to back up that mounting bolt? Because I think "drill one new hole" doesn't tell the entire story. Did you fish the nut through the frame rail? Or drill entirely through the frame? Or weld in the captured nut needed to do it right?

 

[middleagecrisis]

I did this on a '75 Dart Sport and it turned out real nice:
"You can remove the spring, drain the oil and just weld the tube once you've got the bumper where you want it."
My '76 Duster still has the factory bumper locations because the fillers are in perfect shape. The factory look doesn't bother me, too each his/her own.

 

[Hyper_pak]

I don't have the fillers.
Can you even get new fillers, I have not found them.

 

[72bluNblu]

I don't have the fillers.
Can you even get new fillers, I have not found them.

I don't believe they're reproduced.

I have a set of rear fillers that are in good shape, if you're interested shoot me a pm, but I don't have a front set.

 

[Hyper_pak]

Here is a poor picture of the rear bumper aluminum brace.

 

[Hyper_pak]

Here are the main parts.
Looks like I could do a couple of things.
I could drill the extra frame rail hole back a 1 1/4 and slip a tube in side to keep it from crushing.
Or I could drill the large tube out and then thread the inner shaft.

 

[partsmonsta]

The fillers come up on eBay every once in a while.
Make sure they are for the fastback, as they are diff.
Sign up with eBay for the parts alert, so you can get daily email alerts that have every other part.
But you will get lucky, eventually.

(photo not my car)

 

[OldmanRick]

At least you don't have to deal with this ... lol