joecat66
better out than in
my truck is not perfect but its in pretty nice shape with the exception of a big dent on the rear bumper where it mounts on the passenger side. A friend said we could probably get that dent out with some wood blocks and a press. After wrestling off the 12 mounting bolts i discovered the bottom of the bumper was welded to the trailer hitch. I then borrowed a 4&1/2 inch grinder only to find out the 2 little 2 inch welds were just out of reach of the grinder. There is a guy in town with a welding shop so I took it to him to see if he could torch it off. He ended up using a smaller grinder and after a good 1/2 hour it broke free. We then discovered the mounting point off the frame was also pushed in. For another ten bucks he put a big piece of metal against the tail gate and proceeded to heat the mount until it glowed and pried it out and back into place.
my friend with the press was not around so i decided to call around to see if there was anyone left locally that straightened old bumpers. google was no help so i called a local hot rod shop and asked what they would do. They recommended a place in providence that turned out to only do plating so i asked them for a recommendation. They suggested a metal guy who was a miracle worker but could not give me a number just a name. After a quick google search and a call to his house and a chat with his wife i got a number to his shop which was just over the line in mass. I drove up with my bumper and he looked it over and said he could fix it but it would need to be replated and it would set me back around a grand.
then came the surprise he walked behind his shop and came back with a very dirty but rust and dent free bumper that he started to polish revealing the like new chrome...he disappeared a second time and produced a second bumper in the same shape. The price was 200 apiece or both for 300. after a mental coin toss and a trip to the atm i was was on my way home with one near perfect 30 year old bumper!
my friend with the press was not around so i decided to call around to see if there was anyone left locally that straightened old bumpers. google was no help so i called a local hot rod shop and asked what they would do. They recommended a place in providence that turned out to only do plating so i asked them for a recommendation. They suggested a metal guy who was a miracle worker but could not give me a number just a name. After a quick google search and a call to his house and a chat with his wife i got a number to his shop which was just over the line in mass. I drove up with my bumper and he looked it over and said he could fix it but it would need to be replated and it would set me back around a grand.
then came the surprise he walked behind his shop and came back with a very dirty but rust and dent free bumper that he started to polish revealing the like new chrome...he disappeared a second time and produced a second bumper in the same shape. The price was 200 apiece or both for 300. after a mental coin toss and a trip to the atm i was was on my way home with one near perfect 30 year old bumper!
