The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk 1941 Truck Front Bumper Brackets

Working on the front end of a 41 and I cannot seem to get the bumper brackets to line up properly.

Take a look at this:
http://i1296.photobucket.com/albums/ag13/catfish_fry/20150301_154928_zpsyxpnbxfl.jpg

and this:
http://i1296.photobucket.com/albums/ag13/catfish_fry/20150301_154956_zpsk4ywjoqi.jpg

When I flip the brackets from one side to the other, the brackets wants to push up on the top of the lower valence under the grill.
These are the brackets that came off this truck.

Any ideas?

What happens when you put them loose on the frame then bolt them to the bumper?

Brackets bent?
Frame bent?
Frame horns intact?
Fenders and valance free from damage?

Mine looked just like yours, the bumper was pitched down. Never did find any combination to make the bumper level. Didn't find anything bent. My valence is one of the fiberglass reproductions and I ended up cutting the hole higher into the valence to get the bumper level. After adding the rubber cover it's not very noticeable. I doubt anyone else notices it much, but then my truck is more "repaired" than "restored".

Was curious about this fit and had time today to bolt up the brackets on my '46 project. The fenders and brackets are not tightened down to final so this may be meaningless. But, the the brackets appear to not droop as the pictures posted above show. I did notice the brackets come close to touching the valance ports. The valance is a reproduction part I bought off ebay listing a few years ago. The brackets are reproduction parts too. I'm a long way from being at the point of final on this. Parts are being assembled to check fit before body and paint work.

Nothing is bent as far as we know it.
Frame, frame horns, brackets are all original.
The valence is a fiberglass reproduction.
Thanks for all the input.

Hi,

I also have a '46 1/2 ton. Got hit-and-run about 4 months ago which slightly bent my bumper and cracked the chrome off it. Fortunately we caught the guy and my bumper just got finished today. Anyway, I took some photos of my front bumper brackets for you. These are original equipment and the fenders and valance are steel - original to the truck. Hope these pics help you out. I took 5 pictures, wide and both brackets from the front and above. Let me know if you can't see them all.

http://s456.photobucket.com/user/blastenpene/media/46%20Chev/IMG_0001.jpg.html?sort=3&o=4

Good luck,

David

I may be wrong, but it sure looks to me like the bracket in your first pic was heated (maybe bent, shaped?), from what I'm seeing at 3 or 4 spots that are grey colored, like they've had a torch on them for heat. (The place where the number is stamped, then at the bend coming off the bolt on spot, then to the right on the other piece.) Looking at the top of that grey spot to the right, it looks like the top edge has been either beat or maybe welded and reformed, or something. Maybe not, but when steel is heated it gets that grey tint at the heat affected zone. Also, that hole on the inner bracket flat stock doesn't have the same slotted hole as the outer (and David's), and the steel flat stock there looks newer, and drilled. And yours doesn't look shaped quite like David's. Maybe a PO had a bumper bender and had to do some re-fab work to fixt it. But that's just what I see, and I'm no expert at those year of trucks. (Except my grandfather had one about 50 years ago.

Mine matches the pics David posted. I too wondered about the bracket color differences referenced by Showme and as shown in the first post.

Thanks for the pictures. They are very helpful.
It looks like the are very close to the top of the holes in the valence. A question I have, do they mount with the chamfered edge on the frame end of the bracket up?

Yes one of my brackets has been worked on. Half of the bracket on one side has been fabricated to (supposedly) match the other side.
Looks like we have some work to do on them to get them shaped properly.

Thank You

OK, hope this will help.

http://s456.photobucket.com/user/blastenpene/media/46%20Chev/IMG_0007.jpg.html?sort=3&o=1

Let me know if you need any more pix.

David

Thank You for the picture.
I think the issue I am having is due to a difference between the original steel lower valance and the replacement fiberglass version.
Based on some measurements I took, the hole in the fiberglass version is too low by about 1-1/4". I are going to solve this by modifying the brackets to lower them by ~1-1/2"

Thank You for your input,