blenny

Guess what I did tonight, 31st birthday is in 2 days and my 1st accident.....that i caused
So yea, no excuses, the good, no one was injured
but now the problems

1 needs a new radiatior (just bought a new one 2 months ago)

2 needs a new header pannel (again... just replaced the cracked one with a pick'n'pull one)

3 new grill (see above)

4 new bumper (at least I have an excuse to get one of leonerds maybe I can get a pitty rush)

5 drivers side fender

Now for the questions, I took the bumber and brackets off and the mounts are bent, see pictures. I can straighten them out, but as you can see the frame rail where the 3rd bolt goes in was pushed in a bit. What is the best way to pull that out? How worried should I be with the bent mounts if I am going to install a whinch bumper that bolts further down the frame rail (like the JCR or LL fab)? Any advice on fixing this?



O and to add insult to injury my RC 4.5 x-series lift just started showing up (got the leafs today, hoping the rest shows up tomorrow) so my days off will be fixing the damage instead of installing the lift UGH

Evilpopcorn

Well, at least no one got hurt, and the damage doesn't seem TOO bad. Doesn't look like it should be any trouble as far as integrity of an aftermarket bumper, but I wouldn't really know. Good luck on repairs man. And by the way, RC's lift takes a few days to come in completely once it starts showing up, I have the same kit, for me it started with the leafs, then shocks and stabilizer, control arms and so on each day. Oh, and my bumper (C4X4) doesn't use that panel in front much at all, so it should be all good, if anything it may get in the way if not straightened... I could be wrong though, I'm in no way an expert (or even an amateur) and it's been awhile sience I installed the bumper.

freegdr

now would be a good time to up garde to 91 and up open cooling system seeing got buy a rad any way

sam24th

My is the same way. The frame rail is slightly bent from the PO rear ending someone. To install an aftermarket bumperI had to drill new holes in the framerail and use a couple plates for extra reinforcement. Im sure theres a way to fix it, bu it aint the easiest thing in the world.

KD3NE

Couple of ways come to mind.....

1) Piece of heavy steel plate slightly larger than the frame rail. Drill a hole in the plate about where the bolt would go into the frame rail.

Put this plate and place against the frame rail lining up the hole in the plate over the hole where the bolt goes.

Insert bracket mounting bolt through this plate into the mounting hole were it belongs.

Now tighten the bolt until it snugs against the plate, once you are at this point begin to slowly tighten the bolt even more. This should pull the rail out to the plate, of course the plate is pressing against the outer area of the frame rail.

2) Insert a bar inside the frame rail behind the bolt hole and apply pressure from the back side outwards


I am not a fan of #2 because of the potential for pushing it out too far.

I have used #1 plenty of times to fix the damage you have.

Make that repairing plate long enough and it can come forward out enough so you can straighten out the two forward mounting bolt holes as well.

caged

frame straightener. they had to do it to the cheap cherokee build on extreme4x4.
take it to a small independent shop with the bumper pulled and it should only take an hour to fix properly, and he shouldn't charge you as much as a chain/franchise shop would.
then get a recovery bumper with proper frame tie ins to beef it back up.

blenny

I was thinking about using plate and bolt to straighten it. In the end its only money...right?