97 ford ranger xlt. Rookie needs to mount his bumper but the mounting hardwarr is fubar.

[oldmetal97]

I have a 97 ford ranger xlt that was recently in a collision. The frame is mostly fine aside from needing a new core support and needing to put the bumper back on. Any ideas on how to get the damn thing on? Limmited tools. In a perfect world i woulf just weld it to a chunk of mild steel and bolt it to the frame. But i have no welding equipment. Any advise or suggestions would be awesome

 

[MikeG]

Time to buy a Horrible Freight welder, hood, gloves.... just what you wanted Santa to bring right?

 

[97RangerXLT]

are the frame rails straight? the driver side looks ok but I am not sure what is going on with the passenger side from your picture. the bumper itself is just bolted on with 4 18 mm nuts to the end of the frame rails. they need to be flat to do this. you may need to massage those rails to get that done. if you don't have one, a nice 4 lb mini sledge will help and won't be horrible on the rebuild budget.

that pssenger side looks messed up though..... it may be worth your time and money to pay a few bucks to have someone straighten it out.

AJ

 

[oldmetal97]

Time to buy a Horrible Freight welder, hood, gloves.... just what you wanted Santa to bring right?

I mean unless your name is santa i dont think xmas is gonna be that good xD

 

[oldmetal97]

are the frame rails straight? the driver side looks ok but I am not sure what is going on with the passenger side from your picture. the bumper itself is just bolted on with 4 18 mm nuts to the end of the frame rails. they need to be flat to do this. you may need to massage those rails to get that done. if you don't have one, a nice 4 lb mini sledge will help and won't be horrible on the rebuild budget.

that pssenger side looks messed up though..... it may be worth your time and money to pay a few bucks to have someone straighten it out.

AJ

The passenger side is missing one of the little metal flanges, but the drivers side isnt. They are straight but kind of condensed. It was a rear end collision. But i have a 4lb sledge around here somewhere. I half thought about cutting the front plates off the frame rails and just welding new plates on. Or drilling holes in the front of the rails and running a bolt from inside the frame rail thru the bumper?

 

[97RangerXLT]

if you have access to a welder, welding on new front plates will be the simplest route. I would also imagine that it wouldn't cost that much either, plus you will be able to use the original style mounting hardware without having to mod the bumper itself as well as the frame to get it to bolt up.

AJ

 

[oldmetal97]

I do not own a welder i habe a friends dad but hes not in town right now. Are there places that rent welding equipment?

 

[franklin2]

I do not own a welder i habe a friends dad but hes not in town right now. Are there places that rent welding equipment?

Are you planning on doing your own mechanical work? Each time something like this happens, weigh the price of paying someone to do it versus you buying the equipment and doing it yourself. You can accumulate a nice shop worth of tools over time if you do it this way. Like was mentioned, a welder from Harbor Freight is not that expensive.

 

[97RangerXLT]

Add to what Franklin2 said, if the tool needed to do the job is too expensive, take it to a shop and see what they would charge. i don't see having a plate welded onto a frame rail costing more than 50 bucks, if that.

personal example.. i was a teenager and my 12 speed bike frame broke right where hte seat post met the pedal crank. local welding shop charged me 5 bucks to reweld it. Granted, that was over 30 years ago but still for a simple weld job it wont be much, and it will make your life much much easier in remounting the bumper or even ugrading the bumper a few years down the road

AJ

 

[oldmetal97]

Are you planning on doing your own mechanical work? Each time something like this happens, weigh the price of paying someone to do it versus you buying the equipment and doing it yourself. You can accumulate a nice shop worth of tools over time if you do it this way. Like was mentioned, a welder from Harbor Freight is not that expensive.

I do plan to do my own work. I dont know what im doing but that wont stop me either. It was my grampas truck. And he always told me "old trucks dont die. They just get rebuilt." I will invest in tools for sure but at the moment im between paychecks and need the truck for work xD

 

[oldmetal97]

Add to what Franklin2 said, if the tool needed to do the job is too expensive, take it to a shop and see what they would charge. i don't see having a plate welded onto a frame rail costing more than 50 bucks, if that.

personal example.. i was a teenager and my 12 speed bike frame broke right where hte seat post met the pedal crank. local welding shop charged me 5 bucks to reweld it. Granted, that was over 30 years ago but still for a simple weld job it wont be much, and it will make your life much much easier in remounting the bumper or even ugrading the bumper a few years down the road

AJ

You may have a point there hoss. I will give the local welding shops a call and see what i can drum up

 

[Uncle Gump]

Go to home depot and get a landscape timber or 4x4 post and rig it on there to get you to work, Then do a final repair when money isn't so tight.

 

[Rick W]

local welding shop charged me 5 bucks to reweld it.

Ditto on this. If you go to a body shop it’ll cost a ton. If you go to a steel fab shop or find an independent rig-welder (truck mounted), it’ll cost much less and probably be 5x as strong.