Probably an extremely terrible idea....

[BDShort]

I was rear ended a while back and though it wasn't very serious my bumper was bent downwards a bit. I never got it fixed and was curious, I have a 3 ton jack. Would placing it where the towing bulb goes and start it up bend the mounts back? Or would the weight of the truck not be enough?

Any ideas or suggestions? I don't have a welding torch or know anyone who does that could heat the mounts so I'm out of options


EDIT: Pictures a couple posts down.

 

[det107]

Pictures could help us out to see extent of damage. We will then chime in w/suggestions-

 

[llamaking122]

but a tow rope on the bumper and wrap it around the biggest tree you can find. thats what i did lol but inch forward and check often i would think the bottle jack would work.

 

[damarble]

I've jacked up rigs by the stinger before without any movement, I don't think you'll see much improvement if any. The tree and rope idea has a higher chance of succeeding.

 

[swshawaii]

Repair it the correct and safe way by removing the bumper and straightening or replacing the brackets.

http://www.worldpartsinfo.com/Ford/...per,+2001/2003+From:+01/31/2000To:+05/09/2003

 

[Kevlar7R]

Check if it just slid in the bolt holes for the bumper. There are only 4 bolts that hold the bumper on, and as I discovered doing my swing out, there is a fair amount of play in the bolt holes.

 

[swshawaii]

Check if it just slid in the bolt holes for the bumper. There are only 4 bolts that hold the bumper on, and as I discovered doing my swing out, there is a fair amount of play in the bolt holes.

Very good point and it happens all the time. They're slotted for adjustment.

 

[koda2000]

not a bad idea at all. you're not gonna hurt that bumper. it's one heavy-ass piece of thick steel.

i had the same thing happen to me about a month ago. i loosened the 4 bolts to the frame horns and put a floor jack under it. it came up a little but not much. the 4 bolts that hold the bumper to the frame have no adjustment (not slotted). i ended up removing the bumper and then examined the mounting brackets. i found that the driver's side bracket was bent/twisted pretty badly. i drilled the 2 holes in the bracket out as much as i could to gain a little adjustment and used shims where the bumper bracket attaches to the bumper (these 2 bolts have lateral adjustment only). it looked almost perfect, but i ended up getting a used bracket for that side, and still ended up needing a few washers as shims between the bumper and bracket. looks good now but no better than it did when i drilled & shimmed it the first time. i sometimes tow a utillity trailer off the bumper on this truck, so i didn't really want to have shims between the bumper and frame... but it's more important to me to have it look straight.

 

[BDShort]

Here's a few pictures.

The worst of the damage is on the passenger side where the plastic lining on the top is bent shown in the first picture, but other than that the bumper's perfectly fine. It pushed down the exhaust slightly, but I haven't noticed a performance difference at all. Quite frankly, if you don't drive an explorer, it's hard to notice the difference.

 

[BDShort]

Also, if anyone has any taillights like mine they're willing to sell I'd like to buy them. My trade-in value drops with smoked lights

 

[koda2000]

that's nowheres near as bad as mine was. loosen the 4 bolts to the frame horns a little and try your floor jack. it might be enough. as far as the plastic piece on top of the bumper, you didn't include a side picture, but that piece attaches to the bumper with these little one way retangular finger thingies that are part of the plastic step. if they got hit upward they may have just popped out of the hole in the metal part of the bumper. you should be able to tell by looking up at them from underneath with a flashlight. if that's the case, you should be able to get them to go back in their hole with a little finagling (as long as they didn't break off).

and yeah, those bumpers are really tough. with the shot mine took (it was so hard my HU came out of the dash) the bumper shows no damage at all.

 

[backroads]

Mine was bent down at a 45 degree angle. I couldn't unbolt it because the way it was bent down blocked access to the bolts So I used a tow strap with hooks on both ends.I hooked it on the bottom of the bumper and around a telephone pole, had my kid watch for when it was straight, and a few jerks on it (not too hard) and it was straight enough to call er good. 10 minutes.

Backroads

 

[charlescain901]

been there tried that lifted the whole rear off the ground

 

[Texan01]

I tied mine off to my 4200 pound 70s sedan, at least pulled it out enough to get the spare down.

I wound up replacing the bumper twice, due to incompetent drives that don't see a large red SUV in front of them.

 

[BDShort]

I tried out the jack, it put her up in the air. Guess ill have to go under neath and fiddle with the mounts.

I'd tie it to a tree, but one I dont have any rope, and two I live in a neighborhood lol. I'll probably get under there tuesday and let you guys know how it goes.

 

[BDShort]

Well I went under there yesterday as planned, went to the passenger side and loosened two bolts, then went to the right side and i didn't have a socket that could fit the deep well. So my bumpers staying the way it is.