Front bumper alignment?

freeclimbmtb · September 25, 2014

The rear is easy enough because all of the holes in the frame/bumper brackets are slotted so everything can shift and twist up/down/left/right/forward/back... However the front bumper brackets just mount strait onto the frame with 4 bolts that thread down... looking at the bumper, I feel like the gap between the grille and the bumper is bigger than it should be, but I can't seem to find any way to adjust it..

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Maybe its all in my head but I feel like the bumper needs to rock up/back more...

servantsalesmen · September 25, 2014

Looks just like mine. GM didn't care about making them look good. It's poor styling at its best.

8.1HD/ALLISON · September 25, 2014

Can you slot the holes, or shim?

freeclimbmtb · September 26, 2014

Looks just like mine. GM didn't care about making them look good. It's poor styling at its best.

Well, there are trucks that I think look better, sure...but no, the dodge dakota is poor styling at its best...it looks like they gave it to the summer interns and at the end of summer they just said "eh. f*ck it...we'll just go with that."

Can you slot the holes, or shim?

Slotting the holes wouldn't work becuase the bumper bracket, frame, and bumper holes are all mounted with the bolts vertical...none go horizontal through the frame like on the rear... (hard to describe..) basically if i slotted the holes i could move the bumper front to back, but not up and down to close the gap.

Shimming is a possibility, but I'm fairly certain that isnt going to do it either as the bumper brackets and the frame make sort of a sandwich...if the bumper brackets were completely above the frame holes shimming would do it, but I think if I try it as is I will just bend the crap out of the bumper.

I wish I had taken some better pictures while it was apart, but basically, part # 4 from the diagram is the bumper bracket, where it bolts to the frame, one bolt goes through the frame and threads into a clip on the bracket, the other bolt goes through the bracket and into a clip on the frame...so if I were to try and shim it all it would do is try to stretch that bracket...

Eh whatever, Next time I pull it all apart I'll take another look and see if there is some adjustment I missed on the first time around.. (give me another reason to Plastidip my grille surround or buy the chrome one right?)