Need Some Help Guys!

THE SILVERADO · February 2, 2009

I had a minor fender bender in my dads 1500 Chevy (800). The bumper tillted down after the small impact. This seems to be common with Chevys (03-07 Classic) on the slightest hit. It looks totally fixable. My question, has anyone here had to adjust their brackets or re-align their bumpers? Maybe pics of which brackets to attack? Thanks in Advance!

lvlagnum · February 3, 2009

Hello THE_SILVERADO.

In 2002 I bought a new 2003 Chevy Silverado LS 5.3 Z-71 Extended Cab pickup truck. I had only owned it two months when a female taxi driver ran a red light in front of me in a snow storm and I T-Boned her. The impact totaled the left side of the Buick Regal taxi that she was driving but the only damage to my truck was a turned down bumper because of bent mounting brackets on both the bumper and the frame and a scratch on the bumper's black plastic top cap. I work in the factory where those bumpers were made and I can tell you that they are damned tough.

As I remember, the bodyshop had to cut, reweld and repaint the part of the frame where the bumper brackets mount onto it. As I understand it, the bumper brackets on the front end of the frame are meant to crumple in an impact which is why it is common to see GMT-800s with turned down bumpers. As I said, the mounting brackets on both the frame and the bumper were damaged so the bodyshop decided to repair the frame brackets and replace the whole bumper including bumper brackets and top cap while they were at it.

It would take a detailed inspection to determine exactly how much your father's truck is damaged and what repairs would be required to restore both the apearance of the truck and the integrity and safety of the bumper and the impact system. Just because your repair might look good, doesn't mean that it is safe. If you can do the repair by adjusting or replacing the bumper brackets, then go for it. But if it looks more serious than that, don't be afraid of spending a little bit of money and doing the repair properly. Hopefuly the damage to your father's truck is minimal.

Cheers, lvlagnum.