body and interior Front Bumper

[Robotin]

unbolted my front bumper from the car, but the bumper wont come off becuase of the bolts that hold the bracket to the frame... ive tried unscrewing them, and ive tried seeing if they would fall back into the frame rail...

 

but nothing works. and my front bumper is sagging majorly on my car and it looks rediculous......

 

 

 

 

[esty]

rust.....

 

tap the ends of the bolts with a hammer....hammer the frame near the bolts...that might jar them loose

[Mike Self]

Presume this is a chrome bumper roundie. If so, it's much easier to unbolt the bumper from its brackets, then remove the brackets from the car.  

 

If it's a '72 or earlier, the bolts that hold the brackets to be body are carriage bolts that fit into keyhole-shaped slots in the frame rails.  Once the bumper blade has been removed from the brackets, simply loosen the nuts a little, squirt a little Nut Buster between bracket and frame, and then tap on the nuts with a hammer and drift, driving the nuts (and bolts) forward until you reach the wide part of the keyhole.  Then the bracket will pop out.  Suggest replacing those carriage bolts with stainless steel ones so you can get 'em out the next time.  

 

If it's a '73 with the heavy front brackets, they're fastened to the body with long bolts that pass through the frame rails, bolt head on the outside and nut facing the engine compartment (IIRC). Regardless, simply undo the nuts and drive the bolts out of their holes.  

 

Both tasks are made much easier by removing the bumper blade assy first.  Same goes for reassembly:  loosely attch the brackets to the body, then the bumper to the brackets.  Align so the bumper is parallel to the body, then tighten the attaching bolts.

 

cheers

mike

[Robotin]

its a '70. sorry for not saying that earlier.