I am trying to move forward with my 36 pickup project that has been stalled for the past 18 years. I am working on it again and trying to acquire needed parts that also got put on hold for 18 years... The truck has no bumpers or braces. When I first got it I wasnt sure what I wanted for bumpers, but they where plentiful to be ordered from multiple suppliers along with the braces. It looks like those days are long gone now. I'm still working in a tight budget for the next 4 years... but I want to get this project moving. I have decided I want the car style front bumper with the center dip and some type of straight one for the back. I have been looking locally for awhile and haven't really came across much. Even the rough bumpers on Ebay are asking more than I would consider, plus they need re-chromed and thats just crazy $. Similar situation for bumper braces. It looks like the one front bumper that is still available new at a reasonable price is for the 1934 car and thats around $350. It looks to be shorter than the 36 but I think that would probably be ok? I havent found any repop braces for it. I have my old Macs catalog that shows the different years and they look very similar which can be a problem, because if I am looking at some used ones in a picture its hard to tell for sure what year they are. If I was to order the new 34 bumper, how big of a deal would it be to make some braces out of flat bar? And would 34 car braces even fit the 36 truck? Ideally I would have some to copy or a paper template to work against. I think the originals where spring steel? The outside ones look simple enough, and the inner ones with the radius look doable. I think for the back of the truck I would be happy enough with making something like a round spreader bar or using a piece of flat bar and maybe curling the ends and just painting it. Or possibly using a piece of stainless and polishing it. This seems like an easier problem to solve and its not a restoration or show car, hopefully a daily driver.
I also see that the 1933 bumper is available for the same price. They appear to be made by United Pacific. Cant tell what the difference is between the 33 and 34?
If you have stalled 18 years. You might need more than just bumpers to get going. See what is needed to make the car drive, stop, steer and have lights. Then get plates. Then get bumpers.
It stalled because raising my daughter was the priority. I am working on it now and gathering parts I need. Had I thought that bumpers would have become so hard to find 18 years later I would have bought some years ago. I think I located a new front brace set for a 34. Does anyone know if the front frame width is the same between a 34 and a 36?
Most of the parts can easily be found with a few trips to the swap meet, some of the catalogs. And even calling CW Moss and the Old Ford store. I would guesstimate 33-34 being the same. Then 35-37.
Looking at the frame dimensions from the Wescott's drawings, it looks like the 33/34 frame is 25 3/4" wide at the front and the 35-41 frame is 28 1/2" wide.
I checked with CW Moss, Midwest Early Ford, Rock Valley, Old Ford Store, Macs/Eicklers, Bob Drakes, Dennis Carpenter, etc. Most bumpers and braces for the early Fords are either sold out or no longer available. The ones I did find at Speedway and Jegs are the United Pacific ones.
Most (all?) UP stuff is right on. I haven’t seen a UP part for old Fords that somebody else had made better. Especially considering that other vendors aren’t making theirs anymore.
Glad to hear the UP stuff is good quality. Doing some more research on measurements and size. It looks like my options for new right now are a 33 or 34 bumper and a set of 34 brackets. The 33 bumper weighs about 4#'s more than the 34, but I dont know if that makes it a better part. Since I cant find new 33 brackets, I will probably go with the 34 set up. I know the 34 wont be a direct fit to the 36 frame, but I figured it would be easier to modify something close than start from scratch.
I found that many people have used the 34 bumper on 36 trucks. It looks like the angle on the end of the bumper is more extreme on the 36 vs less angle on the 34 which people feel looks better. I found the best deal on the new UP one is from JEGS(currently on sale and promo code) and went ahead and ordered it. I also found a couple of suppliers for the 34 bumper braces but haven't ordered those yet. Then as my luck would have it, I found a pair of 34 bumpers pop up on FB marketplace on Friday. I went ahead and bought them today. One is in very nice condition and the chrome is very good, the second one is in good condition. They both came with bumper guards. One set feels almost like its cast steel and the other set are stamped steel. The chrome on the cast ones is nicer than the stamped. Everything has some rust somewhere, mostly on the backside. I am thinking of soaking them in some citric acid to help clean them up and then polish them to see how they look. I went from having no bumpers to having to many now!
Back in the day people painted the back side of 32-34 Ford bumpers black or sometimes red. I have also seen them painted with silver paint.
I was thinking of painting the backs after cleaning them up and derusting. These have been replated before. I can see rust pits on the back side and one bumper has 2 extra round holes close to the square holes. I am guessing maybe it had a hitch or something, but the holes have chrome in the inside. In my younger years we had some OT muscle car bumpers replated and in a few years the back side was flaking off and later the front started to peel. Had them plated again from a different place and decided to paint the back side black hoping to "seal" things up since the plating on the back was thin and not "deep" looking.
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