Front bumper arm help needed

[Superhart]

On my 1930 Ford Model A, I am noticing that the distance from the ends of the front bumper back to the wheel are different on each end of the bumper. This suggests to me the possibility that perhaps one of the bumper arms may have been bent in the past and not completely Straightened back to stock position resulting in one side of the bumper being a little closer to the front wheel than the opposite side.

My question is this. Does anyone know of a set of diagrams or drawings for the 1930 Model A front bumper arms that show the proper curvature and alignment so that I can check out this potential problem. To the naked eye, the brace harms look OK but there is still a possibility, that one arm may have been repaired, but not completely back to stock. Any help in this matter would be greatly appreciated. Thank you so much. H

 

[JayJay]

The best thing you can do is to remove both brackets from the car, then lay them on top of each other and check that the curvatures match. It’s not so important what the curvature is, but that they are identical. If they don’t match it’s likely that the tighter one has been pushed back in an accident. You can clamp the one you want to change in a vise, grab with a big crescent wrench, and hang on it to change the curve.

Don’t discount that a bent axle may push one side backwards and thus make it appear that the bumper brackets are bent. The front axle should be straight across. You can check it with a piece of steel the minimum length required to get between the two backing plates (I have a piece of 1x1 square tubing 51-1/2” long I use for this). On the axles I’ve checked, both on car and off, I’ve found more bent than straight.

Probably goes without saying: a bumper not centered properly will appear the way you describe.

 

[Bob Bidonde]

I had this problem, but I fixed it on my Model "A" by bending one arm to get equal distance to the front wheels. Loosen the front bumper clamps first. Heat the arm red hot so it bends before the frame horn will. While you are at it, make sure the bumper is parallel to the ground.