rear bumper gap issue

[C-10volvo]

soooooo, after getting my bumper and brackets from 73-87chevytrucks.com , i quickly installed then and ended up with this. a HUGE gap from bumper to the bed. i took a glance back at their site and it states "Fits Fleetside/Wideside Pickups with standard bumpers (not step bumpers)". i understood from that line that the brackets wont bolt up to a OE step bumper. so now my question to you is.... is there a difference on the FRAME itself from a step to standard bumper? everything lined up accordingly, but that gap is just fugly to me.

in no way is this a rant against 73-87chevytrucks, their service was awesome. anyways, here are a few pics to see what im talking about. sorry for the cell pics

[pcmcobra]

need to drill new mounting holes for the brackets to bring that bumper in closer

[bigblock73]

Ken, that is how it is supposed to fit...my 73 is the same way. There are gravel pans that bolt to the top of the bumper brackets, between the bumper and bed. My 73 has them, I assume the 81+ have them too.

pcmcobra, you need to do more than drill new holes to move the bumper in...you also need to shorten the brackets on the back side...but then your bumper will sit nice and tight, but be too wide...making the gap eneven around the perimeter. After that, then the front bumper won't match the rear, and the only way to tuck it is to cut off and move the front frame horns in...and then it too will be too wide. I have thought about doing this to my 73, but am too far along to go backwards and attack these mods...maybe on the next truck.

[Crank]

Is this just a blazer bumper? Because if this is all that it is, the K5 Blazers have an aluminum bumper filler that goes betweent he body and the bumper, this actually looks right if this is what this is... And I'm almost 100 percent certain the only difference between a step truck and a fleetside is the bed, nothing much else should be different besides maybe gas tank locations.
Brandon

[pcmcobra]

Originally Posted by bigblock73

Ken, that is how it is supposed to fit...my 73 is the same way. There are gravel pans that bolt to the top of the bumper brackets, between the bumper and bed. My 73 has them, I assume the 81+ have them too.

pcmcobra, you need to do more than drill new holes to move the bumper in...you also need to shorten the brackets on the back side...but then your bumper will sit nice and tight, but be too wide...making the gap eneven around the perimeter. After that, then the front bumper won't match the rear, and the only way to tuck it is to cut off and move the front frame horns in...and then it too will be too wide. I have thought about doing this to my 73, but am too far along to go backwards and attack these mods...maybe on the next truck.

drilling new holes, seemed to work for me... You will have a tradeoff with the bumper being a little wide, and as for the front...I don't think I could actually see the gap on the front and the back at the same time, unless I was 10 feet above my truck looking directly down...
Although I did not bring it in "flush", it was closer and looked better. I'll try and find some pics of that old truck I had.

[lolife99]

Add the gravel pans. They are still available from GM. Actually only the left pan is available. You will have to re-drill the mounting holes to install a left on the right side. In my opinion it looks better.

[C-10volvo]

well i am in the process of drilling the holes as we speak. i am only going to suck the bumper about 3/4th of an inch because of a lack of space on the outside mounts. ill take some pics as i go just in case anyone else wants to do it.

thanks for the help guys!

[C-10volvo]

here is my end result and a few pics along the way. the only down side of others doing this is just to be careful of you have the OE molding that runs along that bottom of the tailgate because as you can see in one of the pics, its pretty close to the bumper when layed down. overall, it moved about an inch and i am a lot more happy with it.

[C-10volvo]

few more.

[bigblock73]

Originally Posted by pcmcobra

drilling new holes, seemed to work for me... You will have a tradeoff with the bumper being a little wide, and as for the front...I don't think I could actually see the gap on the front and the back at the same time, unless I was 10 feet above my truck looking directly down...
Although I did not bring it in "flush", it was closer and looked better. I'll try and find some pics of that old truck I had.

On my 73 frame, the back of the bumper brackets butt up to another piece of the frame...so shortening the brackets would be required to slide them back. The frames/brackets may have changed at some point in time...so perhaps this wouldn't be true for all years.

If you stood 10 feet to the side of the truck, you may see the difference too.

Also, not sure what year truck you have, but 73-80 trucks have that lower front valance...so moving the bumper in would be a little more difficult too.

Ken, that looks awesome...good job!! Just seeing that may make me do the same thing to mine now...even if it means a slight step back progress wise.

[smashingchuck]

that looks much better. thanks for the pics, too. I'll be putting a bumper on my truck as soon as I get the bodywork done.

[C-10volvo]

Originally Posted by bigblock73

On my 73 frame, the back of the bumper brackets butt up to another piece of the frame...so shortening the brackets would be required to slide them back. The frames/brackets may have changed at some point in time...so perhaps this wouldn't be true for all years.

my brackets do the same. they share the two front holes and bolts on the frame while the inner brackets have an extra hole and bolt further back. if you need pics from under the truck i can get them for ya.

[pcmcobra]

Originally Posted by bigblock73

On my 73 frame, the back of the bumper brackets butt up to another piece of the frame...so shortening the brackets would be required to slide them back. The frames/brackets may have changed at some point in time...so perhaps this wouldn't be true for all years.

If you stood 10 feet to the side of the truck, you may see the difference too.

Also, not sure what year truck you have, but 73-80 trucks have that lower front valance...so moving the bumper in would be a little more difficult too.

Ken, that looks awesome...good job!! Just seeing that may make me do the same thing to mine now...even if it means a slight step back progress wise.

it was an 84,
glad volvo got his done. He did exactly what I did, looks better, eh?

[bigblock73]

Ken, don't need pics...but thanks. SO you did shorten the brackets too then?

[75Chevy90Kawi]

looks nice. and those are the same wheels i have VERY clean looking

[poolboy65-ls1]

I just installed my rear bumper today. I wish I would have seen this post sooner. I guess I'll have to pull it back off and move it in.

[bodydropped]

hmm my back bumper fits alot tighter to the frame than your unno what my dad did to make it fit closer but my truck is an 78 with a bumper like yours

[Captkaos]

Sorry for missing this, but the way it was originally installed is how it was suppose to look. The Step bumpers sit closer to the body on everyone I have ever seen.

It looks good now also.