can someone straighten things up for me, im a little confused

i went to the wrecking yard yesterday and saw a lot of trucks all the way from 67 to 79, all just 150s. im trying to figure out how i would mount a stock chrome bumper to my 73 highboy. on all the trucks at pick n pull, the frame rail end was rounded with the holes in it to bolt the bumper too. but my trucks framerails look nothing like the other trucks. im assuming this is a difference between the 150s and 250s? it looks to me like i need some brackets to mount a bumper to the frame rails. on one of the trucks, the bumper was hanging down under the frame rails because the mounts that were riveted to the frame, 2 of the rivets were cut off so the bumper swung down exposing the frame rails. i thought about taking the mounts (becausethe bumper was kinked) but it was on a 78 or 9 i think, so i didnt know if they would work on mine.

heres my frame rails and bumper that i will be cutting off since its welded and bolted.



how does this bumper


mount to my frame rails?

 

I have been told that the hiboy's and some F350's used a bracket to mount the stock front bumper.

 

and here is the ugliest rear bumper ever made. i would rather replace the rear one before the front since it looks worse than the winch bumper

 

Whoever the idiot was that welded your current front bumper on your truck made your job A LOT harder.

I never understand why people are so LAZY as to weld stuff like this on, but it's happened on probably 5 of the 7 dentsides I've owned. It's usually the rear bumper and or hitch, but it's still very annoying!

As for the bumper mounting on the front - there are brackets if it's anything like my '74 F-250 4wd.

You can see the 2 bolts that hold the bracket on and the rust spot from under the bracket here. The nuts for the bolts are captive in the frame & can be seen i the 3rd pic.




Keep in mind Ford did some weird stuff with the number of different frames, etc. they had.

For most of the 2wds the bumper bolts straight onto the round part of the front of the frame.
You can kind of see in this pic the top hole and front hole in the frame that the bumper would bolt to



Then here's a 2wd that has bumper brackets & doesn't have the round frame front. This was a '76 F-250... I have these brackets here for sale if you need them.

 

if ^^^ those 2wd brackets would fit on my 73 highboy then ill go back to the wrecking yard and grab the ones off the truck i saw with the bumper swung down under the frame since the top rivets were already cut off.

and yes im assuming it was the original owner of my truck that had the bumper welded, it all looks just as old as the frame itself. its going to be a pain in the *** to cut it off without having to remove the whole grill assembly

 

1973/77 F250/350

D3TZ-17752-A .. Right Front Bumper Bracket / Obsolete

No Ford Dealer or obsolete parts vendor has any.
-----------------------------------------------
D3TZ-17753-A .. Left Front Bumper Bracket / Obsolete

MILLER OBSOLETE PARTS in Binghamton NY has TWO = 607-722-5371.

 

It'd be easy to use cardboard, make templates, and then use those to make your own brackets to place it as you want, maybe move it out front 3-4" and then fill the top gap and have like a "step", etc .... or put it in the stock location. Have you considered cutting the frame horns off one at the picknpull with a sawsall and welding them on your truck?.

 

I'm thinking they're the same - looking at my highboy crew & then those 2wd ones...

As for cutting your bumper off - do yourself a favor & take the time to remove the grill. It would suck to accidentally slip while removing the bumper & screw the grill up because you tried to save a little time. Been there, done that & it SUCKS!