Just curious... I have been detailing the '97 F250 HD I bought a while back. She is mint with no body rust... So I figured an intensive detail should keep her that way for years to come

I pulled all the trim that comes off, and cleaned and waxed in behind, and inspected for any hidden rust...

Upon pulling the front chrome bumper trim I looked on the back of them and they are date stamped '93... I thought this was odd, but perhaps at some point someone had a minor mishap, and swaped it out (I know for a fact it has never been in any serious crashes as I have the full history report)

So while cleaning and polishing the lower edge of the front bumper, I noticed that it was stamped 1993 as well...

Just wondering if anyone else has noticed this with their '97 HD? My thoughts are; either it has been replaced at some point, or seeing that it was the last partial production year for this body style, that maybe Ford used up some surplus NOS parts they had kicking around?!?

I'm gonna keep an eye out now when working on it to see if any other parts are marked with odd years...

 

Oh and for those curious; this is how she's looking so far...

 

Very nice. Looks like a keeper for sure.
Jerry

 

Thanks Jerry... Yeah she is pretty tidy... Previous owner obviously took good care of her over the years... Drives as good as she looks too!

 

I don't think the '93 bumpers had the oil cooler holes over the license plate frame.

 

I think the diesels had the oil cooler holes pre 96, but in 96 & 97 all trucks got them

 

Good to know, I was curious about that as I had only ever seen them on diesels...

Still odd though that its a '93 bumper... Which is what made me wonder if ford was using up leftovers in '97 which might be why all got these bumpers those years?

 

It's not really a 93 bumper, it is a 93 part number that will only change when changes are made to the bumper. The 93 part number will be found on 1993 - 1997 trucks in certain trim levels.

 

i have a 93 with the stock bumper and it does not have the oil cooler holes

 

Well, I guess yours isn't the trim level that got them!!!!!! Diesels got them from the start, then in later years the XLT's got them..

There was at least 4 different bumpers used 93-97

1 Painted
2 Plain chrome
3 Chrome with rubber trim strips
4 Chrome with rubber trim strips with so called cooling holes.

 

Nice looking truck Island'r
I have the same bumper on my 97. But I don't think mine is in good enough shape underneath to see any dates printed on it.
Oh, and my "oil cooler holes" are being used for fog lights

 

These open-section bumpers, I believe, first appeared in late 1994 on 1995 PSD models; expanding to all higher trim level trucks in the 1996 & 97 model years. The same stampings were used throughout so that would be why a "93" would be stamped on the underside. I do not know why it would not have a "92" unless they made some small change after the 1st year of this body style.

dn.

 

Thats odd, they should say 1992. EVERY bumper on these trucks I have seen say 1992 since that was the 1st year of the body style and the main stamping of the bumper did not change till the Super dutys

 

97 F 250 trucks were basicly the same truck as a 95 96 F250

 

Lots of parts on my 1994 psd are stamped with a 1995 number. Get over it, it's not a big ford conspiracy.

PS: Just because your "full history report" doesnt show any accidents doesn't mean it hasnt been in one. Those usually only show incidents that were reported to insurance. There are lots of body shops doing lots of body work without having to report anything to anyone for any reason.