When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
So like all of these old extended Vans, my rear bumper is disintegrating. I routinely haul a push mower between homes, and the AERO is my truck. Made a half dozen trips to our local Pullaparts and everything they have is trashed.
Since these covers are long NLA, and I rarely see anything on eBay for sale.... I'm considering tearing my plastic cover off and building a steel or aluminum fascia for my extended bumper. By a quick forum search I don't see where anyone has tried this and documented it here.
I'll do some exploratory work, and I'm hoping a simple C channel bent with aluminum checker plate can mate to whatever FORD has behind it. I need a solid surface for material loading, and really don't care if it has paint to match the ends.
If anyone has a picture of the "bones" beneath the plastic, I'd love to see it.
The center piece is actually the crush zone that is supposed to take up to a 2.5 mph impact. It is a couple layers of plastic channels welded together to form a structure. It has 6 or 8 embedded nuts in it for accepting bolts through the tail of the body. The ends have some speed nuts that the rear of the side covers bolt to. The upper part of the side pieces have slots that engage studs in the body. The lower part of the side covers have a hole near the front that bolt to tiny support legs, which are in turn bolted to the body. They're all pretty fragile, so if you want to replace the covers with heavier aluminum, you will need to reinforce the body at where they currently support the bumper covers.
So there is no aluminum framework behind the plastic stack of crush zone pieces? That's quite surprising. If been a lot of places on my 93 Extended, but as close as I've been into the bumper was installing the class II hitch.
I had an old LTD wagon before buying the AERO and they had an aluminum structure beneath the stamped bumper.
Hopefully the structure which the plastic bumper mounts to is flat; that and the wrap around WINGS will easily bolt to a solid structure.
In about 2 years of watching eBay for NOS, there simply isn't any on the radar.
This is the link that won't work for me. Parts for sale, it appears. I can't imagine a 20+ year old used part will last much longer without suffering the same disintegration fate.
No aluminum structures in the bumper; just a plastic box. The box may have cross pieces inside to absorb energy, I don't know for sure as I've never taken one apart. It just bolts to the body.
the plastic bumper is just a C shaped eye candy bumper COVER.
Once you remove the four, 13mm nuts on the opposite side, and the two corner support rails bolted to chassis on each side of the spare, the entire assembly slides off.
then you can see a flat steel welded "bumper" section onto which you can bolt anything you like. This is welded to the two end chassis arms and to the body.
I suggest mounting rubber donuts between that welded steel bumper and anything else. You can use the same bolt holes to fit anything else to it.
The center plastic bumper cover is plastic-welded to another crushable plastic section, it is total garbage. The two side sections are screwed to the center section at very weak fastening points with 8mm screws, 3 per side. Total garbage.
tools needed:
3/8" ratchet with 6" extension and long 13mm socket.
1/4" ratched with 8mm socket for all the other screws.
This is the link that won't work for me. Parts for sale, it appears. I can't imagine a 20+ year old used part will last much longer without suffering the same disintegration fate.
thats surprising.i just tried it and it works for me.
Status update - referenced seller (on another forum) of what appears to be the correct Aero center piece for the EXT bumper system, is a non starter. Wants full payment Wester Union plus shipping, up front! I traveled that road once to buy a transmission....took me 6 months to get it with threats by the Canadian Fraud Unit against the seller. So the simplest solution (OEM parts) is still not available.
Back bumper is off, and the mounting surface is mostly flat with some raised areas in the center. Standoffs will be needed to bolt it at the mounting pads.
Roughly a 56" x 7" tall x 3.5" deep replacement is needed. I'm searching for what diamond plate aluminum is available and will need a friend to TIG weld it together. Custom connections where the side extensions anchor to the center (2 fasteners and a male/female engage are in the plastic design). Edit: not finding anything other than plate in diamond surface, so I'm looking at aluminum square extruded tubing ~ 3x3 or 3.5x3.5, paired up and TIG welded together. I think it will take at least a 1/2" thick plate welded to the back of the tubes to stand off the body mounts to clear the raised section. I'll clean it up, take some pics to add to this thread. My goal is FUNCTION, not the nice original two tone paint.
OK, cleaned up the van yesterday to take more accurate dimensions.
What I plan to do is build attachment brackets for each ending of the side bumper extensions; forward up near the wheel well they slide over a metal button to retain the front (with tension rod that bolts to the floor pan). At the junction to the bumper the extensions engage the plastic ends of the old center piece (dead). It appears that a piece of steel flat bar folded into a "D" shape can be attached to the body and then used to bolt these extensions to said flat bar.
"NEW" center section of bumper will be 3" x 6" x 55.5" long boxed aluminum beam. Rear body of the van under the hatch door require a 10mm stand off plate at EACH set of mounting fasteners. I can buy a 3" x 6" rectangular aluminum beam for round $120 plus shipping. Bottom of the box will be hole sawed to provide wrench & locknut/washer combo so I can bolt it thru the van steel flange. I'll add some pics later tonight of the mounting surface. Machinist friend of mine is an excellent TIG welder so I'll have him weld end caps on the bumper as well as stitch weld the stand off plates.
In short: where the side bumper extensions meet this aluminum box, there will be a step..... no way around it. Won't look as smooth and integrated as the OEM...... but I don't see any economical way to join them without far too much labor.
My revelation whilst looking at the dead original bumper, was to retain the side portions which return to the back wheels.... no reason to replace what matches the Aero. I surgically cut the "ends" off of the dead center section, as I used these ends due to their construction for mounting the side returns. Here they are are, cut off and cleaned in the dishwasher:
With these "mounts", I cleaned each end of the bumper side panels where these originally snapped in (and one bolt I think). Gorilla PLASTIC glue was used, and these were permanently attached to each side they originally mated. I also wet sanded with 400 grit to ensure good adhesion between these plastic parts.
With a careful fit check, I determined that I needed rubber & double stud mounts which could be drilled to the steel body as well as the plastic bumper ends (one slot exists which I used). The rubber biscuit mounts were 3/4" thick and around 1.25 inch diameter; double ended M8. While carefully holding the bumper sides into proper alignment, I transferred the profile to the body and then drilled and mounted the rubber mounts:
With the target location in X and Y dimensions, we drill clearance holes:
Now the tricky part.... installation of the nuts! Of course blue Loctite to keep it attached. Thankfully the AERO has an access plug directly beneath where the nuts must be attached.
Finally my old AERO looks normal again from the side view. Both bumper side panels reinstalled sans center. Of course the original front STAY rods were reattached. Up NEXT - I purchased a 55" long aluminum 6061 T6 rectangle tube, 3" x 6". This will be finished with TIG welded end caps for a finished OAL of 55.0". I'll farm this out since I can't TIG weld yet. Stay tuned.......
Here a pic (wouldn't fit the above post, too many pics?) of the installed side bumper return panels:
My new aluminum box beam (will probably shoot with SEM bumper paint to blend it in) will slide between these corner pieces at 55 inches finished length.
I like it! Great idea to blend pieces of the old bumper with something new. You might want to get a sheet and have a shop bend the pieces for you instead of welding at the seams, it will look much cleaner and more professional.
10-12-2019, 07:43 PM
