Bumperette removal. Do they still serve a purpose?

[lino]

Hey All,

I was unable to find any discussion of this with searches, which actually makes me question my search abilities a bit...

Anyway, the bumperettes are in the way of a winch/hitch project on the backside of my deuce, so I removed them. I'd rather not have to figure out how to put them back...

So, I'm wondering if they serve any purpose, now that my truck is outside military service...

Clearly in a caravan, they protect the bed and grill if a couple trucks get a little to close.
They would also likely be helpful in a loading dock situation.

That said, they already prevent full/proper use of the shackles that are inside them, which I'm far more likely to need.

So my question is, did I miss something, is there a reason to keep the bumperettes that I haven't thought of?
(clearly in the mods forum, classic look is not a consideration).


Thanks

ciao
lino

 

[Trailboss]

Aside from protecting the bed as you mentioned, for the manual shift trucks like your deuce, the most common use I've seen is using another truck to push-start a dead truck.

 

[Recovry4x4]

The shackels underneath them are not for recovery work. They are more designed for trailer safety chains.

 

[wreckerman893]

The shackels underneath them are not for recovery work. They are more designed for trailer safety chains.

And tie down points when air/rail/trailer loading.

 

[Section8]

For civilian use it gets you past the pesky laws of must have bumpers front and rear of a vehicle. Of course I am in Canada So state laws may differ. Bumperetts are considered the minimum allowance for vehicles to have for rear bumpers unless your deck has a large plate dropping down to hitch level at the rear.

 

[clinto]

If your truck ever needs a push, the bumperettes allow such an operation without damage.

The rubber bumpers on your tailgate sit against the bumperettes when open all the way.

 

[swbradley1]

I use them to push my trucks with my backhoe. Handy and I have never had a problem using the shackles.

 

[Jeepsinker]

They are both there for structural integrity, if that is what you are asking. Like everyone else said, they are just for protection of several other parts of the truck. For recovery you would need to replace the rear shackles and brackets with larger ones from an A3 or a 5 ton. Factory small ones will work but it would suck to break one and damage the frame or kill someone.

 

[lino]

Hey Guys,

Thanks for all the good inputs.

I hadn't, but should have, realized that the rear shackles are "light duty". They aren't mounted to the frame, as a recovery shackle should be, but rather to the rear crossbar.
I think while I'm messing around back there I'll try to add shackle mounts that are better coupled to the frame.

The legal aspect that "it counts as a bumper" might be the clincher.

The others are not critical but certainly help functionality.
I had already looked into moving the tailgate bumpers so that they hit part of the bed...

Seems like I ought to try and make them fit.

 

[wreckerman893]

If you remove them make sure you replace all the bolts since they help hold the cross member in place.

 

[Jeepsinker]

Stick them up there where you need them, tack weld them in place, drill your new holes, then bolt it back in place. Like Wreckerman said, be sure to get all the bolts back through the rear crossmember. The rear crossmember is strong enough to do recovery from. Remember that is where the pintle hitch mounts? Just bolt some heavier shackle mounts there and bigger shackles if you plan to use them for recovery a lot. Personally I never use them for recovery, I just use the hitch.

 

[73m819]

Bumperetts are there mainly for ONE reason which is so one truck can push the DEAD truck in front of it OUT of the KILL ZONE.

 

[Tornadogt]

There were no bumperetts on 5 ton tractors or Wreckers. Do what you want....

I was corrected.... No bumperetts were on some Wreckers... consistently inconsistent military protocol

 

[lino]

Well, it appears I may have a problem...
An OCD related one, not one with the truck, per se.

I modeled the rear of the frame, so that I could play with what I wanted to do more easily...


These may not be zoomed in enough to tell, but the rear shackles probably aren't terribly strong.
The rear cross member is 1/4" thick, and the frame rails are 5/16".
The crossmember is held to the rails with only 4 (smallish) rivets per side.
The pintle is reinforced with the "pintle brace" made from 1/4" thick steel. It strengthens the pintle in tension (only) a great deal.

The pintle looks funny on here, because I cheated and found a model online, but it was a 4-bolt non rotating, so I "adapted" it a little. I'll probably model the actual one a bit better tomorrow.

Just thought I'd share.

ciao
lino

 

[JasonS]

There was a reinforcement kit (I believe for the M35A3) which added a bracket between the frame and rear crossmember.

 

[M543A2]

We had to remove them from our M35A2 we pull our Ferree 18 ton pintle hitch implement trailer with so we can clear the hitch when turning. As recommended, we made sure to put all of the bolts back in place. I have had to remove them from other trucks also. Over 30 years of using the trucks without them and no questions ever from officers. I do not think they have any idea what the rear should look like! Besides, my wrecker and dump trucks do not have them from the factory. Most civilian dump trucks I see do not have any rear bumper unless provided with a push bar for paver work. When using the truck to recover another or recover it backwards we use the pintle hook, not the shackles.

 

[lino]

As recommended, we made sure to put all of the bolts back in place.

Replacing the bolts shouldn't matter, except to hold up the tail light brackets. The four large bolts on the sides only hold the bumperette to the frame, the two on the crossmember also hold only the bumperette. So with the bumperette removed, the only reason to put back any bolts, would be 2 per side to hold the taillight brackets. The do nothing structural otherwise.

ciao
lino