First off, thanks to UNBROKEN for giving a quick tutorial on this!

For whatever reason, Ford decided that the front bumper on our trucks should have a VERY uneven gap and sag down towards the wheelwells. This has been driving me crazy since the day I picked up my truck and today I got around to fixing it and took a few pics along the way for anyone interested.

While it may not be Lexus-level alignment after the fix, it's 100% better in my opinion and you don't immediately notice it anymore.

Before:

After:

Before:

After:


So, the basics of this job are as follows:

Time needed: 20-30 minutes

Tools needed:
21mm deep socket
1/2" drive ratchet
6-8" extension
Needle nose pliers
Panel removal tool

- Remove the front bumper insert. On my 5.0 XLT Sport, this panel just clips in and can be pushed/pried out, being careful not to damage the paint.





- Remove the 4 large nuts (2 on each side) that are now exposed at the top of the mounts, then remove the bolts from behind.



- I chose to then LOOSEN the lower nut one side at time to help maintain the overall alignment and hold the bumper somewhat tight to the brackets.



- I used one washer for each upper bolt (4 total), with the following dimensions: 1/8" thick, 1.5" OD, 3/4" ID. I happened to have these lying around and they were perfectly sized.



- For the inner bolt holes I was able to slide the washer between the bumper bracket and the frame horn from the front through the opening of the bumper insert. I used the needle-nose pliers to help center the washer in the opening. Put the bolt back in after each washer is in place to hold it from falling out.

- For the outer holes I had to drop the washer down from above the hole, lying under the truck. This is where keeping the bumper somewhat snug helps, as the washers don't just fall down.

- Push the bumper up until your happy with the gap, then just snug one of the nuts. Repeat for the other side, check the overall alignment and adjust if needed, then tighten all 6 nuts.

- Reinstall your bumper filler and enjoy!!

 

I'm just dumbfounded that ford is still building some trucks like this. They have gotten better, but it should not be a issue this far into production.

 

I'm new to the form,just picked up my leftover 16 scab Sport yesterday.I'd like to thank you for the crooked bumper fix.I was concerned that mine may have been in a little fender bender while on the lot.I had originally noticed that the bumper was not level,it was lower on the drivers side,they fixed that before pickup,but now I see that it is leaning back,not as much as yours was but still it bugs me.At least now I know that it is somewhat normal.Thanks for the info.
Dan

 

Crooked bumper and the awful door to cab gaps on these trucks..just brutal.
Ford needs to get this stuff hammered out

 

Yeah, I'm not sure how they let them roll out the door like this.... I'm also not sure exactly how prevalent of a problem it is, maybe I just got one of the bad ones, as I would sort of expect more people to be complaining but I didn't find much in the way of threads about this. I did see UNBROKEN mention fixing his and one or two others mentioned it in the same thread after he did, but since that was just a random thread about his truck I figured this might be seen a bit more and hopefully help others.

 

Nicely done...Always love Pics so my brain doesn't have to melt-->

 

That 'bumper frown' has been discussed here before.... my dealer took care of it quickly and efficiently.

 

Some of us would rather not waste a whole day at the dealer...or leave the truck with them for days for simple fixes like this. It's a 30 minute job with supplies most guys have in their garage already.
Dealership wanted the truck for 3 days for the satellite antenna replacement. I got one myself for under 30 bucks and swapped it in about a half hour. NOT having some low end dealer tech digging into my truck makes me happy.

 

This, 100%!! It would take me longer and cost more to drive to my dealer than it did to fix this, not to mention I now know more about how my truck is assembled and exactly what was done to fix it.

I also have serious trust issues with people working on my stuff when I can't watch them, and more often than not I can do a better job than they're WILLING to do.

If this has been beat to death elsewhere, forgive me, but I did a couple of quick searches and didn't see much about it. If it's being called a "bumper frown", well, I never would have searched for that term, nor do I think others would either...

 

If you had to do it over would you still go with a washer 1/8" thick? Hard to tell from the pics if it is perfectly even now or if it could still get adjusted a little more one way or the other. I agree it looks 100% better and plan to do mine this weekend. Thanks for sharing the fix.