Need Help, G-Body rear bumper alignment

[wjdunham]

Finally getting around to addressing an issue that's been bugging me for a while every time I walk behind my car - the Right side of the rear bumper is sticking too far outboard by about 3/8" - the screw in the photo below should be entirely under the rubber seal as it is on the Left side.


More like this:


Here is the shock from the right side, I'm thinking the only solution is to shorten this shock somehow, or find a new one that is 3/8" shorter. I tried compressing with a clamp but it's not budging, would need to take it to a shop with a hydraulic press to get it to move.




Any other creative thoughts? Anyone have a shock sitting on the bench they could measure for me, might give me some better insight into whether this is really the issue.

Thanks!

Bill

[Showdown]

It's likely that the car is just out of whack but you can still fix this!

Don't shorten your shocks; that's a ton of work. Instead, just thin out the rubber gaskets that go between the shock and the bumper or the rubber washer between the shock and the mounting bracket on the car.

A sharp razor will cut through the rubber and if you mess up they're like $7 for a 4-pack from our host.

[wjdunham]

Originally Posted by Showdown

It's likely that the car is just out of whack but you can still fix this!

Don't shorten your shocks; that's a ton of work. Instead, just thin out the rubber gaskets that go between the shock and the bumper or the rubber washer between the shock and the mounting bracket on the car.

A sharp razor will cut through the rubber and if you mess up they're like $7 for a 4-pack from our host.

I considered trimming or even ditching the round rubber piece on the inner end, but that's only going to get me 3/16" or so, I really need twice that.

I'm sure the car is straight. It was aligned properly when I first got it. The problem arose when I disassembled the whole assembly to clean it up. The shocks that were in it at the time had badly corroded bolts, a couple of which broke when I went to remove them. The shocks I have now appear to be OEM Sachs but were not original to this car, used ones purchased from this forum.

[Canada Kev]

I think there's something funky going on there and it's not the bumper mount. Your tail light lens is out quite a bit, as well. It might not hurt to take some of that stuff off and do some measurements to see if your quarter panel is tweaked or something or maybe something else is out of alignment causing this.

[group911@aol.co]

From your pictures, that's the tail light housing that is the issue not the bumper.
Pull the tail light assemble out and see what is impeding it.

[wjdunham]

I took the lens off and the taillight housing out to inspect. I really don't see anything amiss in that area. I'm quite certain the car was never hit in the rear, I know the full PO history and the original paint, undercoating and Cosmoline would also indicate no major damage in that area.

I did adjust the rubber seal under the lens, here is a pic from the top - looks about the same as the right side of the car and doesn't look like it's sitting in the wrong place:


It really looks to me like the rubber seal under the housing is too far inward, so I either have it installed wrong or it's not the same dimensions as the original. It's a huge pain to replace this one as the entire bumper and muffler have to be removed to get at that rear reflector, which also must come off. Any more thoughts on this?

[wjdunham]

Here is a nice closeup of an 85 that I found on BAT - sure looks to me like my problem is that rubber seal not being far enough outboard. As I said in my previous post, I cannot for the life of me get my seal to sit farther out, unless I glue it in place...

[wjdunham]

Same angle of my car...

[tholyoak]

The bumper to body seal is originally held on by adhesive 'glue' on the seal when new. If re-using, you have to use trim adhesive or similar to hold it in place.

-Todd

[wjdunham]

Originally Posted by tholyoak

The bumper to body seal is originally held on by adhesive 'glue' on the seal when new. If re-using, you have to use trim adhesive or similar to hold it in place.

-Todd

When I replaced the original rubber strip, the new one had adhesive tape which keeps it in place, but only on the tab that is under the rear reflector. Are you saying I need to add my own glue to the sections under the tail light assemblies? Sure seems like that would help.

[tholyoak]

You are correct, the adhesive is in the middle section under the reflector.
On the ends, there is a slot in the seal that slips over the tail light frame on the body.