[DeTomaso] L bumper 'shocks'

[MikeLDrew at aol.com]

In a message dated 12/10/09 23 26 32, JDeRyke at aol.com writes:


> > Don't think so but I've not cut any of mine up; they're in boxes, 
> resting
> peacefully in good shape. I took them off in the '80s 'cause they're so 
> darn
> heavy, replacing them with aluminum weldments holding stock L bumpers 
> (until
> I changed them, too). What I was told was, there's rubber bonded between
> two tubular steel halves of the rams, with the bore in the outer ram being
> tapered. I can see some rubber around one end.
> Upon a 5 (or maybe a 2-1/2) mph impact, the rubber shears plus the steel
> pieces telescope into a slightly too-small hole, which resistence provided
> "legal" DOT bumpers for the law at that time. As with most such rules 
> where
> lawyers try to design cars, none of the "impact-resistent" bumpers of the
> period worked very well for their intended purpose: to protect car bodies 
> and
> especially the insurance companies from major expenses in collisions. FWIW
> 

That all sounds MUCH more likely than what I'd been led to believe--that 
the rams were hydraulic.   Although I know that drilling them is the first 
step to permanently compressing them?   But I don't know how?

Mike