Design help needed

[Flyingpig]

My wife truck has one of those chrome bumper grille guards on it. It is attached with 5/16 bolts, 8 total. There are 4 on the bottom to the frame, 2 in the radiator support and 2 about half way up the bumper. There are 2 little straps that run between the radiator support and the bumper. They are about 1/2 in wide and maybe am 8th thick. There is just a simple 90* bend at the radiator end. There is no reinforcement at the bend and they keep cracking. I need something a bit more stout to put in there. Im pretty much stuck with the h0les in the support unless I spend days disassembling the front end to make room to drill.

Ill be her hero if I can make the truck quit squeaking every time she hits a bump.

[fabricator]

can you post a picture?

[Flyingpig]

It will be a couple days for a pic. My wife left a 4:30 this morning to babysit. Her oldest son is having baby number 2. She will probably be there until mom and son come home from the hospital.

Picture this. The strap lays flat and comes thru the grill to attach to a tab on the bumper. There is one bolt at each end. At the radiator support the strap is bent up in an L shape to meet the radiator support. The crack occurs near the bend. Whoever built this thing is asking for a lot of "shock absorber action" from a solid piece of metal. The L shape is too long to not flex. I thought about putting a gusset on the side of the bend but we still have to be able to get at it with a wrench and have room for the bolt, which mostly takes up the entire width of the strap.

The bumper looks nice but attaching hardware is under built.

[fabricator]

Possibly make one that is thicker?

[Flyingpig]

I thought of that but it will still be pulling on only one side of the bolt. I was concerned if it was heavier metal the radiator support may be the next victim.

[fabricator]

Additional bracing then would be needed .Kinda hard to figure without a pic.

[welderman23]

........I was concerned if it was heavier metal the radiator support may be the next victim.

who was the first victim?

Thats why I asked for help. I dont want to break one thing after another.

stop hitting people!!!