Bent Back Bumper

So the previous owner of my truck appears to have backed into something at some point, bending the back bumper down. Its not a huge deal, but it does piss me off a bit and considering that it appears to otherwise be in good shape I am hoping there is a hanger or something that I just need to bend back into place or something.

Any ideas?





More pics by clicking the little camera.

 

loosen the bolts that hold the bumper on and straighten it out.

 

Its really that easy? Awesome! Where are the bolts located?

 

i'd recommend getting down on the ground and taking a look underneath the truck.

 

Thanks for the sarcasm, but when that cold metal grate covered in snow and road salt is your work-space you want to have a good idea of what you are doing while people walking by on the side walk are tripping over your legs.

 

You laugh but honestly that's the only way to find out what's going on. It's possible there's a lot more damage than you might think... you really should inspect it. The bumpers are pretty solid on there, not much room for play at all. I know cause I swapped out my chromie for a color matched one...

 

True, but from the outside there appears to be no damage, so I am willing to bet it is something simple like it spun on the mounting nuts/bracket.

 

There are 4 bolts that hold the bumper to the frame via two brackets.

Check out this thread. http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/2n...lation-rear-bumper.html?highlight=rear+bumper

 

Awesome, thanks for the help! Hopefully this is not the case, but if there is something bent down do you think it would be possible to bend it back up with some blocks and jacks?

 

you can move the bumper around quite a bit with a little brute force. although, you may want to save your enegery...since these bumpers seem to attrack alot of attacks from other motorists. mine's been smacked 3 times in the last 14 months

 

10 bolts as Timmer stated. The OEM bumpers bend if you look at them wrong. Thats why I replaced mine. It is probably would be nearly impossible to get it back to the OEM spec though. The steel in these bumpers is fairly "springy". I ripped mine up on the rocks and got it fairly straight but it still looked crappy. If you do decide to try it at least remove the taillight so you dont crack the lens like I did.

 

If all this is true should I invest the time and energy in machining a stronger set of brackets? Seems like a set of beefy steel brackets would the solution to all these problems.

 

Well whatever caused that was pretty powerful, I lifted the truck a full six inches, and I only got the bumper to lift about 1/2 way back. At this point it looks like it is at the right height, just needs to be re adjusted. Those bolts are not budging whatsoever though, and without an air impact wrench I am stuck.