Remove plastic from rear bumper

How the hell do I remove the plastic off the rear bumper? I have been fighting with it for hours and I've gotten no where. What am I missing?

 

You talking about the bumper step cover?

Crawl under the truck with a flashlight and look up where the step mouts. You will see a bunch of plastic tabs that are penetrating the bumper cover. Start at one end and squeeze/push upward on a few. This will get it started where you can get your fingers under the step cover from above. Then, carefully pull it off working your way to the other side of the truck. Do a section at a time and take your time. The tabs are a little flexible, but not bullet proof.

On the corner pieces of plastic there are three nuts and bolts that secure those. Two of the bolts are mounted in the plastic. I removed the bumper cover to access those and dismantle.

HTH

 

Thankfully I have the bumper off already so less crawling.

the plastic tabs near where the license plate go is what is part of the trouble. they are like plastic screws that when turning, nothing happens.

The corner pieces are also kicking my ass. I turn the nut but the bolt turns with it.

 

why did u take it off?

 

the original was ruined and had to get a new one so i haven't put it on yet. was planning on putting bed liner on the new one since it's not chrome like the original

 

PMed

 

The plastic tabs are actually push pins, not plastic screws.

On the corner pieces I had the same problem as it appears that they are lock-tite'd from the factory. I had to grab the end of the bolt with channel locks (the bolt is tapered, so the threads aren't permanently messed up as long as you grab just the end), then turn the nut. That bolt has a square head that is in a slot in the plastic, with the lock-tite it just turns in the slot.

 

Oh, ok I'll give that a try. Just need to get myself some channel locks.

 

My bumper was chrome, but I removed it and used Duplicolor Bed liner. I took the cover off. It is very easy and only takes one person. About 10-12 bolts.

 

...or pliers, vice grips, teeth...

 

I went with vice grips and it worked great. Finally got all the plastic off!

Now the sanding process begins!

 

Those corner ones were a PITA! I struggled there as well, when I put mine back on I through some gorilla glue in there to keep it in place. Has held up great

 

does anyone know were i can order the bolts for the corner pieces? I had taken one off a while back with the intention of putting it back on later and now i cant find it.

 

Have you checked a hardware store for a flat, squared headed bolt? I've seen them at Lowes/HD I think. If the flat head is too big, might need some trimming, but good excuse to break out/acquire a Dremel.

 

Just took my corner plastics off last night and after using a vicegrip to completely mangle the tapered threads I realized you can just slide the plastic off the bolts. I wish I would have taken a picture to show the slots that those rectangle head bolts slide into. Once the plastic slides off, you can use a spanner on the heads to get the bolts out.