Fresh Rear Bumper (Ass Lift)

My Taco is due for a bit of a face lift. 13 years and 290k clicks later, the rear bumper was getting a bit rotten for my taste. So I got a new one and had it painted! I guess its more of an ass lift than a face lift haha





I wanted to avoid the bumper rusting out so I added spray in bed liner to the inside of the new bumper after taping off the outside. I used EZ liner and that might be my only regret with this project. It looks fine, but the tip kinda crapped out and made a huge mess on each of the cans I used. Maybe I didnt shake the cans long enough? Whatevs... any who, it did the trick

So in spite of me hosing everything down with WD40, I ended up breaking 5 bolts. I was able to drill one out and tap the threads, retaining the original bolt size, but the others I just drilled out larger and tapped new threads using bolts one size larger. Not ideal but didn't need to break out my welding skills (I haven't welded much before. And I don't own a welder) ¯\_(ツ)_/¯



During disassembly these corner caps threw me for a loop. Didn't realize they don't need to come off until the bumper is off


Dad popped by when I had these bumper supports out and commented that I would probably be painting them. Hadn't planned on it but they had a bit of surface rust on the bottoms so I wire wheeled both of them and the trailer wiring bracket. Primed and painted. Good for another 300k k, thanks for the suggestion Pops!

Need to get a sandblasting cabinet one of these days, I hate wire wheels! End up looking like a frickin wire pin cushion after using one. The funny thing is my brother owns a sandblasting company, wish he could blast parts for me anytime i needed but we live 800k away ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ So I got a sandblasting cabinet on my wish list haha


Turned out great! The guys at the auto body shop did a nice job on the paint, matches well. I used Mother's Back To Black on the trim and Mother's Mag and Aluminum Polish with a Powerball on the skull hitch cover.


No chance I was gonna re-use any of these old shitty bolts so I replaced all of them. Kinda neat how the bolts got worn down from all the rocks. Used permatex blue theadlocker as well. Not the best stuff, really runny. I had some loctite thread locking gel and that shit was the best. Didn't run, stays where you apply it. I'll have to find out where to get some of that stuff.


Hoping that bedliner will help delay this from happening again. Only time will tell haha

Before and After


So that was the Ass Lift for my taco. Face lift coming soon! I got the guys at the auto body shop to paint a new front bumper cover when they did the rear, new headlights are in too. Just waiting for my Homertaco Toywerx grill and I'll give the unit a face lift haha Thanks for checking out my Ass Lift thread!

-Heav

 

Nicely done but I would've repair/repaint the rusted hitch while the bumper was off.

 

Thanks! Yeah, would’ve liked to clean up the hitch but this project went over budgeted time by a day or two haha

 

Nice job looks great. I know when I took off my rusted hitch I wrestled with getting the bumper off. It has to come off evenly on both sides. I did the same thing to my 03 bumper I sprayed it with bed liner before reinstalling the new one . Ex wife hit my truck in the driveway thats why I replaced it and her.lol

 

Hahaha that’s hilarious! And thanks! How’s the bedliner in your 03 bumper holding up?