Hey guys,

So I bought the bumper via shrockworks group buy. Just the bumper no tire carrier. Also got it powder coated.

I'm I'm Michigan and was wondering how much should a body shop or mechanic charge to rip out the old bumper and install this new one?

The Body shop I went to removed the bumper for $100. He said it took him 5 hours but was charging fair.

But his guys couldn't figure out how to install it even though I was able to print out the instructions and also include Tim's YouTube video for the (removal of the stock bumper + installing the Sonoran steel body mounts) when he installed the CBI bumper.

So now he took it to an auto care half a mile down the road and the initial quote was $400 but said it could be less when they start looking at it tomorrow.

So is the total of $500 reasonable for body mount install and an already powder coated bumper?

Is the underside of your truck rusted to nuggets? Your in the salt belt so I’m guessing it’s pretty rusty? It makes getting old bolts out a huge pain. And by pain I mean cutting things off because it’s rusted into a solid mass of oxidation.

I think $500 is a little steep for a back bumper install. Maybe $200-$300 seems reasonable.

You need to find some wrenching friends and put that on.

The body shop owner said they had to cut off every bolt and that's why it took 5 hours. Either way, his charge turned out to be 20/hr = $100 for just removing it which I think is fair.

However, I guess I'll found out tomorrow from the auto care shop how much they'll be charging because $400 seems very steep to me.

Don't you think the hard part is over since the new bumper comes with new bolts and stuff so rust shouldn't really be part of the issue?

I'll see if I can get pics from them. At some point I will probably spend some more money to get some body rust repaired. My underbody gets degreased/painted with POR15 and sprayed with fluid film every year.

I also attached the word doc I created and put in timestamps in there for them to see Tim's Video and the parts that were relevant for this job. And also the shrockworks install pdf...
What I was thinking is that between those 2 documents...a decent bodyshop/mechanic should be able to figure it out, am I wrong to assume that?

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3rd Gen 4Runner - Shrockworks Bumper Instructions.pdf (166.4 KB, 306 views)

Attached Files

Youtube Video for Shrockworks bumper.doc (12.5 KB, 201 views)

The higher the price, the less they want to work on your project. The files
might just irritate them, and cost you more money. Whether or not I'm right,
can you get a second opinion?

If the bumper is supposed to be "bolt on", I'd bring the bumper close to the rear of the truck and look at it yourself. See the bolt holes on the bumper and body. If you can clearly see how it'd bolt on, that means there's no mystery to it. If there is nothing unusual, like massive rust damage, bent frame, etc, affecting the install, it shouldn't take a well-equipped shop more than an hour, working slowly.

I don't believe there is massive rust damage that would require extra hours to install a bolt on bumper, no modifications needed

Here's a pic so others may be able to assess better.
This is after the body shop removed the old stuff.
The owner sent this to me. I haven't seen my car since I dropped it off on Monday

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thanks for the pict, it helps a lot.

I would agree @heat some people will price themselves out of a job if they just don't want to do it.

couple of thing I will mention. that is not the most rust I have ever seen but it's enough to make doing almost anything much more difficult. rust sucks we all hate it.

I have installed a rear bumper myself and I can share some of the surprise moments.

#1 it only takes like 8 large m12 1.25 bolts to install the bumper, super easy.
#2 the exhaust needs to be messed with but again super easy.
#3 and this one can suck. the rear body mounts will probably be compressed and probably need to be replaced. I had slight clearance issues with my rear and replaced the body mounts to compensate for it.
#4 I can't tell but it looks like there is a bolt in the factory mounting hole for the stock hitch? if that was cut off? you will need to drill and extract that thing. maybe they just cut them all off? that would explain the extra price a bit?

Bumper installs normally cost about one 12 pack of beer and a Saturday... That's either at your house (invite the guys over) or at a buddies house.

-Charlie

Here's the pics of the install....

Is it me or are the gaps too much?

I'd like to see pics of other people that have these installed for comparison.

Also total cost me $500
Breakdown:

$100 for 5hrs of work removing the old bumper and cutting every single rusty bolt

$400 for 4hrs of installing the new bumper (this one seems wayy too much for me but oh well)

I'd like to know if I need to go back there and have them readjust it because while the bumper looks and feels amazing, the install seemed like the gap needs to be at least cut in half or snugged

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Without poly body mounts in the back, the rear of the frame flexes a TON off road. That gap is needed to avoid body contact. If you see tighter clearances on other bumpers, they require poly rear body mounts.

Also, there isn't much to adjust. Unless they used a spacer on there, the bumper bolts to the bottom of the frame and can't be lifted higher from there...

$100/hr is a totally reasonable rate for custom work at a shop. Heck, its reasonable for normal work!

-Charlie

Thank you Charlie. Yea 100/hr is fair. I just didn't think it'd take another 4 hrs to put the bumper on lol.

Anyways here's some more pics.

The old stuff was pretty rusty so I understand why they had to cut every bolt

The spare tire fit just fine with a little bit of clearance left.

I'll go back and get the rusted areas with POR15 especially the parts you see when the rear door is open.

The only thing I was concerned about was the last 2 pics with that bendable metal on each side... I don't think it was tightened cuz I was able to turn it with my 2 fingers.

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I got my rear bumper from them about a week and a half ago. I took the rear bumper off last weekend, removed the spare tire carrier bars underneath and spent the rest of the time removing light surface rust (some deeper rust in a few areas). I will install the bumper tomorrow.

Aside from that, WOW, the packaging for this bumper / spare tire carrier / hi-lift jack carrier and 2 metal Jerry can carriers were truly amazing! I have never seen anything packed as well as this was. Even the nails were not your standard nails in the crate.

@sugjavier the gap is supposed to be there, as mentioned. In the instructions, Shrocksworks states this and they recommend to paint the yellow plastic trim on the driver's side if you don't want it to be as visible. Thanks for the pictures by the way, they are helpful for me as well.

@sleepydad the #4 in your list is also helpful because I now know why I am seeing the same thing. My rig is classified as a total because the rear end was bumped before I got it, so when I bought it, there was no tow hitch.

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Understood bro. Thank you!

Let me know if you figure out what the heck are those bendable sheet metal things on my last 2 pics.

I'm just gonna tighten the bolt for it because it seems like they didn't.

Those look like nut-strips - if they are, they should be tight (tighten the bolt on the outside)

Also, this bolt doesn't look tight:
https://www.toyota-4runner.org/attac...izeimage-6-jpg

@sugjavier I tried installing my bumper, however, due to the previous owner having a rear end accident (minor), the OEM trailer hitch was cut out. What this did was to make the holes filled with the old bolts, which were pretty rusted, including the OEM square nut that was welded inside the frame. This means I have nothing to screw the bolts into. I am going to reach out to Shrockworks to make me some additional nut strips - the bendable sheet metal things you asked me about. Those are just an easy way to hold the nuts in place to get a bolt started, in addition to keep the nuts from spinning while screwing in the bolts.

Aside from that, here is how I worked on getting my bumper in place WITHOUT the help of a buddy Nothing some FrontRunner boxes and Harbor Freight dollies couldn't handle!

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