1997 Rear Bumper Removal

mdominic

mdominic

New member
Can someone give me a rundown of removing the 3 parts of the real bumper?

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I have done this now. I could not find a step-by-step on this site, or anywhere, so I will give a rundown of how its done.

Normally I would just post this at the end of the tread, but a real dummy hijacked the tread with bad advice, saying things like "Just look up underneath and find the bolts" and the question is stupid. There are no stupid questions, only stupid people who are afraid of knowledge.


So, this is a lot more than simply looking underneath the truck. Here's how I did it.


Remove the mud flaps from both sides (there are 10mm, if original) . This will expose a bolt (12mm) on each side.

Pull up the plastic step plate on top of the rear bar. It snaps out. There is one small white clip on each side bumper extension where the plastic step plate snaps into them. Keep those. After you remove the step plate you will expose four bolts on the top of the rear bumper bar.

Remove each of the side extensions. There are four bolts (12mm) holding it in total. The one on the side and three underneath it. On my truck there are two plastic "gasket" things that keep the extensions from touching face bar. Make sure you keep those if you have them.

Underneath the truck you will see four nuts (12mm) holding the face bar to the brackets. Remove those. Then remove the four bolts (12mm) from the top of the face bar. The bumper face bar should slip out easily.

I hope I haven't forgotten anything. I'm sorry that I didn't take photos, but many of my bolts and nuts were rusted and I had to cut them off.
 
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mdominic said:
Perhaps I should have asked for only helpful, intelligent answers.
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Exactly what above says. I don't know what more you are looking for. Look under the truck, look behind the bumper. There are 6-8 bolts i believe. Un screw the bolts. Then pull off the bumper. That is the process. Not much more to it? Its pretty straightforward. I guess if you want an intelligent answer, ask an intelligent question first... Not trying to be rude or anything, but thats all there is to it.
 
mdominic said:
Perhaps I should have asked for only helpful, intelligent answers.
Click to expand...

Actually once you start unbolting it everything just comes apart.

If you can't do that much now that we've explained it to you then perhaps ... Pay someone to do it for you? Maybe your local NYC mechanic. Be sure to give him attitude, at least you will be paying him to receive it.

All you need to do it crawl under the truck and start unbolting everything.

Just note that the hitch weighs a lot more than most people realize.
 
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It's really not that hard. There's no "how-to's" or pictures on this one. It's like changing your spark plugs, if you are unable to figure out how it comes apart and how to put it back together then take it to your local shop.

On another note, I thought all 4Runners have a hitch on them? I am going to take mine off though someday since I never tow anything. Just haven't figured out where to store it.
 
gamefreakgc said:
On another note, I thought all 4Runners have a hitch on them? I am going to take mine off though someday since I never tow anything. Just haven't figured out where to store it.
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Maybe they do i havent ever checked. I know my first 97 sr5 didnt come with one when i bought it. but that was also after a couple owners, so it could have been removed previously. I took mine off already and got a CBI with one built in anyways now.
 
I just removed the rear bumper on the wrecked 96. The side bumpers can be buggers if the bolts are rusted real bad. And you will need to remove the plastic top piece on the center section to get to all the fasteners.
 
19963.4lsr5 said:
I just removed the rear bumper on the wrecked 96. The side bumpers can be buggers if the bolts are rusted real bad. And you will need to remove the plastic top piece on the center section to get to all the fasteners.
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You see this is what I mean by intelligent. Not a flippant "Look for the bolts." Like mentioning that there are bolt under the mud flaps and that they need to be removed.
 
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mdominic said:
You see this is what I mean my intelligent. Not a flippant "Look for the bolts." Like mentioning that there are bolt under the mud flaps and that they need to be removed.
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You need to remove the mud flaps, and the top long plastic piece of the center section to see all the bolts and nuts. I needed penetration oil and a propane torch and still managed to brake studs off the center section of the 96's bumper.
 
mdominic said:
You see this is what I mean my intelligent. Not a flippant "Look for the bolts." Like mentioning that there are bolt under the mud flaps and that they need to be removed.
Click to expand...

Try Using the Search Feature... It works wonders. As stated in one of my previous posts on here. There are other people that have already explained it for 1. For 2. Did you even bother to look under the truck to see how it is attached? Then remove the bolts of what you can see, then if still not coming off, look for more bolts? I mean its not the hardest thing to do. So by you asking a stupid question that should be common sense to most will result in stupid answers by your definition. And not to mention... You cant really expect an "Intelligent Answer" when your question is not Intelligent by any means if you really tried to begin with.

Just stating the obvious i know.. but really...
 
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Here other side the same

Edit. And finished
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