Well after 2 full days of prep and a few hours for the install, I was finally able to mount up my CBI rear plate bumper with [MENTION=105159]rossgoldie[/MENTION]! This thing is absolutely incredible and I could not be more happy!
The prep part of the install was a little less than desirable with all of the rust and whatnot. I thought it was going to be a breeze after getting the first couple of bolts loose for the hitch until I sheared a bolt head off. I decided to push through though and tackle the bumper, thinking that I would have more luck...which I did. I had to cut through the mounting brackets to get the bumper initially off and then smack the remaining bits of the bracket around till they came right off. Both bolts on the driver side are still in there spots, but they do not move around so I wasn't too worried about it. Once the bumper was off, I decided to call it a night and tackle the rest on Wednesday.
Wednesday, I dove right in to the studs that broke. I tried drilling through them, which took a couple of hours, to use an easy-out but they were stuck on there real good.:frusty: After thinking about it for a bit, I decided to drill through the close tack welds and beat them with a maul and chisel. You can see their remains below!
After getting everything removed, I wire wheeled my frame and gave it a nice coat of paint to make it look nice again. The actual install of the bumper was extremely straightforward and did not take much time at all. Below are some pictures from the demo and install as well as the start of wiring in my trans temp gauge!
What I started with on Tuesday
Cut mounting brackets
Bumper removed
Hitch removed
Broken studs in frame rail
Bumper Installed!
Trans Temp gauge ghetto wiring
Next up is finishing the trans temp gauge wiring and to re-badge my car! But first, I get to go snowboarding in Tahoe tomorrow. :biggrin2: