Rear Bumper 96-98 VS 99-02 Center Piece

[Maritimer]

My rear bumper arrived, and the center piece is labelled 96-98, and the end pieces are 99-02, even though I ordered for my 2001 4Runner.

Just want to know if the center piece is the same for all years before I bother even taking it out of the box.

I could find out easily enough once the old one is off and I start the job, but that's too much work if I have to return it.

 

[JohnsD90]

Its the same piece on the outside, shouldn't have an issue.

 

[Maritimer]

Good to hear. I'll find out tomorrow, I guess. Then paint the inside of it. Man, the old one is hideous. Amazing how rusty it is compared to the other areas of the rear end of the truck.

 

[1985taylor1925]

I have the original center on my 98 and the ends from an 01.

 

[Hepar]

Where did you get it? Mine has a few dings in it and I've tossed around the idea of replacing it. Might be moot because I'm sure I'll just get a whole new rear bumper someday.

 

[Maritimer]

My local salvage yard orders parts new from a supplier, Monidex International, the make of the bumper is R-Dot. I'm in Canada. Each piece was $125, or $350 for the set. I need to save all the other hardware.

If yours is rust free, it may be worth your time. Mine took about 6-7 hours to get everything off. For me, I wouldn't even think of putting the old end pieces back on (they are rusty anyway, but the time involved...).

 

[Hepar]

My local salvage yard orders parts new from a supplier, Monidex International, the make of the bumper is R-Dot. I'm in Canada. Each piece was $125, or $350 for the set. I need to save all the other hardware.

If yours is rust free, it may be worth your time. Mine took about 6-7 hours to get everything off. For me, I wouldn't even think of putting the old end pieces back on (they are rusty anyway, but the time involved...).

Yep, no rust for me! :reddance:

 

[Maritimer]

For the record, the center piece fits fine. I did need to drill two holes in it for the behind the bumper reinforcement piece, though. I'm also realizing that this was a fairly major job, especially since I decided to do a bit of painting of the back of the bumper, of the other hardware, and as well, the previous owner seems to have had a rear-end mishap that bent things out of shape slightly. The old bumper had a nice dent in it, but the body piece on that corner must be a bit out of whack, too, giving me a bit of fitting grief.

 

[JohnsD90]

Glad you got it installed, i had to weld a part of my bumper to get it to stay lol, These projects on the truck are fairly simple, just made harder by rust, you should invest in a good tool kit if you don't have one already, and dive into most 4runner projects, it will really save you some money, and it is very easy to learn the basics.

 

[Maritimer]

The last hurdle was getting the final bolt in. I really had to muscle things. My bumper was a bit out of whack because the PO seems to have backed into something, so the passenger side rear quarter is probably slightly out of line. The new bumper plastic pieces that go between the sections line up exactly like the old bumper's, so I know it's done "right".

It looks beautiful, and I don't need to be ashamed of my arse in traffic anymore.

Big bonus: the old centerpiece had several supports rusted away, and the hideous creaking from the rear end over bumps was from this--it stopped now. Never anticipated that. Man, the truck drives like a beauty now. :bravo: