paddler

continuing the saga of rehabbing a new-to-me 96 for a retirement property ATV...

So I need to remove the rear bumper. Reason is to get to remove the frame-mount 2" receiver. An old weight-distributing drawbar is thoroughly frozen into the receiver. Pin is out, but the drawbar has resisted hand sledge, heat, penetrating fluid, air hammer, and portapower. My plan is to remove the receiver ant try and beat the drawbar out from the backside. Failing that, new receiver. But either way, I need to get the bumper off to access the bolt heads for the receiver. One pair on each side is hex-head, and needs a wrench suck inside the unibody channel. The other 3 pairs are carriage bolts, but need a prybar inside the channel to keep the square shanks engages.

I've seen the approach to remove the bumper bracket from the frame... remove all 4 bolts on each side. But the receiver crossbar greatly complicates access. Another possible option is to remove the bumper from the bumper mounts. Looks like 4 nuts or bolts total, one easy peasy pair on the bottom of the bumper, and one maddening pair up high inside the bumper bracket. Frankly, I'm not even sure what that arrangement is... nut, bolt, stud, nut clip, facing which way. Does anyone have any ideas for that pair?

I saw one guy on a 97 or newer take a hole saw to his bumper to get access to the "high" pair of fasteners holding the bumper to the bumper bracket. And another guy who sawz-alled the bumper brackets, then dismantled the remains once there was easy access to everything. I'm hoping to avoid destructive options.

Ideas?

Veeb0rg

Find a big tree, wrap a big chain/strap around the tree and the rusted drawbar. leave some slack and drive forward, should pop that sucker right out.

That being said. the upper bumper mount should be a spring clip on the bumper and bolt through the mount. As far as I know they never changed the bumper mounts through out the years.
I can take a look on my 2001 during daylight if you need.

ijeeep

Been there done both before.
Step 1. Went to wrecking yard and removed bumper to get the plastic strip that fills the gap between bumper and body.
Step 2. Ripped that same strip out of my XJ to get to the bumper mount to body bolts from the above.👍
The rest of the receiver hitch job went mostly normal after that. Mr. drop hitch frozen in receiver is no match for Mr. hydraulic press.

fb97xj1

My 97 has those clips. One clip per bracket. I popped the plastic shield off the bumper as it was already damaged, to get to the upper bolts. Removing a trailer hitch can be a PITA. Mine sure was. Doublecheck the wiring, too. If you didnt install it, who knows what shape the wiring is in. Mine was hacked to hell and needed new taillight harnesses.

paddler

Victory! Bumper is off, and the receiver is on the ground. Drawbar is still in the receiver, and is getting a good soak of penetrating oil for a few days. I'll try some beating from the "front", ie, formerly hidden side, but if that doesn't work I'll find a shop who will play with it on their hydraulic press. One of 3 things will happen: 1) Drawbar comes out, and I can re-use the receiver. 2) Something bends or breaks, and the receiver and drawbar become scrap metal for projects. Purchase and install new receiver. 3) Press maxes out with drawbar still in receiver. Same result for me as 2).

So here's what I did to get the bumper off. Lots of trial and error on the first mount, just tedious on the second mount. This is a 96, so other years may be different, I don't know.

Description of how the bumper is on, and access issues:
The bumper mounts are attached to the body with 4, 15 mm bolts each, on the corners of the mounts. Socket goes on from the rear. The top two bolts on each mount are way up, just under the plastic gap trim between bumper and body. Without a receiver in the way, the bottom bolts are easy to access. The bumper mount is a big "hat" section. The mount-to-body bolts are on the outer flanges. Mount-to-bumper is 2, 15 mm bolts on each side. The bottom bolt on each side is easy, it's on the underside of the bumper. The top bolt, I do not see how to get it in or out with the bumper on the vehicle. The top bolt is INSIDE the hat section, facing to the rear. Accessing from below, even if you get a socket on the top bolt, the hat section is too narrow to let you get any swing. I couldn't swing even one click from a ratchet, and a breaker bar just bottomed out on the mount. If the plastic trim piece was missing or cut, you MIGHT be able to access from the top and have enough swing to loosen the bolt and get it off. If that works, that would be a great place to use a narrow-head air or electric ratchet, instead of a couple of clicks at a time on a manual ratchet. Yup, space is T-I-G-H-T. Also on mine, the taillight wiring harness was captured between the driver-side mount and bumper, so that mount eventually came off the bumper.

My big pain was that the crossbar of the receiver nicely blocks the gap between the bottom of the bumper and body. I could only access the bottom outside mount-to-body bolt and bottom mount-to-bumper bolt on each side. And somewhere up above that barrier was a hex-head receiver bolt, and I needed to get a wrench on that bolt head to get the receiver off.

Here is what I did. Without a receiver, both bottom mount-to-body bolts should be readily accessible without having to pry the bumper. But even for folks without a receiver, getting at the top bolts from the top with a flex socket could be a useful tip.

• Remove both bottom outer mount-to-body bolts.
• Remove both bottom mount-to-bumper bolts.
• There is now enough flex in the bumper to pry the bottom rearward, away from the receiver crossbar, and get a ratchet and deep 15 mm socket between the crossbar and bumper.
  • OK, it's BARELY enough room, and still takes finagling, but doable.
  • The "slot" between bumper and and receiver crossbar is your swing zone for the ratchet
  • I used a long, flex-head ratchet so I didn't have problems with the ratchet and socket not being square to the bolt.
  • Getting socket securely on bolt head is a pain, but is doable with patience.
• Prop up the bumper, and remove all 4 top mount-to-body bolts.
  • With some sort of smooth pry device, push the plastic trim piece down to see the top bolts. You can do this one bolt at a time.
  • 15 mm flex socket and long extension will fit on the bolt while the trim piece is pushed down. It takes some wiggling to get the socket securely on the bolt. Once secure, you can reduce the angle on the extension, using it to push on the trim, and start loosening the bolt.
    • I don't thing this will work with a flex adapter on a standard socket; the pivot point is too far back from the socket for the tight clearance.
    • A 15 mm crowsfoot on a long extension MIGHT work, but you'll be repositioning the crowsfoot many times.
  • Best done on a warm day, when the plastic is nice and soft. Sunlight, heatgun or hairdryer on low can help.
• The bumper now should be free, except possibly the taillight harness. But now you can set the bumper on jackstands, rotate so the top mount-to-bumper bolt is facing up, and easily remove it with a socket and extension. Remove the mount and free the harness.

And while you've got everything apart, it's a good time to look inside nooks and crannies, spray some paint / rust treatment / fluidfilm / etc. on any suspect spots, chase threads with tap-and-die, etc.

Folks, thanks for the help. Having an idea of "what is in there" and some alternative approaches really helped out. I actually looked up the price of new bumper mounts in case I gave up and pulled out the sawzall.