one more thing.... (archive)

After the aluminum bumpers are removed, when removing the two shock-absorbing mounts in front and the three in back, there are retaining "straps" above the mount (one in the center in the back, and one on each side in the front) that should be loosened before trying to slide out the mounts. Sometimes the mounts will slide out without loosening these straps, but sometimes they won't! The straps are held in place by two smaller bolts that are positioned towards the outside of the car from the big bolts that hold the mount in the frame. Just loosen the screws a few turns, you'll be glad you did.....

: Pretty straight forward, can be a one person job but two really makes this job easy.

: As you look up at the bumpers from under the car you will see the bumper mounts (shocks), two in front, three in back. These shocks have a plate on the front that swivels left/right. On each side of the mount the plate will have a nut (bolt??) that attaches the plate to the bumper. (Do not be fooled by the somewhat smaller nuts that hold the rubber part of the bumper to the metal part of the bumper.) Remove these and the bumper will fall off in your arms, or will be so badly rusted and stuck on you may need to tug a bit.

: PRIOR to the above, release the two or three screws on the inside that hold the accordian ends to the body of the car - the plastic nuts need to be removed and screws pushed through the body to the outside of the car - watch our they do not scratch your 02 are you are doing this -(if car has been repainted with these left in place the rubber may stick to the paint a bit , take a look first). If you do not release these screws you run the risk of ripping the accordians when taking the bumper off. For the rear bumber these accordian mount screws can be seen near where the jack is kept (left side) or down by the gas tank spout, do not recall where the front ones are, think just to the left (right on pass side) of the front tire at bumper level on the fender where the accordian terminates. An alternative is to remove the 2 nuts & bolts on each side that hold each accordian to the rest of the bumper and leave the accordian on the car until after you remove the bumpers. I think the first route is better.

: AFTER you have done all the above the bumpers should be off and your 02 should have 2 mounts in front and 3 in the rear sticking out. To remove these look inside the trunk/engine compartment for the 2 front/3 rear BIG bolts that hold them in place. When these big bolts are removed the shock mount (& rubber gasket) ought to (sometimes) easily slide out. Note that the 2 on the front are identical and the 3 on the rear (as I recall) are each different from each other - at least the one by the gas tank is shorter that the other(s).

: WORK CAREFULLY as you begin to loosen items on the bumpers as I worked on one once that had been hit, as I released the bolts the bumper moved rapidly back into position causing a bit of a problem for my arm that wanted to be in the same position as where the bumper was heading!

: Tim

: : i wanted to remove the bumpers from my 76 2002 and i wasnt sure how do go about it. could anyone help me out with this? thanks
: : matt

Follow Ups:

I did not know that, thank you (eom) Tim 10:58 4/05/2000 (0)

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