'74 rear bumper removal question

[Bmachine]

I am in the process of removing the bumpers of my US '74. Diving boards.

While the fronts are very easy, the rears are a bit trickier because some of the bolts are in difficult places to access. For example, there are 3 shock absorbers. The bumper is bolted on to those with two 13mm nuts. The center ones are easy to access and the inner nut for the outside shocks are as well. But the outer nut for this outside shocks are angled toward the shock itself and are therefore impossible to get at with a socket wrench. How do you take those off???

Any suggestions would be very much appreciated.

Thank you.

Bo

 

[aeronotix]

Hi,
I had to remove the diving boards as well from mine.
I cannot think of any major difficulty. If I remember correctly I removed the bumper with the shocks since the fasteners between the bumper and the body are not easily accessible.
Maybe you are trying to remove the bumper then the shocks. Not sure if it's possible this way.
You will be happy once they are gone. Good luck!

I am in the process of removing the bumpers of my US '74. Diving boards.

While the fronts are very easy, the rears are a bit trickier because some of the bolts are in difficult places to access. For example, there are 3 shock absorbers. The bumper is bolted on to those with two 13mm nuts. The center ones are easy to access and the inner nut for the outside shocks are as well. But the outer nut for this outside shocks are angled toward the shock itself and are therefore impossible to get at with a socket wrench. How do you take those off???

Any suggestions would be very much appreciated.

Thank you.

Bo

 

[kys911t]

Its been 20 years but if I remember correctly there are three large bolts, one per shock that are accessible from the truck under the spare tire cover that just need to be removed besides the bellows on each side and the whole rear bumper should slide out with the shocks attached.

 

[eludvigs]

Its been 20 years but if I remember correctly there are three large bolts, one per shock that are accessible from the truck under the spare tire cover that just need to be removed besides the bellows on each side and the whole rear bumper should slide out with the shocks attached.

Correct. Three big bolts, one for each shock. All accessible in trunk. Then the gross accordion pieces have three bolts per side. All accessible.

Slide out bumper with three shocks attached. Then enjoy trying to get the rubber sleeves out after.

 

[Bmachine]

Aha! So that's the secret! remove the bumper WITH the shocks. I was trying to take the bumper out by itself.

That makes more sense.

Thank you all for your help.

Bo