Bumper rant

[Matthew Currie]

Not really a tech post since the technical part is done, but I decided finally to take the cheesy Uhaul hitch off my "new" 99 and put on the Mopar Class III that has served on both my previous ones. Easy job, right. Done it twice already, after all. I'd already taken the hitch off the 95, cleaned up and retapped the nut strips, etc. etc. So I start taking off the rear bumper. Two bolts on each side, right? How hard could that be? Bottom bolt comes off, and I get my ratchet to get at the upper one, and it doesn't fit! There's no freaking clearance under the curve of the bumper for a normal size ratchet. So I finally manage to hammer a 3/8 inch drive socket on and get a handle on it, and start to turn. Harder...harder...a little movement...no easier. Cheater bar tight right to the last thread! It took me about a half hour for each of those stupid nuts. Someone, somewhere, had put GREEN LOC-TITE on the damn things! My hands are so sore I can hardly type.

Ok, I feel better now. Green loctite....

[Root Moose]

Not really a tech post since the technical part is done, but I decided finally to take the cheesy Uhaul hitch off my "new" 99 and put on the Mopar Class III that has served on both my previous ones. Easy job, right. Done it twice already, after all. I'd already taken the hitch off the 95, cleaned up and retapped the nut strips, etc. etc. So I start taking off the rear bumper. Two bolts on each side, right? How hard could that be? Bottom bolt comes off, and I get my ratchet to get at the upper one, and it doesn't fit! There's no freaking clearance under the curve of the bumper for a normal size ratchet. So I finally manage to hammer a 3/8 inch drive socket on and get a handle on it, and start to turn. Harder...harder...a little movement...no easier. Cheater bar tight right to the last thread! It took me about a half hour for each of those stupid nuts. Someone, somewhere, had put GREEN LOC-TITE on the damn things! My hands are so sore I can hardly type.

Ok, I feel better now. Green loctite....


Well, look on the bright side.

Up here, once you got the breaker bar on it and got it to move say 3/4 turn it would have been snapped off.

Plastic deformation feels like bolts turning sometimes.

:D