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RedRock bed side rails — Keeping original brackets

bd100

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The stock plastic rear Sport bumper has little metal plates bolted in at each corner to reenforce the corners, as well as some plastic brackets behind them which help hold the skin of the bumper. The RedRock bed side rail instructions say to remove and discard these pieces. Another poster here mentioned being able to keep them so I tried and was able to do so as well.

After removing the brackets, metal and plastic, hold them up to the bed rails and see what must be removed from the brackets for everything to fit together. It turns out that a fair amount of material must be removed from each. It is tedious work but not particularly difficult. I used a vice, reciprocating saw, hack saw, vice grips, and a file to smooth the edges. Then prime and paint.

To make room for the reciprocating saw blade some cuts must be made close to each other side-by-side then the locking pliers can be used to bend the metal back and forth until it snaps off. After a few of these making the gap wider and wider it becomes possible to fit the reciprocating saw blade at 90 degrees and make a longer cut sideways.

Considering the amount of material removed from the metal brackets, they are no longer quite as strong as they used to be, but they are much better than nothing. And they never were really strong to begin with. Whether all this is worth the effort is a judgement call. In the end the bumper still has some strength at the corners, and the skin is still connected by the original plastic tabs and pins. But be prepared for 8 hours of work.
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same_O_G

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You have any photos? Curious as to how that turned out.
 
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bd100

bd100

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The photos just show the brackets with big notches cut out. It is easy to figure out if someone cares to try. The final result is not visible from the outside, except that the corner is still supported a bit. Lots of work for not much gain.
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