DIY Rear Bumper Bracket Repair: 1997 Volvo 855 GLT

[E Showell]

I've done this and for the life of me could not get the long bolts to thread. My brother saved the day, but he didn't have an easy time of it either. You don't need to remove the bumper mounting brackets (plastic) on the rear quarter panels of the car. Once the long bolts are out and the rivits snipped, the bumper just slides back and off. Use the plastic brackets to line up the bumper on reinstallation.

[erikv11]

what was the length of the long bolts that held the bumper to the brackets?

Right about 5 - 1/16 inches.

bumper bolt.jpg (79.25 KiB) Viewed 2102 times

[erikv11]

what was the length of the long bolts that held the bumper to the brackets?

Right about 5 - 1/16 inches.
...

NOTE: that bolt is for a wagon, part number 982831, the wagon and sedan use different brackets and different bolts (the sedan bolts, 982833, are about an inch longer).

Sedan:
one bracket left, 1x 9133855
one bracket right, 1x 9133856
two longs bolts, 2x 982833

Wagon:
two brackets (both are the same) 2x 6816114
two long bolts 2x 982831

The bracket mounting bolts, two per bracket so four total, are the same between sedan and wagon and jreed provided the part numbers above.

[bob850]

Any more ideas on a mod to help the water drain out and prevent future rust to the replaced brackets? I need to do the replacement soon.

[erikv11]

You might want to PM rspi. He says he made a cut to fix the drainage problem but I do not understand where the cut is made:

https://www.matthewsvolvosite.com/forums ... =1&t=57809

[E Showell]

on the bottom edge of the replacement bumper brackets, there is a "v" shaped wedge cut out with a rounded end at the point of the "v". I just drilled a small drain hole in the center of that circle through the bumper in the hope that it will allow water to drain. I haven't been back into the bumper recently, but I will have to remove it again in about a month's time -- long story -- and I'll report back on whether I encounter trapped water at that time after having drilled the drain hole.

[erikv11]

If you mean like the large hole visible in this pic, my car came from the factory with those holes on both sides but the brackets were still just about half disintegrated before this replacement (pic was taken yesterday, after replacement).

bumper_bracket.jpg (119.66 KiB) Viewed 1932 times

I am wondering if the area is just a really bad one for salt spray from winter roads.

[E Showell]

My V70 brackets look different from those and there were no exposed holes in my bumper with bumper mounted to the bracket, so I drilled a drain hole in the bumper. Not only do I think it is a bad area for salt spray, when I had to change my bumper cover recently, you would not believe the sand/dirt/decaying leaves, etc. trapped between the bumper cover and bumper itself. That mass of dirt/organic matter acts like a big sponge and just holds moisture to the surface. I am a bit surprised the brackets are not better rustproofed or maybe even made of aluminum.

[jreed]

I wonder if the bumper brackets are galvanized with a layer of zinc to prevent corrosion? The new ones I installed last summer had a top coating of black paint -- I couldn't tell if they were galvanized or not.

[E Showell]

I think paint only, but I didn't strip the paint to check. The ones I used recently were painted black as well.