When I purchased my wagon from UP NORTH, I quickly learned that of the very few rusty parts, the rear bumper mounting brackets were almost totally rusted through. So I got a pair from a nice pretty jy southern car and have been waiting for the right time and feeling to change them out. The bumper was sagging just a little on the left side. I showed the sag to my body guy and he said that the mounts were not holding the bumper on, the bumper was just resting on the frame that the brackets attached to. Yikes!!! It really didn't look bad from behind the car. Here is a pic.



Well, a day or so ago I tried to pull the long bolt that goes through the brackets and the bolt broke, I assume where it went into the set nut on the top side. That put a hault to my project, didn't want to get the bumper off and not be able to put it back on. I had a set of the bolts but have no idea where they went so off to the jy I went. It rained a day or 2 before I went there and it showed when I went to snag 2 newish bolts (stealer wanted $7.80 per bolt). I wanted to get a close look at the mounting situation just to see what I might be getting onto so I pulled a bumper off of a 850 there.

Anywho, I pulled about 5 bolts from the cars there and every bolt I pulled, water poured from the bolt while I was removing them. I did find 2 good bolts and checked the situation out real well. Knowing Volvo's, I'd have to say that there is some kind of design flaw, for water to be trapped there on every car. So, my thoughts are that likely 90% of all northern cars have no bumper mount brackets, or at a minimum, the bolts are rusted real bad. If it were not for the side wing bolts (10mm) and the rivets in the splash guard, the bumper would have been on the ground a long time ago.

SOLUTION, I would suggest that you check your rear bumper mount brackets and replace them if they are rusted out before someone bumps into the back of the car and the bumper hits the ground. Have a lot of PB Blaster on hand, a small pipe wrench, a chissel, hammer, newish bolts (get the picture), and the 14mm socket wrench that should be used to get the bolts out. I plan to drill a couple of drain holes back there to try to avoid the problem in the future. I also believe that mud flaps would help even though it had nothing to do with the cars at the junk yard having water on the bolts. I'm also going to treat the area for rust and paint everything back there with Rustolem paint in an attempt to avoid the problem from re-occuring.

Have Fun...

Yes for my wagon, no for the S70.

 

Well as luck would have it my brackets were totally gone as well. So I did the next best thing and cut two pieces of wood and wedged one on each side between the bumper and the reinforcement bar causing the bumper to get pushed up toward the body panel...

No one can tell the difference.

Oh, thanks for the VW 99 relay idea! Took me two junkyard runs and more than 15 vdubs to find one from a 95 golf.

 

IMO, the sooner you jump on it, the better chance you'll have to save the frame bolt holes. SMH, and you're as south as it gets.

 

Awhile back I was rear ended by a drunkard in an F150..bumper held up just fine.

Just let the rivets and the screws on the bottom of the bumper hold it up, as well as my two homemade wedges.

They've held at 155 last year, so we're goood.


...I coulda sworn your R was yellow?!?!

 

Finally got everything back together today. When I installed my Draw-Tite hitch the corners of it would not allow me to install the bumper bolts so I had to get the edges of the hitch knotched out so the bolts would go into the bumper. I just would not like removing the hitch every time I needed to take the bumper off.

The bumper does rest on the body frame that the mounting brackets bolt on to so you can likely go forever without replacing them but I think it has a good chance of hitting the ground with a light bumper impact. I could be wrong since your's survived.

I did have a yellow sedan. Had to sell it last summer. Needed the $$$ and this black wagon. I tried to purchase a yellow wagon (which I really wanted) but the buyers drove the price up so high I wouldn't even think about it. About the same as this yellow wagon that just sold on eBay.

Volvo : 850 Volvo : 850 | eBay

That yellow wagon was perfect. Had the right upgrades. The only thing it was missing that people would likely be afraid of was a tow hitch. I'm disappointed that it sold so low. I would have thought it would bring $10,500 or more.

 

I am liking the license plate alteration :-)

 

Wow!! I recognize that wall...I know exactly where that is.

 

Rspi,,,,,,, any chance you took photos of that rear bumper removal ??

 

Yes I did. It's real easy. I'll go get my camera and post instructions, or do you just want to see pics?

1. Cut loose the rivets in the rear tire splash guard area, 3 on each side.
2. Remove the wing bolts about 6 inches back from the splash guard area (10mm bolt). The left side is accessed from the inside of the trunk/rear hatch area under the panel. The right side is accessed from under the car up high in the bumper area.
3. Remove the two bolts uner the bumper (14mm). The left bolt is kinda under the tail pipe, the right one is on the other side, these bolts are about 8 inches long.
4. Pull the bumper off.

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POST #8,000, Man this is easy money.