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Triumph TR6 - removing rubber bumper overriders

I have a 75 TR6 and have never liked the look of the rubber overriders and would like to remove them. Has anyone removed these from a 75 or 76? is it difficult to do? how does the bumper look underneath the mounting point? can you tell that the bumper used to have overriders (are there great holes or gaps), or does it look like a clean rubber-free bumper from a 70-73? any special tools required?
Cheers,
Austin

Austin Brown

Austin,

The bumpers are different, and the mounting brackets as well. On the rear, the bumper is 'sandwiched' between the mounting bracket and the overrider. As our esteemed colleague Jim D would say "You've been Goosed!" If you can find good ones at a swap meet, Ebay, whatever, try and get brackets, too!

Rod
Rod Nichols

Austin, go on the 6-pack list and ask this question. Several of those guys have done this and comment favorably on it.
http://www.6-pack.org/6pack/html/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=3
Gene Holtzclaw

Ahem,

As it happened, my 73 had the rubber baby buggy bumpers (much to my dismay).

I removed them. Went to the hardware store, bought 4 of the long (4" I think) 1/4-20 carriage head bolts, sanded the markings off the carriage bolts, polished them, chromed them (I do my own plating as a hobby) and dropped them through the holes in the bumper and put nuts on the bottom.

That's my story and I'm stickin' to it till I see my lawyer.

Jim (buggy bumperless)
Jim Deatsch

Jim.....you've got me confused...
didn't the bumperettes not appear till the
74-76 model years here in North America ?
Charlie
Charlie Ballard

Jim,
Were the bolts needed for front or rear bumpers, or both? are the holes that remain after removing the RBBBs on the top or the back/front of the bumpers? Do your bumpers look fine now? are the 1/4 inch holes the only remnance of the RBBBs or are there large cut-aways or anything like that?
cheers,
Austin
PS - where did you get your nickel and salts for plating? what type was it?

Austin Brown

Hi Austin
When you remove the 'tits' from the front bumper it leaves 4 holes on the top of the bumper, if the bumper is in good condition doing what Jim Deutch suggested would look quite neat.
Sorry can't remember what the back bumper was like as mine was junk, but I would assume it would be similar.
Ron
R. Algie

Austin,

I removed my overriders from my 74. The front was very easy to do. I used 4 zinc plated carriage bolts to fill the holes ( and hold the bumper in place) on the front. There are no gaps in the front bumper.

The rear ones are a different story. The bracket that holds the rear overriders on attaches between the bumper and the rear valance. You will need to replace this "space" with a 1/4 in piece of steel to get the correct spacing of the bumper to the rear valance. I also used a small piece of rubber to dampen vibrations and potential squeeks. This is important also so that the side attachment points line up. There will be a small notch visable on the top of the rear bumper at the two location where it attaches to the rear valance. These notches are not very noticeable and I think the bumper looks a lot cleaner with the overriders removed.

Another problem is getting TO the bolts that hold these overriders in place. First you will need to remove the two bolts that hold the side of the bumper to the fenders. Then comes the hard part. I needed an air wrench (with universal joint), lots of penetrant, and a short extention that goes inside the TR 6 frame extention. The nut on the other end of these bolts is inside the overrider and has a tendency to spin out of it's holder. After removal, I replaced two bolts with new ones that fit.

Good luck.

John

PS: I will in Toronto next week. If you want some help, contact me off list and I will see if I can stop by
John Korsak

Austin,
After removing the front RBBB there are two holes for each RBBB on the top that can be plugged with standard chrome or stainless steel hole plugs. I used a little clear silicone to be sure that they would not pop out. The back RBBB's sandwich the chrome bumper (as mentioned above) and there can be rust and scratches - much more so than the fronts. There are also small notches cut into car side of the bumper that are the size of the clamping area. The car panelling hidden behind the rear RBBBs may need some touch-up as well.
I left the backs on and intend to remove them at the next paint job. Whenever.
Steve
'74 BRG
Steve Crosby

Just looked at the link with all of the members car pictures. There are a few pictures of cars which have had rubbers removed (one is a red V8, one is Jim D's tarheel blue 6, one is Steve K's BRG i think). Front bumpers look great - just 4 small bolt heads on top bumper, barely noticable at all. Do rear bumpers look just as good when project is complete?
again - many thanks,
AB
Austin Brown

Mine is a 73. Yep, a 73 with rbbb's. The break year. When I removed the rbbb's it left me with holes as described.

It looked a LOT better (imho) without them.

James (late of the rbbb's)
Jim Deatsch

Hi Austin,
Mine is the red V8 and I plugged the holes with stainless steel bolts and no problems.
I had the bumpers re-chromed though.
Christopher Trace

This thread was discussed between 02/06/2004 and 09/06/2004

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