I have a few days off and wanted to use the warm(er) weather to do some necessary maintenance on the old Rodeo. The first thing on the agenda was "new" bumper. The old one was totally rusted out and pieces were actually starting to fall off. To get it off, I had to use the old O/A set to blow off the rusted inner frame nuts. Yesterday I went to the local salvage yard and picked up good bumper (chrome no less) and between my old parts and new bumper I managed to kludge together a respectable replacement.
You can't find these things anymore -- junkyards are the only options these days.
To clean the small rust spots and oxidation off the chrome I used WD40 and crumpled up aluminum foil to rub down the bumper. This worked very well to make the bumper shine again. I followed up with some polishing compound and wax, and it looks presentable.
I had to adjust the right bumper bracket with a porta-power about 1/2" to get the alignment right, but after that it was a great fit.
