i had these guys come over and take off my old drop bumper and hitch, and put on a stock bumper

before:


after:


that old bumper was just too big for the truck - it didn't look right. it got so much weight off the back end, i think just taking the weight off brought it up a couple inches. you can see how low it was in the pic above (almost touched the lawn).

side "sag" before: (hard to tell with those running boards on)


and without the weight of the rear bumper, i think it's a few inches higher


side story: great craigslist experience...
i tried to get the bolts off a few weeks ago, but without a grinder or impact gun, i couldn't do anything. i put the ad on craigslist and said that you can have the bumper for $10 if you come and get the old one off and install the new one. these two nice guys came over and did a great job. they had to cut the bolts off b/c whoever installed the bumper soldered the nuts on the back end. i ended up selling them my hitch too ...i didn't need it.

the guy had a cool old 79 F250 - i'm emailing him the link to the site now ...we'll see if he stops by

It looks much better with the stock bumper. You may pick up a mpg or 2 without the extra weight and wind drag from the old one hanging so low

WOW! Night and day difference Tom. It looks WAY better. And the 'new' bumper you got looks brand new from the pics! Nice shine on that chrome.

yea, the "new" one looks nice. needs a little polish here and there. one little rust spot, and a little sticker to remove. other than that, it looks great.

EDIT: notice all the dirt from when they took the old bumper off. the steel was heavy enough, but then there was like 50lbs of dirt stuck up inside the bumper/hitch. it looked like the old owners were using it like a box blade on the back of a tractor to level out a field.

I like the "new" one also. Looks real nice.

Know what worked really well to get the rust off of my pipes and wheels? Steel wool + dish soap. I know, strange, but it worked great!

Rats! I was just going to ask what you plan on doing with the hitch. Too late.

The "new" bumper looks good on there.

Bumper looks great Tom! I like it alot.

Dang i was gunna ask about the hitch and bumper also...

Looks good!

Not the bumper. The receiver hitch (in my case).

I wanted both haha

Yeah....I just need a junk one that is wide enough. No one sells one for my truck.

Hitches are too expensive nowadays, everywhere near hear wants upwards of 300 bucks for a class V hitch...i need one for work but im just gunna scrounge around C-list and whatnot and find a used one

Brian_B said:

Yeah....I just need a junk one that is wide enough. No one sells one for my truck.

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keep an eye on craigslist. they seem to be going for around $40. i sold mine for $25. i figured those guys came and did a ton of work getting the bumper/hitch off. plus, it saved me from trying to find another buyer. i appreciated their work, so i figured $25 was fair.

godblessmud said:

Hitches are too expensive nowadays, everywhere near hear wants upwards of 300 bucks for a class V hitch...i need one for work but im just gunna scrounge around C-list and whatnot and find a used one

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Just bought my class IV hitch for $165 on amazon.com--- Valley hitch, 10,000/1000 weight carrying and 12,000/1200 weight dist.

tomtoc said:

keep an eye on craigslist. they seem to be going for around $40. i sold mine for $25. i figured those guys came and did a ton of work getting the bumper/hitch off. plus, it saved me from trying to find another buyer. i appreciated their work, so i figured $25 was fair.

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The nearest craig list is in Springfield! LOL There are 6 or 7 of them on there now for $40-$75.

They guys told me a few places to check around here for a scrap one. I will do so when I get paid next month. My checking account has way less than the $40 in it right now.

I have 2 extra hitches for anyone in need... One is a class III, something like 5k or 6k weight carrying. The other is class IV, somewhere around 8-9k weight carrying. If you're willing to pay shipping you can have 'em.