1A Auto Video Library
Our how-to videos have helped repair over 100 million vehicles.
Enter Vehicle Year Make Model

Specify your vehicle's year, make and model to guarantee fit.

How to Replace Rear Bumper 2014-19 Chevy Silverado

Created on: 2019-06-03

Watch this video to learn how to replace the rear bumper on your 14-19 Chevy Silverado.

  1. step 1 :Removing the Rear Bumper
    • Loosen the two 18 mm bed bolts closest to the front of the vehicle
    • Remove the three remaining 18 mm bed bolts on each side
    • Remove the 22 mm bumper bracket bolt
    • Remove the 15 mm bumper bracket bolt
    • Remove the license plate bulb sockets
    • Remove the license plate bulb wiring retaining clips
    • Tuck the license plate bulb wiring out of the way
    • Disconnect the trailer electrical connector
    • If the vehicle was lifted, lower it to the ground
    • Lift the bed several inches, either with assistants, or using a pry bar to lift and insert wood blocks to hold the bed up
    • Slide the rear bumper out
  2. step 2 :Installing the Rear Bumper
    • Install the rear bumper by lining up the spare tire hoist tube, and sliding the brackets on the frame rails.
    • Lower the truck bed
    • Reconnect the trailer electrical connector
    • Replace the plate light bulb wiring retaining clips
    • Reinstall the plate light bulb sockets
    • Replace the 22 mm bumper bracket bolt on each side
    • Replace the 15 mm bumper bracket bolt on each side
    • Torque the 15 mm bumper bracket bolts to 30 ft-lb
    • Torque the 22 mm bumper bracket bolts to 103 ft-lb
    • Replace the three 18 mm bed bolts on each side
    • Tighten the loosened 18 mm bed bolts on each side

Tools needed

  • Socket Extensions

    Torque Wrench

    15mm Socket

    Pry Bar

    18mm Socket

    Ratchet

    22mm Socket

What's up, guys? I'm Andy from 1A Auto. In this video, I'm going to show you how to remove and reinstall the rear bumper on this 2015 Chevy Silverado. If you need parts for your vehicle, click the link in the description and head over to 1AAuto.com.

To do this job, you don't have to have the vehicle up on a lift. You can do this on the ground. You don't even have to lift it up at all. If it makes it easier, go ahead.

What I'm going to do is this bolt right here that goes to the bed, I'm going to loosen it up. There's a total of eight bolts that hold this bed on. The two front ones right here and then on the other side near the gas tank, I'm just going to loosen. I'm going to take a 18 millimeter socket and extension and a breaker bar. Loosen it up. So, just to loosen that one up and then I'm going to do the same on the other side. So, there's about an inch, dropped it down about an inch. So, this one's loose as well.

Now, around the bed up here, I'm going to take this bolt out. You can see that one and the other side as well, and then the back two on each side. All right. So, the bolt right here on the frame, it's kind of hard to see, it's pretty stuck in there so I am going to use some rust penetrant and let it soak for a little bit. I'm just going to spray it down this tube right here. Take that out. This one and that one, and it might make it easier if you take your spare tire down. This vehicle doesn't have a spare tire. So, if it's in your way, take it down.

To get these two back bolts, what I'm going to do is take an 18 millimeter socket, a shorter one, with a universal joint and then I can get in there from this angle. If you didn't have a trailer hitch, you could get it going straight on back.

Now, I'm going to take these two bolts out on the back. These attach to the bumper bracket right there. I'm going to use a 22 millimeter socket extension and a breaker bar to take those bolts out. Then, I'm going to take this bolt out on each side. There's a 15 millimeter socket and a ratchet.

Now, we can take the plate lamp bulbs out. While we don't need to take the bulbs out, but just take the sockets out and then there's these retainers right here. Just grab a trim tool, take these fasteners off, slide this harness over here. Pop those off. Some of these are going to break, and that one's already broken. Grab the lamp, twist it, slide it out, and this wiring harness over here to have it out of the way, and then we're going to disconnect this connector. This is for the trailer wiring. There's this little lock tab. You just take a flat blade screwdriver or trim tool and just pull this out a little bit, and you can push down on the lock, slide it out just like that.

This is for the spare tire. This is where you would put the rod to lower the spare tire. This just slides on, so when we slide the bumper off, that's just going to slide out.

Now, I'm going to lower the truck all the way to the ground. It's pretty unstable if you leave the truck lifted in the air and you use a pull jack or some other type of jack to raise the bed. The truck could fall off the lift and stuff, so that's not safe. So, lower the vehicle all the way down. If you did not take out the bolts in the bed to raise up the bed, the bumper, you wouldn't be able to get it out. There's a bracket right here which the way the bracket's designed, the bed gets in the way. So, you could try to muscle it out. You're going to struggle. It's going to be very difficult to do and you're probably going to bend the bracket and stuff, and then also you could take this trim off, but taking this trim off in the vehicle and then taking the bolts out is very difficult to do. So, what we do is just leave that in there.

You can get a couple guys, have a couple guys on the back of the bed, just raise up on the bed, and then slide the two by fours underneath or we could take a couple pry bars. What I'm going to do is pry up underneath here, raise up here, and then stick the bigger pry bar under here. Get my piece of wood ready, lift up on the truck, and then slide the piece of wood underneath, and I'll do the same for the other side.

So, with the wood in there, you can see the bed is raised up. You want to make sure you don't stick your fingers in between there and the bed. Just pull on the bumper. Just grab right here and it slides right out.

So, now we're going to install the rear bumper. You want to get this tube lined up with that spare tire tube when you're putting it on and also those brackets, line those brackets up. Be careful not to hit anything. Once that's good, slide it on and we can leave it positioned just like that, and then we can take those pieces of wood out, lower the truck bed.

Just remove the piece of wood and I'll use another pry bar just to pull the pry bar out from under here. There we go. All right. Now, I can connect this trailer wiring. Just lock it in place, lock down that connector. Take these plate light bulb wiring harness, slide this over here. Reposition this wire here. Put the socket in the lens and twist it to the right. Resecure these push clips, and then reinstall this light socket in this lens and twist it to the right.

Now, we want to line this bolt hole up down here. Get this one started, and then this other bolt up top. Get that started, then we'll do the same with the other side. I'm going to take a 15 millimeter socket and a ratchet, tighten this bolt up. I'll do this on both sides, and with the same 15 millimeter socket and a torque wrench, I'm going to torque this 230 foot pounds and I'll torque the other one as well. Then, I'll take a 22 millimeter socket extension and a ratchet, tighten these two bottom bolts. Then, I'll take a torque wrench and I'll tighten these two 103 foot pounds. Do the same for the other side.

Now, if you have other nuts and bolts that go through there, you're going to want to install those. This vehicle doesn't have them there on either side, so we didn't do that. Now, we want to install all the bed bolts. Get them at least started. Get that one there, this one here, and the other one over here, and then before we tighten those, the same with the other side.

Now, we can go back. For the back two, we're going to use the swivel socket and the extension and a ratchet. We'll tighten these two up and then the rest of them, we'll just use a socket and extension and a ratchet. Make sure those are good and tight.

Thanks for watching. Visit 1AAuto.com for quality auto parts shipped to your door, the place for DIY auto repair, and if you enjoyed this video, please click the subscribe button.


How to Remove Front Bumper 2004-08 Nissan Maxima

Learn how to remove the front bumper from your 04-08 Nissan Maxima in this 1A Auto expert tutorial video.

Share on:
Go To Top

Same Day Shipping

Need your part faster? Choose expedited shipping at checkout.

Guaranteed To Fit

Highest quality, direct fit replacement auto parts enforced to the strictest product standards.

USA Customer Support

Exceeding customers' expectations, our team of passionate auto enthusiasts are here to help.

Instructional Video Library

Thousands of how-to auto repair videos to guide you step-by-step through your repair.