Removing the bumper nuts - long extension bar?

[Sleeper]

Looks like you've spent most of the gas , so a cloth over a sharp awl should do the job.....

You know you like to live life " on the edge " .

John ;-)

[Mick Lynch]

Have you tried the counter intuitive try to tighten it before loosening it? Works more often than you think.

Yes I did, but with things slipping as they were it did nothing. Also, I'm not a welder

Well if the heads are rounded this is my tool of last recourse. It hasn’t failed me yet but I’ve bent a t bar.
Reverse flutes bite into the head. If it just chews off what’s there you go with the next size down.

They were cheap, I’m sure one of the tool suppliers in the UK has a local equivalent.

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They’ve got hex heads too so you can go the spanner route if space is a problem

[Chief]

I was reminded of those recently when looking up ways to get rusted bolts/nuts out on a YouTube video, downside is that as it currently stands they'd be too large to fit in the space available.

We do actually have a similar thing, unlike those which bite the nut for grip, the ones we have are rollers within that are meant to tighten as you turn to grip the nut that way. If memory serves I almost went flying when I tried to turn it past the point of gripping and the rollers all released on me.

If all goes well a ring spanner set will be arriving tomorrow or the next day, and new nut splitters by Monday (all being well) so one way or another I'm hoping for success since the new nut splitters should allow the opposing over-rider bolt to be cut off, even if the ring fails to grip - and then the big nut splitters go on.

I did try with the hacksaw blade, but my shoulder started to ache too much - and that was even with lying on a camping air matress instead of the lumpy old concrete driveway.

On a similar theme, but a different question...

On the off chance I succeed in getting those pesky bumper nuts off, I believe that one of the bumper mounts may be slightly bent downwards (at the thicker cylindrical part out of which comes the thread). It is a little hard to tell which is why I'm trying to get the bumpers off for comparison (that and towbar fitting, so naturally things need to be straight).

If it is, it isn't bent that much but, if I try jacking up the car with the jack just past where I suspect it's bent would this give enough force to bend the metal that bit back up? or would I be best taking it off the car and then seeing how to get it unbent? Naturally I'm not talking about raising the car to unsafe heights etc. for obvious reasons.

[Chief]

So, when facing the back:

Left side - Vise-Grips must have eventually bent the chrome bumper blade bolts thread just enough for a small nut splitter to go on. Sadly it was just (1mm or less) too small to go on the bumper nut, but perfect for cracking the chrome bolts nut. Once split, and the rather mangled bolt removed I had access for larger nut splitters to crack the bumper nut and get it off.

Once that was done I used a jack stand to keep the bumper up as it was sagging so much and causing problems on the...

Right side - Sadly chrome bolt mangling so that nut splitters could go on failed, however they did allow access for a hacksaw to go on the head of the chrome bolt. Sawed the head most of the way through, then used my 4lb lump hammer and a small flat head screwdriver to hammer off the head. It left a small chunk behind and I was just going to start sawing it off when my finger pushed on the chrome bolts nut, which made the whole thing shoot out through the bumper - turns out the nut was now so mangled that it was small enough to clear the hole. Once out of the way, nut splitters went on, bumper nut split.

So now I finally have the bumper off.

I did notice the threads on the mounting bars look like they could use re-threading, so if it doesn't clean up with wirebrush etc. what die would I need? I looked online but I noticed that although there were several dies of the 1/2" BSF variety they all had different TPI ratings which I find confusing as I'd have thought they should be the same.

And again, thanks for all the help