Hey guys,

Well I have decided to upgrade my stock fog lights (98 Expy) with some aftermarket ones from eBay. I am really happy with the product as it sits in the box (pic soon).

Anywho, I looked under the bumper and it appears that the fog lamps are held in place by three small bolts. I attemped to remove the bottom one which I believe was 5/16" and with half a turn she broke off (well head of bolt did). I just wanted to make sure that these were the correct bolts to remove and if so, how in the heck did you get to the top ones?

The bolts are so old and rusty, my 5/16" socket is spinning on them and not even catching a grip. Any ideas on what to use on them and how to remove?

 

I'm actually going through the same problem. I tried to remove one with a 8mm iirc and it snapped,so I stopped there.

I might try jb welding a nut to the broken bolt,if that dont work, I'm going to have to remove the bumper and weld a nut to.them.

 

Hello fellow sufferer......

Yeah Im planning on pulling the bumper tomorrow and remove the two stock fog lights. I figure if the easiet bolt snapped, then they all will. I aint gonna fight with it and bust another knuckle...

I figure I will drill the old bolts out and install stainless fastners along with the new fog lights....only wanna do it once.

Ill post some pics of my adventure for future readers to see

Good luck!

 

Pics would be great!

The problem with mine is the bottom plastic bracket of the fog assemble broke which is causing them to flap.

Good luck on your project.

 

Hello again....

I took some pics, that Ill post later...but they look like crap....it was dark out when I started.

Pulling the bumper was easy.....got underneath with good ole 21mm Craftsman 1/2" drive socket and removed all 4 bolts with ease. Not much to it to be honest.

I brought bumper inside and started to try and remove those pesky 5/16" bolts for the fogs....all but 2 rounded off. Had to dremmel a line across the head to wedge a screwdriver into and got a couple more off. The remain 2 I just dremmeled the heck out of.

Only problem I got now is those little metal bracket things the 5/16" bolts go through and secure into. They are like clasps that clip onto the bumper and give the bolts something to bite into and secure.

I don't know their proper name, but going to try and find some around town tomorrow before the big game.

 

Looking forward for the pics and your solution for the clasps.

Glad to hear removing the bumper it's easy.

 

Ok...well here goes nothing....

To remove the front bumper you just have to lay underneath and locate the 4 bolts secure the bumper to the bumper supports. Again there are 4 of them (2 for each side) and they sit vertical to one another.

A trusty 21 mm socket will do the trick!



A couple quick grunts and they should come off....PB Blaster or some Deep Creep will help ya out.

Here is two of the pesky bolts removed....

 

Here are some pics of the bumper removed and where the bolts secured to the threaded studs from the bumper....

 

I soaked down the old 5/16" bolts...a couple came out, but the others were a PITA....Mr. Dremmel and Mr. Flathead took care of them...

 

Heres a pic of the hardware I used to replace

5/16'" U-Nut
5/16" stainless bolt (1/2" head)
5/16" washer
All available at Lowes


New hardware installed

 

Heres the finished product...

 

 

Looks like a convenient time to change the oil and filter.

 

Clear lights look good on your truck! Does your seem brighter now?

Was anything wrong with your old fog light housings?

 

Yeah ...I just changed the oil a week or so ago......but yeah...easy to do now right...LOL


As far as the lights, they seem a lot brighter...clearer and cleaner light.

My old lights were just hazed over yellow and were dull as heck...you really cant clean them being behind the bumper like that. Plus since I upgraded to clear headlights, the fogs looked out of place. I thought of jut cleaning them since I was on a budget, but after snapping and rounding off bolts I was like to heck with it.

The two stockers are intact, dull and have a couple broken tabs (easily worked around it you do the new hardware I used).

Might throw em up on eBay for pennies......just cant see chunking them.