Damaged Rear Bumper

I backed into a pole and jacked up my rear bumper and part of the fender. The metal beneath the plastic is bulging upwards below the tailgate, making it impossible to open the tailgate. Is there any use in banging it out with a hammer, or should I just spend my money on a new one? Then I’ll have to get the body looked at too...

 

When I did something similar on my Tundra I grabbed my trusty cable come-a-long and wrapped it around the offending pole (basketball goal post in my case) and hooked it to the bumper STRATEGICALLY and pulled the bumper back out. Got underneath and tapped out the little bit of body work that "popped" with a rubber mallet. My initial damage wasn't as bad as yours but you need to at least get it the heck out of the way so the tail gate works again. That shouldn't be too tough.

 

I second tundramcgov. I backed into a 4” aspen in my T-100. It did the exact same thing. A little damage under the passenger brake light, a bump in the metal bumper under the plastic, and the tailgate wouldn’t open. I hooked a tow strap to a tree and bumper, and I had a friend watch the progress. The bumper came out pretty good and the tailgate went back to normal operation.

Also, I would suggest four low as you can easily control moving just a few inches. I repositioned the tow strap hook on the bumper for the necessary pull and did a handful of small pulls.

 

Now you gotta buy a 2019 Tundra!!

 

But what if it gets a wittle scwatch on it? We’ll get a thread with 347 posts.