OEM Rear Bumper Alignment

Washed the truck yesterday and noticed that my rear bumper is now off on alignment. Haven't run into anything and don't believe anyone has hit the bumper. There's not a mark on it anywhere. Crawled under the truck and see where its attached to the frame and tow hitch, but don't see that it would be easily adjustable(?) Can these be adjusted? The bed of the truck is off a little in regards to being squared up with cab I believe, but not sure if that is the cause. The right side is probably double the space and the left.

 

99.999 percent of Tacos are this way. My bed was misaligned so I bought a Torx bit and fixed it myself. I mentioned that my bumper was misaligned to the dealership when I had my 5k service and they didn't do a thing with it. I walked their line of Tacos and almost every one looked like yours. Some misaligned left , some right, only one out of ten was equally spaced. Funny thing is these trucks come out of two factories so it's an issue of crappy design combined with a crappy production process and no QC inspection. Really about the only thing about my Taco that bugs me and some day I'll fix it myself.

 

Mine is the same way but the bigger gap is on the opposite side. Also brought it up at my 10k service, and said i'd have to take it to their affiliate body shop to have it looked at. If anybody has a satisfying solution I'd love to hear it!

 

I pointed this out to my salesman at delivery. He immediately introduced me to the service manager who told me the bumpers aren't adjustable. I told him I believed he was wrong since my brother just had his aligned a few weeks prior. He said, "Nope, can't be fixed." I left stunned but knowing they could be adjusted. I ended up reading on TW how to do it and did mine myself. A couple of members have posted detailed instructions. It's really pretty simple. The hardest part for me was popping out the license plate lights. And the plastic bumper top takes a little force to pull up/off. But then I just loosened 4 bolts, I believe, and it was easy to align. If you were in WA State I'd help you align it. The bottom line is that there isn't much room for adjustment. You may have to move both sides a little to even them out. If your bed is misaligned, you may want to start there. Let me know if you need specifics on your bumper. It's still pretty fresh in my head. Search for bumper cap removal or bumper alignment or similar and you will find instructions. Let me know if I can help.

Edit - You do not need to remove your bumper caps to align. You just need to get the plastic step/top off for access.

 

2017SilverTRD...thanks for the info. How much adjustment would you guess there is to play with? Looking at my pics, do you think I could move the right cap enough to match the left?

Here's some threads on found on removing the rear bumper: https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/16-tacoma-bumper-cap-removal.404082/page-5#post-13263852

and a youtube video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xKhcomDLQmE

 

@rooster32 - I do believe there is enough play in the bumper to adjust correctly. You will likely adjust both sides a bit. One in a tad and one out a tad. The bolts are skinnier than the holes so there is some room to play with. Straighten it all up and retighten. Mine passes the finger test now. About a finger's gap on both sides. I think I loosened the center up a bit also just to make it easier. You'll see it all when you get the black top step/cover off. That write-up by @MetrickMetal you linked is what I followed. Super helpful. By the way, it may be helpful to know that the clips on the front and back of the black step are the same. You only have access to the front ones from underneath. Pull up to free the rear ones. Let me know if you have further questions.

 

Same here. I took it in for its oil change at the stealership and asked about the bumper alignment. He walked me out along the line of tacoma's and almost every one was off. Some worse than mine, some looked more even. I wonder if trucks made from a certain factory got fuckered or if this was just a total screw up in the blue prints.

 

Here's my best guess, I think that the bumper is fully assembled prior to installation on the truck rather than installed without the center plastic cap which covers up the screws that we need to access for adjustment. The assembly line workers line up the bumper mounting bolts without regard to the gaps on the sides because they don't have time to remove the center plastic cap and make adjustments. If there is a final inspection at the end of the line, the inspection procedure probably says nothing about the side gaps as so many of these trucks are built this way. I have been in quality assurance for over forty years and if I was working at Toyota I'd be in the general managers office having kittens over this obvious flaw. Too bad Toyota doesn't troll this forum like some people believe because if they did I don't believe that this would continue. If they want to fly me down to Texas I'll fix this issue in one day at the factory.

 

Yes, mine too. I don't notice anymore.

 

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/tacoma-bumper-popped-off-dealer-asking-for-10k.506286/

You guys should swap info - same problem I would assume...both noticed when washing the truck

 

It's a pretty simple fix if you start noticing it again.

 

So it is adjustable? Do you mind making me privy to these plastic caps you speak of?

Photos help too.

 

I believe he is referring to the black plastic piece that forms the top step of the bumper. It has to be removed (pulled up) in order to align the bumper. To do it, you need to first remove the trailer harness and the license plate and plate lights.

 

mine's misaligned too, but then again so is the bed. or maybe the cab is, who knows. every body-on-frame i've ever had, *something* was gonna be misaligned for sure. I've never cared enough to mess with it, but if you can get at the mounting bolts (whether for bumper or bed or even cab) there will be a little slop in there that you can adjust it with.

Of course, after a few years things may move themselves back out of alignment again, but oh well.

 

The plastic cap is the center piece of the bumper. Once you remove the license plate lights you can pop the cap off and access the bolts for the end caps.

 

I am at the dealer chasing a dash rattle and just walked the lot. There are 16 new Tacomas on the lot and 15 of them, including the one in the showroom, have misaligned bumpers. Some badly.

 

Glad I found this thread, and I'm glad my truck isn't the only one that has a misaligned bed! Granted, the gap difference is only about 3/16" between the cab and the bed, but still! Pretty inexcusable, IMO. I think if the dealer were to loosen the bed bolts and rotate the bed a little to the driver's side, then the gaps will be even between the cab/bed and the larger gap between the bumper and the wheel-arch panel on the driver's side.

 

I thought someone had hit me in a parking lot, I looked all over for a dent/scratch/paint chip and nothing. I thought I was crazy. Then I found this thread.

 

wait... so this isnt normal?