Removing the Sierra Skid Plate?

[KirbyH]

I have a 2015 GMC Sierra and was wondering how or if it's even possible to remove the skid plate (part #22902312/22902313/22902314) without removing the entire bumper. Also note that I have tow hooks so I'm not sure how different it is than without. I have seen plenty of videos out there on how to remove the bumper as a whole which is what I should be doing in the first place, but it would be nice to remove just the skid plate which I can't seem to find anything online about. Sorry if there's already a post about this but if it exists I wasn't able to find it. I already have the air deflector taken off permanently and I looked under my truck and removed the bolts on the bottom of the skid plate and some other miscellaneous bolts from behind that I really couldn't tell if they actually held the skid plate there or not. I also noticed some clips at the top of the skid plate but before breaking anything and removing a bunch of bolts for nothing, I thought I would come here first and ask. Thanks.

[tmo]

Pain in the a**!

 

But if you really want to know.... You have to remove the following things in the order that follows. Plastic piece between grill and bumper, Plastic that is on top of grill (says GMC) under the hood, then the Grill, then the bumper, then depending on how you take it off you will have to remove the plates that hold the bumper to the frame. Then you will be able to remove the skid plate. Reverse to put it back on.

 

I don't think it can be done without removing the bumper because you have those tow plates, one for each side. Each have 6 bolts in them that bolt to the bumper and then those plates are bolded on the the frame. Honestly, its not hard, I added fog lights and tow hooks all by myself and it took 4 hours. The hardest part was the plastic between the grill and bumper.

 

To remove the bumper itself, remove two bolts on top of the bumper that bolt to the frame. They are the easiest to remove. Then you have to crawl under on both sides inferno of the wheel there is an "arm". There is one bolt on one side and 2 on the other. Just remove the one bolt on the arm from both sides of the truck and lift the bumper away. Just a thought, leave the top bolts in loosely where you can unscrew them with your hand, you don't want the bumper fallen off and scratching or hurting yourself.

 

So... after finishing this post I saw that you knew how to take off the whole bumper, but I'm gonna leave it because it took a while to type and I'm proud haha.

 

Anyways like I was saying above those plates cover up the 12 screws that you have to take out. 4 around each tow hook and then 4 across the top. The 4 across the top you could probably get to, but the other 8 I don't think you could. The plates cover the back of the bumper, probably to protect the fogs and plastic pieces from debris.

 

Anyways if you have any questions just let me know, I don't mind helping at all! And its all still fresh on my mind because I just did it last week. Good Luck!

[KirbyH]

Thanks for all the information. I'll mess around with it as soon as I get a chance.