Fender work

When I got the Truck  the right fender had a big dent on it.  For a few weeks I have been deliberating a repair strategy.  A few friends said I should try pulling it out without taking it apart others said take it off and use heat to bring it back.

A couple of weeks ago I decided enough deliberating -- lets get to work:

Here is a picture of what it looked like before:

Large dent on right fender

I decided to remove the fender and try to bring it back using a maul.

The work required was a bit extra challenging because all the bolts holding the fender in place were rusted.  I tried WD40 and the first few I tried snapped off.  I took the grinding wheel and started cutting them.  After 14 bolts I had the fender out.

Here is the truck with the fender off:

fender off

Another challenge was grinding off the screw tops from the inside of the bed.  I used a grinder to grind those off since it appears that the originals are welded in place with the studs pointing out.  I was also able to get carriage bolts and washers from home depot.  I will update the blog with an after dent removal picture so you can get an idea what it looks like tomorrow.

Overall body work is challenging, you have to wear protective gear when grinding and have to make sure everything lines up properly.  My fender had some areas where I needed to weld so it took me a couple of weeks of part time work on it to get it back together.