I've recently enrolled in a community college body shop class. The teacher has encouraged me to bring in one of my fenders to work on. I jumped all over it!

The first problem was getting the fender off the truck while it's wrapped in a tarp, sandwiched between a fence and the house, and surrounded by 2' of snow!

I got it off no problem (thank god I changed the bolts in the fall to stainless!)

I now have the following questions with photo reference for each.

At the rear of fender and at the front leading edge I have a total of three holes - they look like they were drilled. I'm inclined to fill them.

https://picasaweb.google.com/wmhatfield/RearFenderWork#5582221996970062834
https://picasaweb.google.com/wmhatfield/RearFenderWork#5582222003490776274
https://picasaweb.google.com/wmhatfield/RearFenderWork#5582222020128601042
https://picasaweb.google.com/wmhatfield/RearFenderWork#5582222103832270402

Just below the first mounting bolt hole towards the front is a bolt holding onto a piece of metal:

https://picasaweb.google.com/wmhatfield/RearFenderWork#5582222033046443298


And finally at the trailing edge (rear) of the fender there seems to be a re-enforcement piece that appears welded in at one end, and bolted at the other - regardless its cracked and needs to be fixed. Can anyone tell me why its bolted at one end? See the following:

https://picasaweb.google.com/wmhatfield/RearFenderWork#5582222048237908978
https://picasaweb.google.com/wmhatfield/RearFenderWork#5582222066551696114

the bolted part:

https://picasaweb.google.com/wmhatfield/RearFenderWork#5582222077474940690

Is this bolt the location where the reenforcement post supports the fender and attaches to the truck here??:

https://picasaweb.google.com/wmhatfield/RearFenderWork#5582221970664023618



I'll be welding patches in, grinding down existing bad welds and then finishing it off with fillers - so I would like to know what was original, and what should go. Close up shots of completed fenders would be much appreciated.

Thanks,
Mark