The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop removal of front and rear fenders

I would like to know how difficult is it to remove front and rear fenders from a 54 Chevy Truck. Also I would like to know how hard is it to removed the rest of the bed after the rear fenders are removed? Just How time consuming a task is this? Thanks RHuddle

These trucks were assembled one bolt at a time, they come apart one bolt at at time.

For the fronts you will have to disconnect the head and parking light wiring and unbolt the outer fenders from the inner fenders. The rears are a little easier. As for how much time it will take depends on your mastery of your tools and your ability..

Be patient..

Even with all the bolts removed, you'll find that the front fenders are "locked" into place. You may have to loosen or remove the radiator supports and get the grille out of the way to have enough play to unhook the front edge. The edge where the fender meets the cowl is also a tricky slip-fit if the inner fenders are bolted tight to the firewall; you may need to loosen those bolts. When I was trying to pull the fenders off most of the lower bolts were rusted to the point of being indistinguishable from the sheetmetal; that's when I coined the phrase, "Pass the cutting torch, I'm done f***ing around."

I found (after removing one fender from my parts truck) that it is a lot easier to remove the inner and outer front fenders together. Then you can turn the assembly over for much easier access to the bolts. I haven't removed the original front fenders from my truck yet, but I took the trim off (it is a '54, lots of trim around the grille), and ended up using a hammer to bend the fender on one side, the other I just used a Sawzall to cut off the piece of fender with the trim. A lot of the bolts are totally rustwelded together after all these years. On the parts truck, I also found that the fender welt had turned into "fender cement" during the past 50 years. It took a bit of pulling to get them off after they were unbolted.

Remove whole front saddle as one pce. Undo the rods to firewall, the two bolts under frame for the radiator support, go back to firewall and remove bolts for inner fenders and remove wheels, crawl under fender and work on bolts for fender to cab arch.
You will need good six-point sockets and wrenches, tighten them till they twist off, don't try to loosen, it won't work, they are too rotted to unscrew. OR, sometimes a torch as noted, but it attacks the sheetmetal real easy if not careful! Sometimes these points are so rusted away, the bolts are holding nothing or little metal there and you can just pull it away. You may need to scrape some undercoat off some under the fenders if still there. Bumper off is easier too, to lift unit off in one peice, otherwise the front pan catches under it and won't lift up.

I forgot the box. Only about six long bolts to frame holding it on. If you try to remove the nuts underneath the bolt-head turns in old wood, SO, best to sawzall or torch cut the bolts and pull pces up and down to remove. Whole box will lift off together/one-pc. Have to remove the running board from fender front and the filler panel above it first. Hard to hold the fender bolts back there, may have to cut them off or grind/cut them or careful torch work. Easier with box off and upside down. YOU can also rip out the old rotten wood if bad and use bolt cutters to remove many bolts in floor strips and then get at big hold-down bolts easier too.

Hmm...my truck is the ultimate rustball, and I have had a surprising number of bolts unscrew, even though I have been trying to break them off. Personally, I don't think it is necessary to take the whole front clip off as one piece, simply removing the inner and outer fenders from each side together proved quite workable. There aren't that many bolts holding the radiator frame to the fenders.