The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop '59 Chevrolet (Rather Rusty) Fender Removal

To start out with, I'm finally getting started on a resto project that I should have started a long time ago. As punishment, I cannot figure out for the life of me how to get the front fenders off. I've taken all the bolts that run along the top of the fender and inner fender out, I've taken two braces off the fenders, and the one that attatches to the grill/bumper seperator piece. Are there bolts that hold the fender to the grill/inner fender, specifically right beside the headlight bucket area closest to the hood? Also, I've managed to round off that big bolt that holds the fender to the cab. Would it be bad to just chop right through the bolt?

you'd do good to get an assembly manual, paging thru it will be a valuable education there are L-shape brackets off the lower cowl where the inners attach at the bottom, awkward to get at, one from under the fender, one from engine side [I seem to remember driver side is hidden behind the clutch pedal arm] .... bolts at the bottom of the fenders too, near where the braces attach, hard to see, especially if rusted and packed with dirt .... also there are a number of bolts at the front that you can only see from in the wheel well, best to have the wheels off - 1 or 2 go into the ends of the top 'spreader' and a couple more into the ends of the bottom splash pan

easy way if you're really gonna work it over is to remove the bolts at the bottom back of the fenders and inners to the cab, then the bolts that hold the rad core support to the frame - take off the bumper and the entire doghouse can be lifted off for separation at your leisure - hood can be unbolted from the firewall and taken with the rest or can be unbolted from the inners and removed first

oh - if 'big bolt' is the one to the inner, cut it if you can without damaging the inner or the bracket - if you can't get it free look inside and some of those brackets were bolted thru the toeboard and can be got free so the bracket comes off with the fenders ... if it's the one at the bottom of the outer fender do it however, you'll likely have to repair the brace at the back of the fender it threads into anyway

Bill

Thank you very, very much! The assembly manual is definitely on my "Must Purchase" list!

I had a heck of a time removing (after finally finding) a bolt on the very inner corner of the inside of the eyebrow. It was solid rust, and rapidly stripped off. I finally had to use a carbide bur on my little die grinder and grind the head off so that I could finish removing the fender. Gunk really collects up in there. Man there's a lot more rust than I thought in the front end of my truck.