The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop Welded fender

I want to remove my rear fenders to clean and under-coat them and have better access to the side of my frame to clean and paint. I also want to add fender welt, (debatable necessity in StoveBolt, but the original front fenders on my tuck have the welt).

Unfortunately the PO seems to have welded the fender to the side bed panel and I don't know how to carefully cut the weld and dismantle the fender and bed-side. Photo below.

Welded rear fender (close up near the bottom at rear)

Is there a tool that can carefully grind or cut this out and not abuse the adjacent paint? Any thoughts?

Dremel tool may be your best bet. They also sell very thin cut-off discs for straight/angle air grinders.

hard to tell from that pic, a zip wheel on a die grinder might get it off, but it's highly unlikely you'll cut a welded fender loose without messing up the paint, including on the other side of the metal [inside the box] .... if the fenders look OK as-is, I'd be more inclined to remove the bed, with fenders, and flip it up to do the work you want, much less hassle and refinishing - and welting on the front doesn't mean there was welting on the back

Bill

Never thought of removing the entire bed. Novel idea; now I just have to devise a hoist / pulleys from my ceiling since it is not that heavy.

I might tinker in an inconspicuous place first with a Dremel tool.

Good luck with getting the rear fenders off. Do it slowly and carefully.

Originally, there was no A-D rear fender welt, except on panel-body trucks. Some people put a strip of 30# roofing felt between the fender and the bedsides.

a Dremel tool would run thru thousands of those tiny cutting discs to get one fender off - if the tool [or you] didn't burn out first

Bill

The weld is only 1-1/2" long. I'm going to buy a stack of the Dremel cut-off blades and hope I don't get myself in too much trouble. Thanks to all!

If you have an angle grinder, a diamond tile cutting blade or a metal cutoff wheel will zip through it very quickly.
The dremel is for really small stuff, you won't make much headway with it.

My 13 year old son and I moved the bed on my '53 GMC and I removed a long wheel base bed ('58) by myself the other day by lifting the rear of the bed alone and slipping a 8 foot 2x4 under it and pushing it the rest of the way off. Both of these beds had no wood left in the floor. They are cumbersome, but not too bad heavy. A couple of grown men could wrestle one off easy, it was tough with my 13 year old when we got to lifting it over the wheels, he struggled hard.

lefty1: 13 year old will remember that day for a long time and remember it well. Nice!

Dremel tool with metal cut-off wheel worked great. It cut a very clean slot in the weld and only used a couple of the blades. I should have the fender off tomorrow.

Good work, Bob

I'm surprised! I've never had any luck with using a dremel. Glad it worked for you.

I would use a 3" cutoff wheel on edge. I find I can get really good control with those. That is how I grind sheet metal welds.

Dremel makes a 1-1/2" and even a 2" metal cutting blade, I think. Their new EZ Lock mandrel makes a big difference in holding the blade secure while cutting and taking the blades off and on. The cut ended up being the width of the blade - maybe 3/16". Very clean, controlled cuts.

I have extensively used two Dremel tools (corded and cordless), when I needed very thin cuts in metal. One tol locked up on after cutting off about 50 bolts/nuts under a Suburban floor. $15 got a Dremel rebuilt/replacement unit. It was worth every penny of the cost.

I have a dremel I have had since before the crusades, so the cutoff wheels last as long as it takes to install them. One of these days I am gonna invest in a new model and accessories.

I haven't addressed this properly because so far the 3 inch air die grinder or the 4 inch Makita electric have worked okay. When getting in to close areas, an air body saw finishes. Still I hear good things about the newer Dremel.

Deve, this is my issue also!

There is a "Z" shaped reinforcement on the inside of my rear fenders abutting the running board. My fender is pretty trashed but good enough shape to stay on the truck a long time, now that I have cleaned it up, de-rusted and applied some undercoating. Does anyone know if this "Z" shape is something added by a PO or a factory reinforcement? Seems like something I could have a sheet metal shop make or maybe there is a re-pop made for this part.

Inner fender reinforcement

Not the best photo but it would be shaped the same as the running board to fender gaskets

Runnning board to fender gasket

So I got my fender off (took a few Dremel blades) and have it all painted and under-coated inside; ready to re-install. I found rubber washers at Home Depot and wonder if anyone has used rubber washers to re-assemble the body parts. Kind of makes sense to put a large rubber washer (about 1/8" thick) between the fender and the bed side. It would eliminate the wear and tear that eventually happens with metal on metal. I guess this is why they sometimes put in fender welt, but this seems like a good alternative. Any thoughts?

It sounds okay, but then you are leaving a gap for water to coalesce and cause potential problems. The fender welt was uniform and keeps water out of everything. Not sure if fender welt is overly expensive. Originally there was nothing, but once you work on these awhile you wish they would have done that because of the rust problems that were created.

I guess the rust is what I am reacting to. The bed sides are more rusted than I want to admit and the rubber washers minimize the metal to metal and further deterioration. i don't think I am creating more of a water issue, arguably adding a small 3/32" space (after the washer is compressed) might allow water to freely drain and not collect in the metal parts. The fender welt is probably the least expensive part on the truck - maybe I should just stick with that.

Go with fender welt if you want something in there. Having a 3/32" space will still collect water, due to surface tension and capillary action. It's best to have something that keeps moisture from getting in or nothing at all, rather than a small gap.

I like your rubber washer idea for other areas. Not between the panels, but under the regular washers and things like that to prevent squeaking. I'm going to steal that thought.