Front Fender replacement

[walnuts75]

I was trying to avoid replacing the front fenders as musch as I could, but I think I need to **** it up and get new ones. I tried to patch up the old fenders as much as I could, but now I'm getting cancer spots in new places. It annoys the crap out of me because of how much time I put in trying to make the old fenders look new again. The spots I fixed are holding up well, but I dont want to be fighting with new spots every 4-5 months, so I have decided to just get new fenders. My question is that are they really as simple as just bolting on? I saw just a few bolts, 2 where the hood is, 1 on the bottom behind the wheel, and one or two in between the door and the panel (only visible when the door is opened). I'm sure there's one hidden elsewhere. What else is holding the fenders on b/c it seems like there should be more bolts holding them on. I replaced an entire front end on a Jeep Cherokee and it seemed like there were a million bolts for just the fenders!

Also, I want to replace the fenders without taking anything else off b/c it is also my daily driver and I need to do it as quickly as possible (within the timespan of one weekend). I feel like taking other things off would just be too time consuming. Would it be possible to replace the fenders without taking off the bumper or headlights or anything else on the front end? I was thinking maybe I could replace one fender per weekend.

Also would you guys recommend painting the fenders before I put them on or after. I know a lot of guys that do it either way, but I think it would be more conveinent for me to have them painted beforehand, but then I'd have to take a lot of care when putting them on. I just need advice.

 

[Broncobill78]

Yup, the fronts are just a bolt-on deal and it should take you *maybe* 90 min apiece to do them. There are ther line of bolts you see along the hood line on top, there are a few on the front (alongside the headlight) that you'll need to get to from inside the fenderwell, there's one on the bottom behind the wheel and the tricky one is on the middle-rear of the fender and you have to get it through the opening in the door. Look in there & you'll see it about halfway up (or down depending on your perspective). I've taken off more 78/79's than I could ever count (usually due to a bad hop or a minor hill-climbing faux-pas) & can tell you they're all 1/2" bolts except for the bottom rear which for some reason is 9/16" but the 80-96's I'm not so certain about but the basic layout can't be very different. Once it's off just replace it with the new one. I would *definately* paint the new fender before installing it, you'll save yourself a whole bunch of hassles taping everything else off. This is easily a job you can complete in an afternoon nevermind a weekend, but if you've never done it before a weekend will give you plenty of time to sort out any problems you run into (but really, there shouldn't be any). Replacing the fronts is a fairly straightforward job and is relatively easy. I'd say it's maybe a 3 on a scale of 1-to-10. Yes, you can EASILY do one fender per wkend, if you plan it that way you'll have NO trouble at all. All in all you're dealing with 12, maybe 15 bolts, quite probably less. I' haven't yet had to swap them one out on an 80-96 but ****, if you get stuck I'll go yank one off my 88' so I can tell you for sure (freaking thing's a lawn ornament at the moment anyways). This is no biggie, once you've pulled the first you'll feel a LOT better about doing the second. You don't even need to do anything with the inner fender,it will sag a bit without the steel outer to hold it up but just slide the edges back into place (you'll see what I mean when you get into the job) and you'll be just fine. Shout if you run into trouble but I doubt you will.

 

[miesk5]

fyi,

Removal, Installation & Parts Break-Out Diagrams, 78-96 Bronco & Ford Pick-ups

Source: by Chilton via AutoZone.com

 

[walnuts75]

Wow thanks guys. I'm sure I'll have no troubles at all with this. Now I'm just wondering why the **** didn't I just get new fenders in the first place. I found some for only $65 a piece on the internet. I let you guys know if I have any troubles.