2nd Gen Non-Engine/Transmission front fender R & R quesiton...

[zman]

Well, I think I have the pinch weld squeak that RAndrae and others discussed in this earlier thread. I've tried bending the welded flange as was mentioned in the thread, but I can't seem to get the squeak to completely go away. I'm thinking about drilling the flange and welding it in several spots along the entire length for what should be a permanent fix.



Does anyone know difficult it is to R & R a front fender? I haven't taken a real close look at it yet, but wondered if there was anything I needed to be aware of before I dive into it. I'm also thinking that there are some precautions that I need to take before I start welding on the truck - like unhooking batteries, ECM, and PCM??? Thanks.



Steve

 

[CumminsPower98]

I have removed the driver side fender on mine once and it was not real hard. I can't think of anything special to tell you. It was easier then I thought it would be, just unbolt all the things mounted to it, remove the head light and all fender mounting bolts.

 

[jebia]

Are you sure the squeak is not coming from the steering shaft u joints ( I used white lithium grease on all sides) and this fixed it. Prior to this, I was sure I had the loose weld problem (even went so far as to do the crimping with a long rod and hammer on the seam.

 

[zman]

jebia - I haven't used lithium grease on the u-joint, but I did spray it down pretty good with WD-40 a while back. Since then, I have bought a Steelman squeak finder and the sound is definitely coming from the area of the pinch welded flange.



Over the last couple of weeks, the squeak has gotten REAL bad. It looks like one of the pinch welds has competely pulled apart (second or third weld from the top).



After taking a closer look at the fender today, I realized a couple of things. First, the inner and outer fender appear to be welded together, so all the junk that's bolted to the inner fender have to be removed. CumminsPower98 mentioned it in his post, but I didn't realize he was talking about removing stuff from the INNER fender.



It also looks like the front bumper needs to come off just to get at one of the fender bolts. Can anyone confirm the need to remove the bumper? If it has to come off, any idea what it weighs? In other words, is this a two person job?



Thanks!



Steve

 

[CumminsPower98]

No need to remove the bumper. It's not as hard as you first think. I looked at mine and was not looking forward to it but it turned out not so bad. Just unbolt all the things mounted in there and they will just hang there when you pull the fender out. I removed mine because the outer fender had been replaced but they didn't seal the seam between the two or paint the inner part of the replacement.

 

[zman]

CumminsPower98 - Thanks for the responses. It looks like this project is a go for Monday morning. I'll post the results of the fix Monday night.



Steve

 

[zman]

Well, damn! I completely rewelded the pinch-weld seam and it STILL squeaks. It must be something else, but for the life of me I have no idea what it could be. The mics seem to indicate that the squeak is coming from near the bottom of that seam, but I welded the crap out of it. It isn't the steering column because the sound through the mics wasn't very loud when the mics were in that area. I have looked and looked and am now completely stumped. Based on sound levels through the mics, the squeak is definitely originating outside the cab and not inside. Anyone have any other ideas?



Steve