What is the best way to get fender bolts out when the nut is broke loose from the clip and it just spins?

It helps if you cuss a lot and maybe even throw things! When it happened to me, I was able to get a friend to reach in and grab the nut with a pair a vice grips to keep it from spinning, and with a lot of WD 40, I was able to loosen it. Good luck!

[This message has been edited by THE DUDE (edited 05-16-2001).]

Take the head off with a grinder. Tedious, messy, noisy, but effective.

Throwing things and cussing is a given with me. Thanks for the replies.

Be carefull! Use saftey glasses and or a face shield when grinding.

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Which Fender Bolts are you referring too? I would suspect the two directly in front of the door.. Tjose I was able to stick a screw driver in and hold the fastener while turning the bolt.. Of course the grinder always works ;o)

The bolts on the bottom, infront of the door.

When I took mine off my 72 the same thing happened. The left fender had a rust hole in it big enough to use vice grips on the nuts. The right side bolt heads had to be ground off with an angle grinder. If you do this MAKE SURE you wear goggles and a dust mask!

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Dennis Jones TC Member#940 72 Malibu Project

If you mean the bottom bolts down by the rocker, the fender has slots and not holes so if you can just loosen the bolt enough, the fender will slide out. Then it's real easy to get out the old ones and install the new with the fender off.

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Of course always use face protection and a dusk mask when grinding anything. I had some of the front fender bolt clips snap. Even vise grips didn’t work, a cutoff wheel made short work of the problem, but you have to take your time. I would recommend using Blaster on the nuts if they’re corroded. Their web sight is www.pbblaster.com (http://www.pbblaster.com) and the stuff worked for me. It was much better that Kroil or Liquid Wrench.

Thanks for all the ideas. This dog is whipped. And without one trowing of a wrench. The kids did learn some new words though.

Ahhhhhhhh Nothing like teaching the youth of today how to "Really" work on a car.. Not like on those Garage shows where everything is perfect!

Yeah I'd love to see Chucks buddy accidently cause some discomfort... the cursing and throwing of tools and kicking of tool boxes would be totaly worth it.

"Dude, the engine is wresting lightly on my pinky, lift the engine now or I'll beat you senseless with the new cam! http://www.chevelles.com/forum/mad.gif"

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Francis Taracido Gold# 201
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Ah, it must be nice to have unlimited resorces and money and tools and someone to have already broken those bolts loose for ya. Ain't TV great.

The one thing that I'm seeing here is that everyone who has had to remove the lower fender bolts either for access to the trim or for fender removal is having the same problem. Rust has deteriorated the nut plate and the bolt is spinning. The best way to get it off is as mentioned above, grind away the head of the bolt (without cutting into the fender).