I won the battle, however I took some heavy damage. It cost me some knuckle skin and a fingernail. "Ouch", would be the word you are looking for.

Some of those front fender bolts were brutal. I had the cut most of them off the cut-off wheel. It is nasty under there.

These body panels are very tough. I'm making good progress though. I stripped the paint off the hood and have that in primer. Running boards are in primer too. Next I'll tackle these fenders. I wish somebody made a patch panel for the spot above the headlights -- both sides are rusted pretty bad right there.

It looks like I'm gonna become a sheet metal man over the next month!

 

Jack,
Glad to hear that you won the war! I'm starting in on the bed of my truck and spent most of th emorning grinding way old welds that some previous owner had made (who obviously wasn't a welder)

I'm going to have to teach myself some sheet metal skills also
Bobby

 

I can relate to the knuckle pain especially when you know! the bolt is going to break and that pain will be the out come. I think Sometimes your better off when the bolt breaks, because some bolts just refuse to come off the easy way. I learned to wear gloves whenever i thought there may be a chance i would skin my knuckles. I won't comment on the broken nail part he! he! he! but i think i understand what your saying, i think?

 

When I took my front end apart, I quickly learned to use 6 point sockets and wrenches and tighten the bolts to break them. It save so much frustration and skin.

 

I did this exact same thing on my 73 IH 1210 and had the whole front end disassembled in about 5 minutes.

 

I really liked it when I could use the 1/2 in. Breaker Bar - POW!!

 

expecting them to snap is one thing, expecting them not to snap is another. Any IH worked, and you can expect them to snap...lol

 

I too have learned the trick of overtightening the bolts to snap them off... worked good until I actually broke my 1/2in breaker bar trying to get a set of u-bolts off of a 79 F-150... sent me flying across the garage when it popped (so maybe I put a bit too much UMPH into it)

I'm also looking down at a beat up left hand that happened during a brake job on my daily driver this weekend... stupid foreign built car..

I guess I figure its not a good day in the garage unless I give some blood.

 

Two words: Mechanics gloves. Worth their weight in skin and bandaids. It's not unmanly to wear them, pros do.

 

I will be getting a new pair for sure for the coming season. Since my Heart Surgry and all the meds that I now must take, I have become a bleeder.
I also use leather welding gauntlets when more than my hands can be exposed.

People tend to get excited we they see me under the truck laying in a pool of blood happily working away.

 

Actually I'm on my 4th pair of them, they work well against cuts and scrapes (unless you cut throught the glove), but they don't do much for the blunt force trauma.

 

They make them with padded backs as well.

 

I know your pain on the front fenders. Had the same experience disassembling the front end on my 52, had to cut or break every single bolt. The Mechanix gloves are awsome - got a pair for christmas and I don't know how I ever lived without them (or kept any skin on my knuckles anyway....)

 

I will definitely look into the gloves. I saw a pair at Sears but they looked a lil' flashy (like I worked for a NASCAR pit crew).

I did end up just tightening a few bolts that were frozen. It worked sometimes, but more often they just spun in place.

 

Northern tool sells them at a good price. Just get the all black ones if you don't like "Flash!". I bought all black for myself, black with purple for my wife. Makes it easy to distinguish hers from mine. Get them in a snug fit, and you'll soon feel like they are a part of you.
PS: the flashy colors make them easier to find in a dimly lit corner.