Curious as to what is the best plan of attack to remove the whole front sheet metal in my 49? I'm planning on pulling the 289/C4 as a unit and would be easier without the front clip on the truck.
I've seen it done before, but how do I go about doing it?
Is it as simple as it sounds?
A few bolts under the rad support and the bolts holding it to the cab? Do I access the bolts from the inside of the kick panel? A bolt or 2 to the running board?
Do I remove the radiator or just disconnect it?
What else has to be removed besides the headlight wiring and miscellanous wiring on the inner fenders?

Pics would be awesome!

 

Disconnect the wires that would prevent you from the removing the clip as one unit (i.e. headlights, battery, etc.).

Unbolt two bolts underneath the radiator core support (attached to the front crossmember on the frame). You can leave the radiator in place.

Unbolt the inner fenders. One bolt each. They are bolted to the frame near the cab on each side.

Unbolt the front fenders on each side from the running boards. Should be 2-3 bolts per each fender.

I also suggest removing the hood with the brackets from the cowl. It'll give you plenty of room.

The whole front clip is held on by 8 or 10 bolts.

 

theres a bolt about halfway up on the cab on the inner fender allso

 

Versus the +/- 100 bolts you would need to remove it piece by piece.

 

That is silly that it's only held on by those few bolts.

As for the headlight wiring, where should that be disconnected? I looked it over real quick and it looks like some old type of disconnects behind the grill area. They look real fragile, but is this the place to disconnect them, or can I disconnect further up by the firewall somewhere?
Is that asbestos wire covering? Looks to be that way, maybe I should just replace all the headlight and marker light wiring with new stuff?

It also appears the running boards have been smoothed into the front fenders with body filler and painted over, so I guess I'll be chiseling that apart.


Thanks for the responses guys!

 

Before I found this site, I was disassembling the whole truck to get down to the frame. I had been working on getting the front clip off for a couple weeks (a few hours here and there). I probably only had about 10 bolts left in the thing when a guy came over and said "Take these bolts out here." I did it, then the whole thing just lifted right off. Man was I irritated.

 

Yes, that's the right place to disconnect the headlight wiring. The wires run from inside the cab, through the firewall and down the side(s) of the inner fender panels. Then they connect with a black type plastic connector at the front grill area. This is the place to disconnect them.

Don't think that it's asbestos. I would suggest replacing with all new wiring. The original wiring is cloth covered and usually deteriorates/disintegrates. You can purchase stock OE wiring or go with an aftermarket set.

The trucks (and cars) were simple in simple times. If you know what you're doing, you can disassemble the entire truck body from the frame in probably half a day (if none of the bolts were rusted).