Front fender removal

[truck]

curious...are you going to try one of those paintless dent removal guys?

Sorry for the long delay. The paintless guys say the metal is too thick and they can't do anything with it.

[serider]

Harleyjt, I have always used a lock washer and blue locktite to replace the lock plate on the front fender mounting. Never had any problems.

Truck, I had an aftermarket crashbar that creased my front fender when my suspension bottomed out on my 02 RK. I removed the fender and had a paintless dent guy fix it to perfection. He charged me $40, probably couldn't buy the materials to paint it for that price. Mine was just a crease. I don't know how bad yours is. Some of these guys are better than others. After it happened a second time I did it myself and had very good results. It just takes a lot of patience and soft tooling like rubber hammer or wood without any sharp edges.

[Rags722]

Truck, if you get hard up for help taking it off or putting it on, give me a shout.  As long as my meds aren't kicking my ass on any given day, I'll run up and give you a hand.  As far as the paintless dent repair, since it's already damaged, as long as the paint shows no sign of cracking or a real bad nerve in the dent, I'd be tempted to dump some playground sand in a sack, cover it with a blanket, and try knocking the dent out with a rubber or leather mallet.

[truck]

Truck, if you get hard up for help taking it off or putting it on, give me a shout.  As long as my meds aren't kicking my ass on any given day, I'll run up and give you a hand.  As far as the paintless dent repair, since it's already damaged, as long as the paint shows no sign of cracking or a real bad nerve in the dent, I'd be tempted to dump some playground sand in a sack, cover it with a blanket, and try knocking the dent out with a rubber or leather mallet.

I thought of that too. Make a wooden block curved to match the inside of the fender and start whacking it.

[harleyjt]

Truck, if you get hard up for help taking it off or putting it on, give me a shout.  As long as my meds aren't kicking my ass on any given day, I'll run up and give you a hand.  As far as the paintless dent repair, since it's already damaged, as long as the paint shows no sign of cracking or a real bad nerve in the dent, I'd be tempted to dump some playground sand in a sack, cover it with a blanket, and try knocking the dent out with a rubber or leather mallet.

I thought of that too. Make a wooden block curved to match the inside of the fender and start whacking it.

If its a dent as bad as what I'm thinking it is, I suspect the paint will start popping off when you start whacking on it. 
jt

[truck]

Then I'll send it to a pro.

[Rags722]

I don't know that I'd go to the trouble of making a wooden mold to work the inside, but if you preshaped the sand bag and rigged up a roller off a mower deck on a shaft, I'll bet you could move some metal using it like a hand powered English Wheel.  Looking at your dent, once you get the main nerve out, it may give you a decent repair.  Maybe not perfect, but if the paint holds on, it could look pretty decent.