Anyone struggled to get off the OEM fenders? Specifically on the rear fenders (I’m trying to install rock sliders on a 97 TJ):
I need to pull the fender back away from the body a bit to slide the rock slider between it and the body. To do to that I need to loosen the bolts that attach the fender to body. So I started loosening those bolts. They broke loose easily enough with a 8mm socket, but some of them just spin and don’t actually back out. Looking online, this seems relatively common on our old TJs.
Looking online, there were a few videos and postings that discuss pulling the plastic wheel well liner away to get to the back of these uncooperative bolts. So I pop the plastic rivets and pull back the liner only to find a metal plate blocking my way and no way to replicate what the online folks described — I can’t get to the back of those bolts. (I pulled back the carpet to see if there was an easy way from that side — no love.)
I’ve tried using a plastic pry tool to wedge under the bolt head and to keep pressure on the bolt. That might have done something, but not much (not enough to push the 3/16” metal plate under it).
Am I missing something so obvious that forum experts are gonna laugh a my foolishness? What started as a 3-4 hour job to install rock sliders (according to the directions), has turned into a 5 hour fiasco and I’m completely stymied on step 1, “Take off and remove any existing flares or rocker guards that you have have on your vehicle.”
Thanks for anything folks can offer.