Lower rear panel removal
 

I am looking for some help removing the lower rear panel from a 1972 Suburban with the tailgate hinges in it. I am going to help my buddy this weekend. His Suburban has a damaged rear panel and he has found one that someone is parting out. The problem is that it is out in no where so we will only have hand tools that we can carry with us. What is the best way to remove the lower rear panel from the donor truck? This is a bolt in, right? The plywood deck is still in the Sub, but we can hack into it if we need to. Any suggestions / insight would be appreciated? Thanks

Re: Lower rear panel removal
 

you will need to remove the row of bolts that go throught the plywood floor small flat heads. rear most two body mount bolts. bolts that go in to the spare tire well. and three boltson each side that hold the panel to the rear quarter. the heads of these bolts face the front of the burb and are under the tail light section. You will need the tailgate removed also. then the panel has to go down to get it out so the body needs to be lifted up far enough to get the panel out or the rear section of the frame will need to be cut off. that is the hard part of the job. I will get a couple pictures of this panel. I am in the middle changing from cargo doors to a tailgate-liftgate. and am changing out the rear panel also

Re: Lower rear panel removal
 

If the seller doesn't care about the rest you can make a little quicker work by taking along a cordless sawzall to cut the wood floor and some hard to reach bolts. I take mine with me every time I'm parts chasing for one of my projects, and they save a ton of time!

Re: Lower rear panel removal
 

added pictures to the orginal post. they are of the tailgate panel that i am putting in.

Re: Lower rear panel removal
 

Thanks a lot guys. That helps a lot. I am already with you on that Sawzall trick. The only thing for this is I will need to make sure to take both metal and wood cutting blades.