Heater & Wheel Well Removal

[KyleSeal]

So I broke the lower connection to the heater core while trimming the rubber lines. Decided to go ahead and replace it or fix it, not sure yet, but I started to unbolt the housing and realized the bolt underneath is very difficult to get out, so I tried unbolting the wheel well like people suggest, well all bolts came out besides one, and it just turns n turns. What should I do? Is there any way to get it out? Also, what size is the lower bolt to the housing? The one right by the wheel well, very bottom. Are there any tricks to removing?

Thanks.

[michael bustamante]

depending on which bolt is spinning you might have to take off the fender to access the nut that the bolt is in to put a vicegrip on it.
thats part of the joy of working on 40 some year old truck!

[hugger6933]

You can hold the backside of the J nut with vice grips to then unscrew the bolt from the inner fender. Every time I have a couple of the J nuts break, I just remove the fender so I can lay it on the table and hold the nut while it is being unscrewed. If worse comes to worse you can take a die grinder and cut the head off of the bolt, then the back of the bolt will pop out on the clip. Jim

[timski69gmc]

I was going to put a post up as well. I have three bolts on my inner wheel well which are spinning. I think I can get to two of them. The one at the top will probably have to be cut off.

[LockDoc]

Originally Posted by KyleSeal

Also, what size is the lower bolt to the housing? The one right by the wheel well, very bottom.
Thanks.

All of the fasteners on the bottom take a 7/16 wrench/socket to remove. There are three sheet metal screws and one stud with a nut on it....

LockDoc

[KyleSeal]

Thank you all for the answers. I finally fought it out and got it done, didnt have to remove hood hinge, and left the spinning bolts in, but it got done.