My truck got hit, question about front fender

[Mayo]

A guy backed into my truck today and dinged up the fender pretty good. I am gonna take it for some estimates, but I was thinking it might need a new fender. I would think finding a good condition original one would be the way to go, but does anyone have any insight on the quality of replacement ones?

[Andy4639]

Sorry to hear it man! Dang. I have seen a few on local craigslist here lately. Might be worth a look.
Get a few estimates and then look at used orignal fenders.

[ole dollor]

bad deal ....sorry to hear what happened....there should be a lot of fenders out there..good luck...

[special-K]

Man,how do people manage to back into precious vintage American Iron? Oh,I know,they have no clue cuz their heads are up their...

Unless things have changed,the last pair of "quality" replacement '68 fenders were not made right at all. I have a GMC and would not consider anything but used OEM.

[Rob H.]

Sorry to hear that, any year 68-72 GMC fender will work, 67 would too but no side marker. Should be able to find a used fender much cheaper than a repop and fit better. You might try taking your inner fender out and try your hand at straightening it with a hammer and dolly, you might suprise yourself and if it doesn't work out to suit you, it's already bent so you're out nothing but time. Good luck with it.

[hugger6933]

That fender will fix without a doubt and without a problem. Take your plunger from the bathroom and go to the truck and stick it on the fender on the deepest part of the dent and pull on it and see if any will pop out. A majority of the dent is single walled and you can get your hand inthere to it from the back side and gently push it back out. Now the spots on the wheel arch will need to be ground and pulled and filled but still it will fix rather easily. Jim

[Mayo]

I am not gonna do anything until I get some estimates. I thought it might be fixable, I just was sure with it having damage to the wheel arch. It seems as if every reproduction stuff is inferior to the originals.
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[ChevLoRay]

A reputable body shop should be able to straighten it. Or, they might want to replace it. Hard to say. A production-oriented body shop will be looking at what takes the least amount of their time.

You might be able to find a decent fender and swap it yourself, but be sure your inner fender isn't damaged or get another one to replace it, too. Your labor is cheaper....but your interest in the finished product is stronger than theirs.

[treveiger]

My father put a ding twice as bad as this in his truck and my father in law fixed it just fine. Just take it to someone that knows what their doing.
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[LilD]

Theres gonna be alot of hammer and dolly work and shrinking to get the stretched metal back in shape. A body shop will either replace the fender with a crappy reproduction or beat the dent out and slather it with filler. Most shops are insurance/production shops now and its sometimes hard to find that one thatll still do old time quality work.
If youre handy with tools just find a good used fender and do it yourself. Youll have a deductible anyways and I would think you could find a used fender for less than youre deductible.

[mgkgmc]

Here is a trick to get most of the dent out try wedging a deflated football or basket ball in the fender if it has something to press on if it will fit then try filling it up. A football is sometimes easier to stuff up in tight spots. Dont know if this will work in this situation hopefully this will get most of the large dent out.

[Tinkermc]

as a body man it would be an easy repair in the proper manner

[DorianB]

lucky in that if you did look for an original bumper, the drivers side will be in better condition typically than the passenger side, due to the battery eating away on all the passenger side ones.