Removing rear fenders

Hello there,
I am removing the rear fenders on my 59 TR3 and am having some problems. While unscrewing the last bolts on the back of the rear fender, the caged nut breaks loose in its cage and there is no apparent access to the cage in a void inside the body. It looks like the spare tire compartment must be removed. Is this the case or am I missing something?
Thanks for any insight anyone can provide.
pfrancis

Hi TR3MT, welcome to the forum, you will find that there is a wealth of info and experience and humor here on the Forum. So sit back and enjoy.
Your problem is is a standard TR problem. I didn't have that problem because I bought a basket case. Had plenty of others though. Some one will chime in with an answer, I feel certain.

Cheers, Tinkerman

Haven't had that one yet. Might have to drill out the offensive screws and try to get to the cage that way.

Welcome to the forum! If you can at least start backing out those bolts a little, the rear fender mounts are slotted so you can get the fender off hopefully. After everything else is off it the fender will need to be moved rearward to clear the tabs.

I was lucky and only have one offending cage nut on my 59. I don't think you need to go to the extreme of opening a hole in the tire compartment. Worst case, drive out the captive nut, let it fall to the bottom, and weld in a weld nut from the outside. At least that's what has been recommended to me and what I intend to do. If you are lucky, you can fish any loose debris out of the paint drain holes at the bottom of the valance.

All those captive nuts were rusted away. The bolts and nuts were still tight. When I got the fenders off, I found that all the flange where the captive cages are spotwelded on the inside - well the flange was gone. Took me three years to finish. 1987 to 1990 and I've driven it over 102,000 miles since my restoration.

Art helped me with mine. Have yet to install the repair. BCF link

P.S. Thanks again Art

You can grind off the head of the bolt with a Dremel tool in order to remove the fender.

As for replacing the captive nut, someone else will no doubt have an answer.

I have the fenders off and the weld nut sounds like a good idea, but how do you get the weld nut inside the void area (no access) to weld it in place? I have never used a weld nut but assume it has to be on the inside of the body cavity (void) to allow the fender to be drawn up.
Puzzled,
pfrancis

Haven't done this yet, but I believe you mount on the outside and weld the tab to the body: weld nut

Flange of the nut doesn't look too thick, so a slight peening of the area would put it flush with the body if needed.

My hope is that the relic old cage nut bit can retrieved out the bottom of the panel through one of the paint holes - would keep it from rattling around that way.

The flange is thin, and they get welded to the outside. I only had to do a bit of grinding on the weld to make everything flush. You will have to knock the old caged nut out of the way (yes it will lay inside forever), and drill the hole slightly larger to accommodate the shank of the weld nut. With all the other noises going on in the car, I'm sure you will never hear the old caged nuts rattling around in there. I've got four of them in there and haven't heard anything. :thumbsup:

Thanks all you guys for the help. I finally get the picture in my head how to do this. I had no idea what to do. I see the flange on the weld nut is thin enough so that the fender beading will cover up the gap. The link to McMaster-Carr was most helpful along with your explanations.
Thanks for your patience,
TR3MT