79 ford f150 bumper removal, help

guys, got the patch and ding almost done with repair, some sanding and glaze left. taking pics the whoel time. wanted to take the grill off, give it a better paint job up front by letting it get to the hood where it ducks behind the grill.

anyways, 10 hours till I take it in and I can't figure out how to get the frickin' thing off! I got the obvious bolts, but now it looks like there are a bunch facing threads forward, I have no idea how I'd get behind them to loosen. anybody got a chilton book on this era ford or some first hand experience you can share?

Thanks!

Red

Nevermind guys, too late now. I'll see if I can get them to just raise the hood a bit to hit that bottom edge. I still have to get up in the morning and hit it with the pressure washer and put the last couple of coats of glaze on the ding repair. It probably isn't perfect, but is pretty darn good, and a hell of a lot cheaper than having the shop do it at whatever a shop rate is.

Thanks for all the help on here guys.

Red

Red just read your thread. Hope it all comes out fine. Post some pics when your done. Steve.

That grille surround is a PITA - my recollection was that after I damaged mine, that it took me the best part of a morning to figure out how it came apart.

I do have the shop manual for '79 Ford pick ups, this might help later for reassembly. Sorry it's late, but I'm not on here 24/7

thanks for the pieces from the book, glad I didn't take the whole thing off, I just asked them this morning if they would lift the hood and shoot the front lip. I didn't get any full truck shots ahead of time, but I am sure there are some around somewhere. I did take pics of the two repairs I made and will take pics of the afterwards result. I should have it back on saturday. I am nervous of course, if it doesnt' come out well, especially my repairs, then it is all on my head. Crossing my fingers (gonna call the guy too and clarify that if my repairs don't look good enough I'll pay them to finish it up, they are pretty good, but I see room for improvement, a couple coats of glaze on the ding repair).