1998 Chevy Blazer LS, RWD. 120,000 miles. Son #1 decides to play bumper cars with another vehicle. Impact in front right corner. Grille, Bumper, hood, Headlight need replacement. I might be able to straighten fender as it is folded over mid headlight section. Radiator core support appears OK, but body shop put replacement in it's estimate for the insurance company.

Sorry I don't have pictures. It's at the shop. Estimate is $3,608 total. 43 hours of labor and $1,400 in parts.

I don't mind going to JY and pulling old parts. Looks like I could get them for about $300 or even $150 if I wait for 50% off sale in 3 weeks. Damage on this just doesn't look that bad. Everything appears to bolt on. Car drives fine.

Any thoughts or tips on how long it might take for R&I of Fender, Hood, Bumper, Grille and lights? Things I can watch out for?

Thanks in advance.

 

It really should not take that long. The hood comes off with 2 bots on either side (putting it back on will take a bit more work to get it lined up, try to mark on the "new" hood you get from the yard the edges of the hinge so you can use that as a reference line for when you put it back on.

As for the fender, on my first gen, there were 2 bolts in the door jamb area around the upper and lower hinge, took a fairly long extention to get to. Then there were I think 4 bolts along the top of the fender where the hood closes. Then there were about 6-8 bolts on the underside of the fender where it attaches to the inner wheel well. And then a couple bolts on the core support that you can get to when you remove the grill.



As for the bumper.. I am not sure on the second gen at all. I hope that some of this helps you.


But really, its not a super hard task. I had never removed a fender on one of these and got it off and on without an issue.

 

Yup not that long to do. But body shops would write an estimate to change main bearings as 12.2 hrs and an estamate of 11.8 hrs to change rod bearings. Thus a total bottom bearing replace of 25.0 hrs. If you let them! 43 hours includes 28 hours of pizza adjustment.

 

Thanks Richphotos and LeWhite for your comments. I know that it is not a small job but it did not look too "hard". I just wanted someone to confirm that I wasn't missing something. Good part about pulling parts at the JY is that you get to practice. Bad part is that you have to remember to bring all your tools.

Thanks again.

 

It's definitely doable in a day. My first accident was with a telephone pole and we had to do the driver fender, inner and outer, along with the bumper. This was really the first work on a car I had done and it still only took my dad and I a few hours.

 

Most of the bolts if I remember correctly are 15mm

 

Yeah, it is definitely doable in a day.
I had to replace a very rusty fender and replace the cab floor and cab mount on the drivers side (weld in new metal) and I was able to do that in a day.

 

Front end on those 2nd gens are easy on/off for the most part.

The grill is a handfull of clips. Use a flat head to depress the clip edge and pull. The clips are metal so you can push on them a bit without fear of breaking them (assuming the corrosion hasn't killed them of course) I want to say there are 7 of them? don't quote me though. Check the edges and the center for those clips but it should come straight out.

Head lights are held in with two plastic tabs that pull up and the lights pull up and forward. Turn signal lights will come out of the grill piece the clips on those are plastic "push ins"