Door Hinge Replacement - Remove Fender or Not?

[FrankC]

Hello.

Searched the forum, but could not find a definitive answer on this question.

I started taking care of deferred maintenance on my 1971 Cheyenne SWB. I have stripped my doors out to replace vent window rubber, felts, door relay's. etc.

The original hinges will need to be rebuilt or replaced. I have not pulled the doors yet to replace them, as it looked pretty tight where the hinges went into the sill on the cab.

I can mark the door side of the hinge (or drill a 3/16 hole for alignment). However, with the fenders on - it looks difficult (but doable) to remove the hinge from the sill, let alone align the door.

I think I could loosen the two upper bolts on the fender by the cowl and the lower bolt to give me enough room. But I thought this would be fine for taking it off - but what about aligning the door?

My question - should the fender or the front clip come off to do this properly? Or can I just take my time and mark what I can, remove the door and rehang/adjust with the fender on?

Thanks and apologies if this has been answered before.