I backed my 02 F150 with the passenger door open into a low mound of earth springing the door past its normal wide open position. I had to force the door closed in order to drive it and now the door only opens about 3 inches before the front edge of the door butts onto the front fender. I thing I need to remove the fender in order to even begin correcting the problem. Any advice or cautions would be appreciated.

 

I had the same issue with my driver's door only I ended up destroying my fender in order to get out of the truck. My advice, if you want to avoid ruining the fender, is to not use the door until you can get the fender off. It DOES need to come off. Your hinges may be out of whack now. You'll need to re-align everything, starting with the door.

 

Your Definitely gonna have to take off the fender.
https://www.f150online.com/forums/19...bodystyle.html
That may help, walk you through the removal some.

 

I finally was able to get to my sprung door. Using the directions and photos from your link- How To: Fiberglass fenders 97-03 bodystyle- I was easily able to get the fender off. The damage to the hinge that misaligned the door was not obvious at all. I considered trying to "unspring" the hinges by forcing the door toward a closed position with a hard object (in my case, a socket head) inside each hinge as I had read of others trying, but I was afraid to do a different type of damage. Without knowing what else to look for or try, I figured that loosening the hinges enough to adjust the door further back to allow for clearance when closing was about all I could do. I adusted the door as far back as the hinge slots would allow and also adjusted the fender a little bit forward. These adjustments allowed a comfortable clearance for the door to close. The problem now is that the door requires a near slam to shut and latch. For the time being I can live with this but any ideas of what to do next would be appreciated. Thanks for the link.

As far as the removal experience it was pretty straight forward. I did break a few of the plastic anchors with plastic screws that secure the radiator/grill cover where the hood latches (those things are poorly designed). I kept track of all the various bolts, screws, fasteners, etc. by placing them in separate baggies labeled with a Sharpie marker (there are a multitude of parts when disassembling).