removing aluminum soffits, what's the trick?

[Fisherguy]

The weather is still nice here and I'm painting my fascias before the rains start. We just moved in last year and I guess the former owner let it go a little too long, one of the fascias needs changing.
Only problem is, how do I get the aliminum soffit removed without bending the snot out of it?

The top piece is screwed in, I removed the screw and was able to get the top soffit piece removed from the next one, problem is it's so tight in the channel I had to bend it to get it out. I thought once the first one is out of the way the rest would be easy, NOT the case!

Obviously there's a trick to it, but I cant figure it out!

[HayZee518]

chances are the siding contractor made the soffit out of one piece of aluminum, bending it into a "j" track. and tacked it every two feet of so with nails. can you get a flat bar behind the fascia piece and pry outward?

[kactuskid]

Remove the J channel that runs along the outter face of the fascia. Then each panel will be tacked in place on the bottom of the fascia board. Remove the nails and then each panel should slide out forward. This way you shouldn't have to bend anything. Below is a link that may help but it doesn't show the outter J channel.

http://www.hometime.com/Howto/projects/siding/side_3.htm

[Fisherguy]

Thanks.
What I found after a closer look is there's a piece of trim at the bottom, the low part of the soffit. Once I took that out though the individual piecces couls be slid down in the j channel and removed.
I have no idea though how they install the stuff when there is no sliding option, let's hope I never have to get that part down!