Fenders Finally - - - Sorta
Posted: Wed Apr 18, 2007 9:17 pmSince I built my 5X10' (approx) TD on a 4X8 HF trailer, the wheels/tires were under the cabin & I didn't actually need fenders, at least for functional purposes 
. I've never been satisfied with the 'raw' look of the arc cutout in the diamond plate trim on bottom of the tear & have been continually on the lookout for something that would 'dress up' that area. Have some of the diamond plate left & thought of having some of that 'rolled' in a sort of fender flare, but haven't been able to find a shop locally that was willing to give it a try, even for money 
. Anyway, after we returned from Beavers Bend this month, I was looking thru the Northern Tool online catalog & noticed they had a round, 9" wide, diamond tread aluminum fender for 13" tires. I have 12" tires but figured I could shorten it enough to make the arc work for my purpose. I 'bit the bullet' ($49.95 + shipping) & ordered the thing 
& it came in last week. Been eyeballing it & studying about an idea since then 
. Yesterday I said to heck with it just started work 
. First I cut off about a foot to make the arc short enough, then I split the entire fender lengthwise with my trusty jigsaw. I then marked a line 1 1/2" inside the cut side & cut "V" notches every couple of inches from the edge to the line. Then clamped it in a vise & started annealing with my propane torch (this ain't nearly as easy as annealing the 1/16" aluminum angle 
). Using a couple of pieces of 3/4" very dense particle board, I fabricated a jig that I could clamp in the fender & use as a rest/base for bending down the portion that I had already notched, (this would make the 'flange' for attaching the fender to the tear). The jig worked pretty much as I expected & a soft faced, dead blow hammer made short work of forming the attaching flanges. After drilling attachment holes in the flanges (6 each side), I clamped the fenders in place on the tear, & marked & drilled for the bolts/screws. Used some self stick foam tape between the fender & the tear, as a seal, & bolted/screwed 'em up tight (used 4, 1/4" bolts & 2, 1 1/4" lag screws per side). Didn't look half bad but I figured while I was at it I'd add a little 'bling' so I fabricated a couple of mud flaps from some heavy vinyl, trimmed 'em with the diamond plate & bolted them up too. I'm still undecided about whether to use the pieces of diamond plate left from cutting out the arc in the body for the tires originally. May be able to contour them a little & fasten 'em in the outer fender flange as a sorta 'skirt'. Anyway, here's a few pix -
This is the fender I ordered -
Here's the result -
The other side is in my album. Still ain't sure it was worth all the trouble but it does make the TD look some better, I think
. I've never been satisfied with the 'raw' look of the arc cutout in the diamond plate trim on bottom of the tear & have been continually on the lookout for something that would 'dress up' that area. Have some of the diamond plate left & thought of having some of that 'rolled' in a sort of fender flare, but haven't been able to find a shop locally that was willing to give it a try, even for money . Anyway, after we returned from Beavers Bend this month, I was looking thru the Northern Tool online catalog & noticed they had a round, 9" wide, diamond tread aluminum fender for 13" tires. I have 12" tires but figured I could shorten it enough to make the arc work for my purpose. I 'bit the bullet' ($49.95 + shipping) & ordered the thing & it came in last week. Been eyeballing it & studying about an idea since then . Yesterday I said to heck with it just started work . First I cut off about a foot to make the arc short enough, then I split the entire fender lengthwise with my trusty jigsaw. I then marked a line 1 1/2" inside the cut side & cut "V" notches every couple of inches from the edge to the line. Then clamped it in a vise & started annealing with my propane torch (this ain't nearly as easy as annealing the 1/16" aluminum angle ). Using a couple of pieces of 3/4" very dense particle board, I fabricated a jig that I could clamp in the fender & use as a rest/base for bending down the portion that I had already notched, (this would make the 'flange' for attaching the fender to the tear). The jig worked pretty much as I expected & a soft faced, dead blow hammer made short work of forming the attaching flanges. After drilling attachment holes in the flanges (6 each side), I clamped the fenders in place on the tear, & marked & drilled for the bolts/screws. Used some self stick foam tape between the fender & the tear, as a seal, & bolted/screwed 'em up tight (used 4, 1/4" bolts & 2, 1 1/4" lag screws per side). Didn't look half bad but I figured while I was at it I'd add a little 'bling' so I fabricated a couple of mud flaps from some heavy vinyl, trimmed 'em with the diamond plate & bolted them up too. I'm still undecided about whether to use the pieces of diamond plate left from cutting out the arc in the body for the tires originally. May be able to contour them a little & fasten 'em in the outer fender flange as a sorta 'skirt'. Anyway, here's a few pix -
This is the fender I ordered -
Here's the result -
The other side is in my album. Still ain't sure it was worth all the trouble but it does make the TD look some better, I think
Worth every penny! They go perfect with your TD and look so much better with them. 
.
. I wanta 'wrap' it with the diamond plate; that's where the heavy duty metal break comes in. I can sorta 'work' my way around short pieces using heavy angle as a guide/break, but forming the long stuff has me stymied, at least for the moment