Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

My buddy was asking how are the fenders were mounted. Were hoping to mount my fenders this weekend. I look at all the pictures on this forum but can't really see how differant ones attached thier fenders.

Can someone give a a clue.

I just drilled holes in the fender and screwed it to the side using #10 3/4" hex head screws. It works for me.

I went a little further, used 1/4 X 1 1/2" elevator bolts at the top thru the wood, and 1/4" bolts thru the frame at the bottom.

I threaded inserts into the plywood 1/8" shy of going through. Then the fenders are attached using 1/4-20" cap screws & fender washers. This leaves it clean and smooth on the inside. Of course this works only if you are building a solid sided tear.

Denny


Ghost image showing fender in place.

Three different ideas, eneany, meany, miney moe....

SteveJ, I'm a retired machinest and #10 screws seems a little light, not that they won't work, I just sort-a over build. Like the Titanic.

SteveH, 1/4-20 seems a little along my style, going with stainless steel and castlelated nuts. What are elevator bolts anyway, never heard of them?

Now, Dennys idea was rather cool, but I don't want to do that much work.
I hope I don't come accross that I'm lazy, just tired a little.

Did any of you use fender felts?

Thanks for the ideas.

Jim,

What are elevator bolts anyway, never heard of them?

Jim,

An elevator bolt is like a carriage bolt, only better. It has a bigger head that is flat. If a 1/4" carriage bolt has a head that is about 5/8" in diameter, an elevator bolt's head would be about an inch in diameter. I used them to bolt the floor to the frame also, only 3/8" size.

Don't forget to put a little RTV or something to prevent any wood damage. A lot of water gets thrown up inside those fenders.

Allen,

You are right about that. I sealed up all the fender bolts with silicone and also installed fender welting between the fenders and trailer. Should keep it dry.

I used threaded inserts like Denny, Actually I stole the idea from him!!
I added blocking to the walls where I planned to mount the fenders. (The walls are an insulated sandwich) I used 1/4"-20 stainless bolts, fender washers with a dab of marine RTV.

I used T-nuts. Drilled and set them in the 1/2" ply before closing up the inside and putting on outside skin. I used SS hex bolts and caulking with vinyl fender beading. Seems to be working perfectly.

Thanks guys for the info. Now I have to locate elevator bolts tomorrow and hope they don't look at me funny. My riend is installing my shocks for me, what a buddy. Larry Sorensen added shocks to his tear after he used it awhile. Some of the hwys. up here aren't the greatest after a winter of frost heaves push up the hwy. in places.

Later, Jim

Just to go off on another tangent, I made my fenders out of 1/8" plywood and 3/4" pine. I cut a curved groove into the side of my tear, and a matching groove into the outside fender section. Then glued, clamped them together and installed about 50 glue-blocks ;on the underside, to add strength. The whole mess is coated with Line-X bed-liner and even though it is a bit different, seems to be working out fairly well. (it evens passes the jump-on-the-fender test)

The new 6 footer has HF standard fenders, screwed tightly to solid wood framing in the tear floor. I guess when the screws rust off, the fenders will fall off. Oh well, as I say if it's wood, it' good. (does that mean if it isn't wood, it isn't good?) Naw, just different.

Roly, finally turning my goofy ideas into reality.

Man, looking at your setups makes me think that I need to beef mine up. I used 3/8 in bolts thru the solid portion of the wall and 3/8in bolts with T-nuts on the hollow parts. All use (approiately enough) fender washers. I only have 4 bolts per fender. Maybe I'll add 2 more bolts on each side. I didn't want too many because the T-nuts show on the interior, I figure I could live with 2 showing.

Rocky,

I've only got 4 each 1/4" bolts per fender in mine and it's got about 8,000 miles on it already with no problems so far.

I had first used just some #10 5/8" self tappers but after about 6,000 miles the drivers side fender started to loosen up so I replaced the self tappers with the metal screws. got about 7 screw each side. They seem to be very solid.