Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

I have two questions. (I know I am probably over my limit by now, but have patience please....)

#1
If you used diamond plate for rock guard on the front of your teardrop, what thickness did you use??

#2
What do you use for fender spacers??

My fenders came yesterday. I had ordered the widest fenders I could find for a 14-15" tire. They are 11" wide. But I still have a good 3/4-1" of tire that sticks out beyond the edge of the fender. Would any of you opt to leave that tire sticking out beyond the fender? Is that even acceptable?? (Oops....I guess that's 4 questions.)

This is my fender and I had hoped to bolt or screw it to the side of the teardrop through the back plate.



Thanks everyone!!

Bump....

Come on folks, help me out here.....

My diamond plate is .063 so the dealer claims. Haven't measured it for myself but it is thicker than my .040 roof or the .032 side walls. It was the thinnest one I could find locally. My fenders barely cover the tread on the tires and I am leaving them as they are - I like the look and don't think it will cause a problem.

Lgboro wrote:My diamond plate is .063 so the dealer claims. Haven't measured it for myself but it is thicker than my .040 roof or the .032 side walls. It was the thinnest one I could find locally. My fenders barely cover the tread on the tires and I am leaving them as they are - I like the look and don't think it will cause a problem.

thank you. I am going to head over to your pics and see if I can get a glimpse of your tires.

Becky on my small tear I went with a 14" trailer tire and 14 - 15" fender and my tire stuck out and I left it. As long as you check with your state and see what their requirement is I doubt you will have a problem. I think in Ga you can't be more than 3" past the fenders.



Cliff

Thanks Cliff. I will see if I can locate that info online. Mine doesn't stick out more than an inch tops.

Becky -

Try McMaster-Carr for "spacers" (www.mcmaster.com). They have a a variety of spacers and stand- offs in different materials.

Take care,
Tom

Becky

I got a 2'x4' piece of diamond plate at lowes and I believe it is .060 thickness. I don't know if lowes carries 5' wide. You may have to special order that. As far as fender spacers I used some plastic bushings that I got at lowes but I had to sand them down alittle to get the right thickness.

I used a piece of 3/4" ply (same as my sidewalls) to shim my fenders out. Cut it in the outline of the fender and bolted it directly to the fender and sidewall. I think this makes a much more substantial fender mount. I've seen some of the factory brackets come loose or even break off. Even with the spacer, I have about 1/4" of sidewall outside the fender, but you have to look hard to see it. As long as all the tread is under the fender then it is doing its job. See my journal or my album for pics.
Larry S.

Thanks everyone for the good info. I measured the fender width as an afterthought. It looks to me like they include the lip and the rollover in the width measurement, so it actually only stands off from the trailer wall by 9". I was perplexed by why it didn't cover, because according to my measurements it should have. I just didn't understand the way they measure. I am going to call the company as soon as they open this morning, but this is what I am assuming.

Becky check sign supply companies in your area and some care aluminum sheets. I found one here in Atlanta that sales .040 and .063 in 4x8 sheets. I plan in getting some to do a rock guard on the front and use the other sheet to do a 6" border of it around the bottom of mine.

Cliff

Typically the diamond plate is referred as 1/16 or 1/8. I have used the 1/16 and it was perfect for the rock shield.

CliffinGA wrote:Becky check sign supply companies in your area and some care aluminum sheets. I found one here in Atlanta that sales .040 and .063 in 4x8 sheets. I plan in getting some to do a rock guard on the front and use the other sheet to do a 6" border of it around the bottom of mine.

Cliff

Cliff (& Becky), I bought a 4x10 sheet of 0.063" diamond tread aluminum (wouldn't want to try to 'manipulate' anything heavier) when I was building my TD. Used part of the sheet for the 'rock shield' on the front & the 6" bottom trim pieces. The rest went to make the tongue box with enough scrap left over to replace the bottom trim under the hatch when I was rear ended in 2010. The 0.063: diamond tread was kinda difficult to form properly to fit the radius on front of my TD but it is sturdy enough to withstand some pretty heavy road debris...

Thanks so much for the diamond plate info. I need to get that within the next week or so.

Weird thing with my fenders. As I said, they were too narrow. But I had measured the distance before I ordered them so it was kind of baffling why I had tire sticking out. And then, yesterday morning it occurred to me that I should measure the fenders (...duh...) and sure enough, they only measured 9" wide. I was assuming they included the lip and the rollover in the width dimension, but no, It appears they sent me the wrong fenders. When I called the company, the rep says they should have infact measured 10.75 wide. They are delivering new ones and picking up the old ones. Thank God I didn't start painting them, and why measuring them didn't occur to me immediately I don't know, but I don't need the spacers now!!

I used .063 diamond plate for my rock guard and trim. Plenty thick enough for the job.

Got mine here: http://www.cutsmetal.net/