Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

Saturday or Sunday is the big day. But if I don't get it done by then, don't yell at me--I'm on teardrop time and I'm afraid.

Here's Andrew's mockup of my wooden fender, which I colored a lovely burnt orange:



And here is the plan. If anything looks wrong or life-threatening, let me know:

1) Predrill five 1/8" holes on fender side.

2) Jack up the trailer. Remove wheel. Have Budweiser. Laugh at the trailer missing a wheel.

3) Position fender, mark hole positions on TD wall.

4) That was a lot of work--time for another beer.

5) Drill holes in TD wall. Make sure electric is not running through TD in case I drill through a wire and electrocute myself.

6) If I drill through a stud, this shouldn't matter and I shouldn't lose my temper.

7) Insert carriage bolts from cabin out through fender, attach washer, secure nut moderately. Rinse and repeat 4 times for other holes.

Secure all nuts tightly. (Hey, newbies--"8" followed by a closed parenthesis gives you that annoying emoticon instead of what you're REALLY trying to express.)

9) Figure out a way to hide those ugly bolt heads in the cabin.



Okay, is that a plan? But how's THIS one:


1) Buy a right angle bit accessory for my drill.

2) Stick the suckers on there with a bunch of deck screws, so mission accomplished and no bolt heads in the cabin to deal with.

Thanks for you opinions, and I respectfully encourage you to vote for Plan B. But please don't tell me to buy some complicated fastener that I'm never gonna be able to find in this neck of South Fllorida anyway.

Remember--you're talking to guy who needed 8 months to finally find a piece of LUAN.

Going with the first one, I think you may want to leave the tire on while locating the position for the fender. Place a spacer on top of the wheel, the same size on both sides. Then mark the hole locations on tear.

Just my thoughts...

I go with Gager on this one. To cover your carriage bolt heads on the inside you can get a small bottle of paint at a hobby store to match your paneling. Sounds like you have a plan.

Ira
I vote for #2. However my other side forces me to remind you that the points of the deck screws may poke through and give you a goose while you sleep.

Perhaps you could paint the bolt heads to look like jewels or baby crabs and keep the theme.

Miriam

If your use hanger bolts ( wood screw on one end and machine thread on the other) they use for attaching table legs to a table frame you wouldn't need to drill all the way through into the cabin. Just pilot drill the starter holess and crank them in place. Mount the fender and tighten down the nuts with washers. Simple as that. Readily avaible at Lowes, Ace, Home Depot etc. that is what I did and it works well on my new one

Another Option!
If you have solid wood within the walls to attach too, Lowe's sells threaded inserts for wood. Drill out your mounting hole locations, insert the threaded inserts with a large screwdriver, might add a little glue to the holes. Let set, then thread your bolts into the inserts.

I left the tire on when I positioned my fender. I got it where I wanted it, and I clamped it to the wall at the bottom. Then I removed the tire and drilled the mounting holes.

Oy...we're getting into complicated fasteners here.

I think I'll just go with double-sided tape.

Seriously, I don't WANT to deal with carriage bolt heads visible in the cabin, but with either the hanger bolts or those inserts, how are those solutions any better than just screwing the damn things into the wall?

I was thinking liquid nails and screws. Basicily gluing the fenders to the trailer.

asianflava wrote:I left the tire on when I positioned my fender. I got it where I wanted it, and I clamped it to the wall at the bottom. Then I removed the tire and drilled the mounting holes.

That makes sense--but how did you mount them? Granted, mine are wooden and heavy, but I want to know how you did it with yours.

Ira, get yourself some (blind) 'T' nuts for the sides and then bolts to screw into them. When drilling the holes (for the 'T' nuts from the outside) be sure not to drill thru. Then press the 'T' nuts in place and bolt your fenders on. Nothing will show inside. Be sure to use short bolts that won't go thru.

Have a good day and

Will the fenders hang down below the frame?

If so, drill & bolt the bottom o f the fender to the frame & use scrwes along the top.

Gage wrote:Ira, get yourself some (blind) 'T' nuts for the sides and then bolts to screw into them. When drilling the holes (for the 'T' nuts from the outside) be sure not to drill thru. Then press the 'T' nuts in place and bolt your fenders on. Nothing will show inside. Be sure to use short bolts that won't go thru.

Have a good day and

What the heck is a t-nut?

Man--I'm PITIFUL!

Here ya go, Ira.

http://www.stafast.com/products/tnuts.html

You cannot use T nuts from the outside only...if you drill and insert T nuts from the outside they will pull right backout and leave them purty fenders to bounce up into someones radiator...
madjack