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Fiberglass Front Fender Install

Posted: Wed Mar 21, 2012 9:54 pm
by 1450ranger
Is it possible to keep the sheet metal inner fender well when installing fiberglass fenders on the front of Broncos?

Re: Fiberglass Front Fender Install

Posted: Wed Mar 21, 2012 10:06 pm
by BajaBronco13

Re: Fiberglass Front Fender Install

Posted: Wed Mar 21, 2012 10:33 pm
by philofab
Yes, I did it on my crew cab. Reinforcement is a good idea and it's a bit time consuming.

Re: Fiberglass Front Fender Install

Posted: Thu Mar 22, 2012 6:22 am
by tcm glx
philofab wrote:Yes, I did it on my crew cab. Reinforcement is a good idea and it's a bit time consuming.

Yes, and yes!! Agree with what Philo says.

Re: Fiberglass Front Fender Install

Posted: Thu Mar 22, 2012 2:03 pm
by ChaseTruck754
philofab wrote:Yes, I did it on my crew cab. Reinforcement is a pain in the ass but needed.
I fixed what Philo said.

Re: Fiberglass Front Fender Install

Posted: Thu Mar 22, 2012 8:37 pm
by 1450ranger
Great info thanks. I was looking at my bronco and it looked like you could drill the spots out and basically pull the outer fender off w/ little effort.

Re: Fiberglass Front Fender Install

Posted: Thu Mar 22, 2012 8:40 pm
by BajaBronco13
1450ranger wrote:Great info thanks. I was looking at my bronco and it looked like you could drill the spots out and basically pull the outer fender off w/ little effort.
Yep that's what Tony did.

Re: Fiberglass Front Fender Install

Posted: Thu Mar 22, 2012 8:49 pm
by hobbyturnedobsession
I did it that way. 2 drill bits a split chin and some square tube oh and a week and a half later they were skinned.

Re: Fiberglass Front Fender Install

Posted: Fri Mar 23, 2012 11:14 am
by philofab
1450ranger wrote:Great info thanks. I was looking at my bronco and it looked like you could drill the spots out and basically pull the outer fender off w/ little effort.
They make a bit just for that but I just take the plasma and cut the outer off. Faster and leaves a little more strength.

Re: Fiberglass Front Fender Install

Posted: Fri Feb 07, 2014 3:42 pm
by VintageIronFab
When I read this I am wondering out loud so dont flame the hell out of me.
1. You take the factory fender off right-- and on the factory fender there is an inner and outer component to the factory fender correct.
2. Might sound dumb but I have a 96 will a 91 fender work?
3. My factory fenders are in perfect shape-- can I buy a typical dented up fender outer provided its not been wrecked and take the outer skin off?
4. Are the factory fenders hard to take off or a terrible pain--thinking salvage yard fender to do the mods to?

Man why is the factory steel on these FSB's shit???

Thanks for the help,
Matt

Re: Fiberglass Front Fender Install

Posted: Fri Feb 07, 2014 5:11 pm
by Rmc
It's a pain in the scrote to remove the outer skin, there's a spot weld about every 1-2 inches on all seams. As far as buying a beat up set to skin, that's up to you. You can always do what I did and build some framework to hold the glass and provide support to the core support. I think making frame work is less labor intensive.

Re: Fiberglass Front Fender Install

Posted: Fri Feb 07, 2014 6:00 pm
by philofab
Factory fenders aren't really worth anything... I throw them away most of the time.

Re: Fiberglass Front Fender Install

Posted: Fri Feb 07, 2014 7:01 pm
by Tchajagos
A cut off wheel works much faster than drilling out all the spot welds.

Re: Fiberglass Front Fender Install

Posted: Fri Feb 07, 2014 7:09 pm
by Tchajagos
The fenders take a bit to get off only because of all the stuff attached and hard to access spaces. Make sure you take a diagram or know exactly where all the bolts are to take it off. Some are hard to find. Idk about the older fenders on a newer body. They might not have the same stuff bolted on? No clue. I don't see why you couldn't used a fender that's has dents on the outside but inside is fine. You are just going to throw it away anyways.

Re: Fiberglass Front Fender Install

Posted: Fri Feb 07, 2014 8:38 pm
by Rmc
I love the super sneaky one in the door jam filled with mistery debris.

Re: Fiberglass Front Fender Install

Posted: Sat Feb 08, 2014 8:51 am
by Travisfab
Im about to pull my fender mount/hood pin/support set up, if anyone is interested.

Re: Fiberglass Front Fender Install

Posted: Sat Feb 08, 2014 9:14 am
by fibermike
I am interested in a set of steel fender take offs to use for tooling to build a set of narrower fronts, Some guys think the ones I have now are going to be to wide.

From talking to others a metal frame makes more sense (providing hangers for the inside goodies) to me.

Re: Fiberglass Front Fender Install

Posted: Sat Feb 08, 2014 9:49 am
by Smart Alex
My truck has a single 1" square thin wall tube.
It is nutserted at both ends to bolt to cab and core support. 10/32's
You guys are over thinking and over building things. Lol

Re: Fiberglass Front Fender Install

Posted: Sat Feb 08, 2014 10:44 am
by fibermike
Smart Alex wrote:My truck has a single 1" square thin wall tube.
It is nutserted at both ends to bolt to cab and core support. 10/32's
You guys are over thinking and over building things. Lol
Alex is right, plus fixturing it before taking the fender loose so you dont have to realign everything.

Re: Fiberglass Front Fender Install

Posted: Sat Feb 08, 2014 10:50 am
by VintageIronFab
so you take the factory fender off and you are left basically with the "hole" between the body and the core support. I guess the beauty of the stock fender is you aren't having to build anything from scratch. For those of us that do that, unless you have done it quite a few times its about twice as long as you typically figure it will be. How many hours do you all have in the inner fender supports?

How do you all with tube supports without the factory inner fender like having no inner fender at all??