47-55.1 Chinese Fender Surprise

[vintovka]

Finally got out and washed the truck. For the first time i noticed that my chinese crapola pass side fender ( that shop talked me into) has a row of very visible spot welds along a front seam. Neither the seam or the spot welds appear on the original drivers right fender. I just noticed it as the horrible fit and hood gap had me completely distracted. Had i known what garbage these things are i would have spent the $ to have the orig pounded out. Bad decision. Who sold it? None other than the biggest one in CA. Will post pics when i calm down.

[mr48chev]

Unfortunately that seems to be a continuing theme with large replacement panels. It no doubt saves who knows how much money when they stamp the fender in more than one piece and weld it together. The poor fit is also a major issue.

I'd highly suggest taking any replacement panel to bare metal and working from bare metal out and not treating the factory coating as a base primer coat. I had that issue on my Ot daily driver and had to take it back to bare metal and start over. The car was wrecked and half repaired when I got it cheap but I have the feeling that it was wrecked and repaired before because some of the body panels on the side that wasn't hit don't fit well at all.

[vintovka]

Agreed. Its really down to shop time to repair original OR the cost of the chinese crap part PLUS the shop time to make it look and fit right. As stated earlier on this forum i had to move the ENTIRE panel back nearly an inch, redrill all the holes and reinstall it. This after i paid the shop to install it in the first place. All in all about 200% more than fixing the original and settling for junk-- go figure.

[Rickysnickers]

Originally Posted by vintovka

Who sold it? None other than the biggest one in CA.

Forgive my ignorance, but what company would this be?

[dsraven]

I have seen a rear cab panel that is made up of the major part from one panel and then whatever other patch panels they sell make up the rest of the panel. like the cab corners are a separate part and spot welded on.

[dsraven]

like this, look closely at the cab corners and you will see the cab corners are spot welded in patch panels.
http://dynacorndepot.com/cab-rear-ou...y-pickup-55-59

[vintovka]

Originally Posted by dsraven

like this, look closely at the cab corners and you will see the cab corners are spot welded in patch panels.
http://dynacorndepot.com/cab-rear-ou...y-pickup-55-59

exactly! Given the poor fit alone this chinese stuff is makes me run away much less spending time and $ to bondo over the welds and seams. Whole thing reminds me of a big company sending an original Brown Bess Musket over to asia for reproduction. The trigger guard got bent enroute and the asians copied the defect resulting in tens of thousands of reproduction muskets with "bent" guards. No time was spent in research or testing - just copy as and crank out.

FWIW My crapola fender came from Classic Industries and came with a couple of free dents as well -- $300 bucks and nearly $90 in shipping!!

[mick53]

I guess I'm fortunate where I live and original parts aren't hard to find. There are still a lot of AD trucks around that just kinda got put out back or in the barn. You can get a nice fender for $100 and a dented one for $50. I bought an entire 54 3/4 ton for $300 a couple of years ago. I guess there are some advantages to living in the sticks.

[vintovka]

Originally Posted by mick53

I guess I'm fortunate where I live and original parts aren't hard to find. There are still a lot of AD trucks around that just kinda got put out back or in the barn. You can get a nice fender for $100 and a dented one for $50. I bought an entire 54 3/4 ton for $300 a couple of years ago. I guess there are some advantages to living in the sticks.

Here on the coast everything has rusted away and original parts are dear. Also competent repair shops have been decimated by legalized narcotics and both good work and advice are a scarce commodity. Some shops are over $125 an hour and claim insurance is the reason. As for complete trucks just look at prices on facebook or craigs list. heck even stripped frames are in demand.

FWIW Some may be amused by my pot rants but its really serious and all will be affected.

[Rickysnickers]

Originally Posted by vintovka

FWIW Some may be amused by my pot rants but its really serious and all will be affected.

Totally agree! Sorry to hear that the fender was so lousy.

[vintovka]

Went for a drive today and stopped off at one of the shops i actually trust . They put up a new labor rate sign thats has whiteboard areas for rates. Just went to $135/hr from $125. Handwritten sign below says blame virus, pot and democrats!. Will take a pic when i bring phone next time. They did honor a quote from 3 months ago before all this s--t happened. Also had a little cartoon saying if youre wearing a mask your prolly gonna get shot!!

[mick53]

Originally Posted by vintovka

Went fo drive today and stopped off at one of the shops i actually trust . They put up a new labor rate sign thats has whiteboard areas for rates. Just went t0 $135/hr from $125. Handwritten sign below says blame virus, pot and democrats!. Will take a pic when i bring phone next time. They did honor a quote from 3 months ago before all this s--t happened. Also had a little cartoon saying if youre wearing a mask your prolly gonna get shot!!

Maybe that's why we have so many trucks here. Everybody just sits around stoned and looks at them and watches the corn grow. Don't even get me going on the shine. Damn corn.

[MiraclePieCo]

Originally Posted by vintovka

FWIW Some may be amused by my pot rants but its really serious and all will be affected.

I think your pot rants are hilarious. But yeah, most of my week is spent correcting things that someone else has avoided, neglected, or just plain screwed up.

Originally Posted by mick53

Don't even get me going on the shine. Damn corn.

Isn't that where that damn ethanol comes from? Millions of train cars of that crap coming into this state daily. Try putting it in an airplane and see what happens...

[vintovka]

Current events will no doubt increase all means of escaping reality (and responsibility)

[mick53]

There's more than corn in Indiana, there's beans too.

[73kay]

I just ordered a driver fender and bed sides from classic parts. Going to give them a whirl. I also compared to classic industries in CA and they have a disclaimer about the welded on parts. That scared me away. Classic parts has always been pretty good to deal with.

[mick53]

Originally Posted by MiraclePieCo

I think your pot rants are hilarious. But yeah, most of my week is spent correcting things that someone else has avoided, neglected, or just plain screwed up.



Isn't that where that damn ethanol comes from? Millions of train cars of that crap coming into this state daily. Try putting it in an airplane and see what happens...

I build dry ice manufacturing plants nationwide for a living. We always put them next to ethanol plants. The fermentation puts off so much CO2 that we pipe it to the ice plant for production of the dry ice and ship it out in tankers. In the last 2 years they have closed down 2, 50 million dollar dry ice plants because the ethanol plants have closed down. Ethanol is on borrowed time. We are now building them next to ammonia plants.

[vintovka]

Think a pothead china man made this one. The other is original.

[vintovka]

And per usual they are SIDEWAYS! but you get the idea.

[my56chevytruck]

Originally Posted by mick53

There's more than corn in Indiana, there's beans too.

yep, we've got corn corn corn, and a few million cows here in Hoosierville.

[57tailgater]

Originally Posted by my56chevytruck

yep, we've got corn corn corn, and a few million cows here in Hoosierville.

Indiana Beach!!! (former born and bred Hoosier) Not to mention wheat.