fender rubber

[Rusty Hooker]

I see a lot of finished trucks, beautiful pieces of work, and see the parts catalogs offering the rubber that goes between the rear fender and the box. Does anyone ever use this stuff? I can never see it in the pics of the finished rides. What do you guys do? This truck shows no evidence of it ( relly pretty ride by the way).

[potterg]

Rusty Hooker,

I think it's really up to the builder. I see quite a few with the rubber installed and as you noted have seen it on a few without it. I prefer to have it. I have attached a pic of one with it. Hope this helps..

Greg

[entourageguy]

here is a couple of shots with the welting on mine ....

[MrTucker]

It was installed from the factory to reduce rattles, to keep the painted pieces from rubbing together and chipping the paint, and to keep moisture out, which can cause rust. If you plan on driving your truck a lot it would be a good idea to put it on. Most of the show trucks that you see with out it rarely get driven enough to make a difference.

FYI, when I disassembled my truck one fender was replaced a couple decades ago and whoever fixed it did not install this stuff and there was some rust between the two pieces. But it took 20+ years just to get some surface rust, and this thing was used and abused...

[01spirit750]

It is called "fender welt"

I am pretty sure that it was not installed originally on the trucks (but I was not at the factory when they assembled these trucks). I do not care for the looks so I used 3m flexible strip caulk (3M8578) between the rear fenders and the bedsides. This prevents the fenders from rubbing against the bed sides and it also seals out water.

[57 Jimmy]

Thanks for the info 01spirit750 just getting ready to do this great timing guys.

[01spirit750]

If you use the 3m stuff, be carefull it is really sticky. I put it in the middle of the fender flange area, then where there was a bolt hole I just worked it around the opening. Once it touches something it is hard to get off.

To install the rear fenders I used two alignment bolts to put the fender in place. This way my wife and I could each lift an end of the fender and set it in place. Then all she had to do was put a little pressure on the fender while I installed the bolts.

For the alignment bolts I purchased two really long 3/8 hex bolts (5" +) and washers and nuts. With the fenders off the truck I put electrical tape on the washers (to protect the new paint),I put a washer on the bolt and then put the bolt thru the farthest forward (lowest holes in the bedside) and the farthest back fender bolt holes (with the threads from the inside of the bed facing out). I then installed a washer and a nut and tightened up the nut (not overly tight). I then install two bolts in the top center of the fender. I did not tighten them up very much. Then I was able to pull the bottom of the fender away from the bed side just a little so I could put an open end wrench and remove the nuts from my alignment bolts.

I hope this makes sense if not I could try to explain. i did this because everything was newly painted and I did not want to damage the paint. I also realized that even with two guys holding the fender it would be hard to align without some sort of alignment pins.

[Rusty Hooker]

thanx guys, great info