Homemade Fenders

Bob Ingman · Post by **Bob Ingman** » Tue Oct 26, 2004 8:35 pm

Or use adapters to fit the four hole rime to the car. Bob

suntour · Post by **suntour** » Thu Oct 28, 2004 12:39 pm

Greetings Fellow Thing owners,

I have been off the forum for a while due to a slight mishap with the gutter/cistern system built into my house and the non-stop rain here in the L.A. area. (Translates into, temporarily homeless for 3+months.) Anyway, there is a bright side to this (If you can call anything related to mass destruction a bright side.) I will soon have a massive amount of Stainless Steel sheet metal available for anyone who wants to do some fab work on their Thing as a result of the rain damage.

I noticed someone suggested doing the tube fender idea out of Stainless. Personally this sounds like a great idea and I would be happy to start some templates and some 3D mock ups (SolidWorks, AutoCAD, FormZ) to post for a group discussion. I believe that our collective input could create a killer set of Tube Fenders (Front and Rear). I will jump on this just as soon as things start to settle down here and I can get some of my physical work space cleared out. (Right now the entire contents of my house are in the barn out back, so I can barely even get to my tools.)

So, with that said any starting suggestions?

Oh, I will be willing to sell some of this Stainless Sheet Metal for around .40 cents a pound if anyone is interested. Without being able to properly measure it at this point I believe it is 20 gauge and I have about 2000 square feet, approximately 16 inches wide and 10 to 20 foot lengths.

Let the fabrication begin.

suntour · Post by **suntour** » Thu Oct 28, 2004 12:45 pm

Oh, does anyone have an accurate 3D model of a Thing? (or semi accurate?) I can take just about any modeling form but I would prefer FormZ or SolidWorks. IGES also works pretty well. This would save me some time sitting around measuring my Thing and plugging it into the computer.

Bob Ingman · Post by **Bob Ingman** » Thu Oct 28, 2004 2:02 pm

kindred it was I that mentioned stainless but in passing. I do want these fenders. Already have some aluminum sheet that could be used if someone can come up with attachable tube frames F&R. I can shape and rivet the sheet to the frames.
Personally I think this is going to go far beyond this forum if someone has the ability to produce this product. There are more pre-runner types today than original stockers. At least more interest is being generated there. Keep us informed. Bob

Capn Skully · Post by **Capn Skully** » Thu Oct 28, 2004 9:21 pm

I like it, the bug fenders really look pretty cool IMHO. As far as fabing up some tubular fenders I work more like Pauley on American chopper.. . cut a piece fit it, adjust it and play with it until I get it to look right. Of course I don't have the shop tools he has either.

I am currently building extension ramps for my car trailer, and a four inch narrowed adjustable beam for a dune buggy. Those projects have priority plus I have a full time job.

I am open to ideas and suggestions and I'll keep everyone posted, if nothing else my '73 will have a set of custom fenders.

"G"