Fender liners...

[mk]

Whilst in the midst of a front brake job, the sun warm on my shoulders, my mind began to wander as I looked up under the front fenders. Got thinking about where all that water, snow and slush is gonna end up in the not too distant future for those of us that wanna drive our trucks anywhere north of Oregon. Also got thinking about all those virginal cab mounts I've seen on '77-'79 dentsides so I went and picked up a set of fender liners from one of those trucks to see if they'd fit.



Turns out the arch is bigger on the newer trucks. With a little time spent trimming and remolding, they'll actually fit pretty well. I just need to get the heat gun to make the bottom curves match the bump fenders.



Now my cab mounts, outer fenders and upper inner fenders are protected. Kind of late for these ones but the replacements will last longer when I get around to restoring it...



mike

[floyd67]

the last time we spoke you said you were going to that. how long did it take?

[mk]

To this point, barely half an hour...
Helps to have a warm day or shop so they're flexible. Trimming the edge for decent fit starts with tapering in from the bottom screw hole on each end as you can see on the pic to a depth equivalent to the inside edge of the rest of the holes. With care in fitting, they'll look pretty good. This was just a quickie experiment to see if they'd actually work.

mike

[FLATBEDFORD]

I have a set from an '86 that I plan to use eventually. How did you attach them?

[mk]

I just kept the screws that held them to the donor truck and reused them, Steve. For the inside edge I might have to use a small bolt throught the inner fender.

mike

[mljjones67]

This is a sweet upgrade.  have it on my list now!

[truckguy]

I have aways wounder if they would work.
Kyle

[My427stang]

I have had later model liner on my 71 in since the early 90's.  They work great and undoubtedly the best thing you can do to protect the cab mounts in a place that salts the roads, it will prevent rust.

The second place is the back of the cab, they also had plastic panels that protected the back of the cab corners.  I did NOT put those in the first time, and I am paying on this restoration.  The cab mounts lasted beautifully, the cab corners and inside panels disappeared.

[mk]

Great avatar, 427. I sent some parts to a guy near Charlotte one time and got him to send me an HM tshirt.
Steve, we're in the middle of a body swap on dad's '85 4x4 and I had a look at the fender liners. If I were you, I'd get some pre '80 liners. They will be a lot less work to fit  



mike

[basketcase0302]

MK,

Good stuff man.

I've got a set from my 79' that I was gonna ebay, guess I won't now.

Basketcase

[FLATBEDFORD]

I didn't know the pre '80 trucks had them. They would surely work better than the '86 ones. I'll have to keep an eye out for 'em.

[mk]

It would have been great if they started using them earlier. They started in the '77 trucks.

mike