Fender Repair

[markmartin]

Here's a fix that seems to have worked so I thought I'd pass it along.

Busted tab on my front fender.  A new fender would be $70 .

Made a mold of the good tab on the opposite side of the fender, with some leftover 'repo-rubber' that scooterbob had sent to me, then filled the mold with epoxy and let it cure overnight.  I think any putty or play-doe would work for mold material.


Using masking tape and a scrap piece of wood to hold the new tab in position, filled the area with more epoxy.  Let that cure overnight.


A few minutes with a round file and a flat file to clean it up.  If it's not evident, the white colored tab in the foreground is the new tab.


A little touch up paint.

[rktmanfj]

Very well done!     

[Arnie]

Yes, nicely done. 
Putting a thin layer of fiberglass cloth in the epoxy would make it much stronger and less likely to break again.

Arnie

[markmartin]

Yes, nicely done.  
Putting a thin layer of fiberglass cloth in the epoxy would make it much stronger and less likely to break again.

Arnie

I agree.  My original plan was to get to where it is now, and epoxy cloth to both sides of the tab and extend the cloth over from the tab to the fender. It seemed quite rugged (surprisingly so)  just the way it is now so I'm going to try it like this.  If it breaks, I'll fess up to y'all and use the cloth on the next attempt.  It's all in the name of (FJ) science.  

[FJmonkey]

I agree.  My original plan was to get to where it is now, and epoxy cloth to both sides of the tab and extend the cloth over from the tab to the fender. It seemed quite rugged (surprisingly so)  just the way it is now so I'm going to try it like this.  If it breaks, I'll fess up to y'all and use the cloth on the next attempt.  It's all in the name of (FJ) science.  

Glass the inside enough to make up for the missing reflector bracket and eliminate the stress that caused the crack in the first place. Unless the bracket went under both fender tabs.....Anyone know where the bracket went?

[markmartin]

Glass the inside enough to make up for the missing reflector bracket and eliminate the stress that caused the crack in the first place. Unless the bracket went under both fender tabs.....Anyone know where the bracket went?

Yeah good idea.  I've got 10 weeks before any chance of riding weather and the other side is cracked but holding so I"ll do both sides.  I've still got the reflector brackets so I can't blame that.  I cracked the tab by overtightening the bolt --then broke it off completely when I picked up on the fender to test how bad the crack was.  Evidently it was pretty bad.

[FJmonkey]

Yeah good idea.  I've got 10 weeks before any chance of riding weather and the other side is cracked but holding so I"ll do both sides.  I've still got the reflector brackets so I can't blame that.  I cracked the tab by overtightening the bolt --then broke it off completely when I picked up on the fender to test how bad the crack was.  Evidently it was pretty bad.

Can you measure the bracket thickness? And where does the bracket go, between the tabs, under the tabs? My bike came without them.

[markmartin]

Can you measure the bracket thickness? And where does the bracket go, between the tabs, under the tabs? My bike came without them.

The reflector bracket thickness measures .065".  It goes on the outside of of the two (when joined) tabs. I'm talking about this reflector bracket assembly.  Are we talking about the same thing?

[FJmonkey]

The reflector bracket thickness measures .065".  It goes on the outside of of the two (when joined) tabs. I'm talking about this reflector bracket assembly.  Are we talking about the same thing?

Yes, but others said with it missing, the fender tabs get bent too far and break, suggesting it goes under or between the fender tabs. Thanks for the info.

[RichBaker]

That's the part I can't get my head around..... IIRC, on my '90 the reflector brackets were on the outside of the fender tabs, also.  My FJ was pretty much unmolested (2300 miles) when I got her, so I doubt they had been off.  So, I don't understand what David is saying.....

David, can you take picture and post it so we can see what you're talking about with these brackets??

[SlowOldGuy]

Sorry, I'm not home at the moment.  But, unless I'm totally off my OCD meds, I remember the brackets being behind the tabs and next to the fork.  

I also remember specifically putting the brackets back on this way when I changed the calipers to blue dots.  The bracket has a built-in clamp that held the stock brakelines.  Line routing on the new calipers doesn't allow the lines to pass through these brackets.  

Take under consideration that I've had my fender off a number of times and NEVER had any tab problems.

And, being the original owner of my '85, my FJ was totally unmolested.  :-)

Another thing, the stock brakelines were attached to these brackets.  In order to remove a caliper (like when changing a front tire), the reflector bracket also had to be removed.   Maybe your previous owner did this and didn't pay as much attention as I do when putting it back on?  These are the kind of small details that are somehow burned into my brain for some obscure reason.

DavidR.

[markmartin]

To what David said, my brake lines are aftermarket SS braided lines, installed by the PO. Perhaps there is some part that was removed when the SS lines were installed. I'm not familiar with the OEM set up.

I checked the schematic and they list a 'washer plate' which I don't' have, but it just seems to be a flat washer from looking at the picture.  This is on the '89 schematic.  Maybe the 'washer plate' goes on first, then the fender halves, then the reflector bracket, then the bolt?  I'll check to see if there's any space between the fender halves and the forks when I reassemble. Perhaps if there is a space, this could be taken up by the thickness of the 'washer plate' on each side. Perhaps if I'm not using the washer plate, I'm tweeking my fenders together more than intended in the original design?   I'll have to put it all together to ascertain.

For what it's worth, my reflector bracket also holds my SS brake line in place.  There's a bit of "torque" on the bracket when I screw this on as the SS line are a bit stiff/not flexible --as any SS line would be I'm assuming.

[Mark Olson]

Install a fork brace as well or the tabs will break off.

the spindly 41mm forks flex all over unless you use a superbrace or Randy's RPM model brace.

this will stop tab breakage as well.

[rktmanfj]

I'd guess that neither Rich's nor David's bike were 'molested', but some guys who assemble the bikes from the crate follow the assembly manual a lot closer than others.         

In some of the shops I've been around, the assemblers are not the most skilled help in the place.

[SlowOldGuy]

Okay, this is really bugging me now.

The first thing I'm gonna do when I get home is take off the 3 covers, rip open the hermatically sealed bag, unwrap the paint preserving protective wrap and gently wipe off the winter coat of wax.

Then if I can still remember why I started that, I'll check on the bracket.

Maybe, if the weather is good, I'll wash the bike.  :-)

DavidR.