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Squarebody CHOP Shop

I have spent the last week of evenings working to clean and organize a bit in the shop. It started for two reasons. First, I need to work on my trailer so I can leave for Blazer Bash but needed to make extra room to fit it in. Second, I randomly bought a couple new shelf units at Costco (been wanting them for a while) last weekend and the boxes were not going to fit in the shop workout starting this project. I'm only halfway done, but I should be able to move the trailer in the shop now at this point which means I'll have to finish organizing later.

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Out of everything done to organize, I'm most happy about my jack stands having a dedicated storage location that it out of the way, convenient to reach, and frees up floor space in the working area.
 
Could you bend some hoops out of small tubing or rebar and reinforce the fender lip? I don't know if it's worth the effort, but the stiffness should stop the resonance that cracks them. It might also help to just put a support to the frame between the tires.
 
Blue85 said:
Could you bend some hoops out of small tubing or rebar and reinforce the fender lip? I don't know if it's worth the effort, but the stiffness should stop the resonance that cracks them. It might also help to just put a support to the frame between the tires.
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Not without gas for the welder...

The doubler plate should change the resonance frequency, increase stiffness, and add strength at the weld repair. If that method fails, it's time to cut them off and build diamond plate drive over fenders.
 
Blue85 said:
Could you bend some hoops out of small tubing or rebar and reinforce the fender lip? I don't know if it's worth the effort, but the stiffness should stop the resonance that cracks them. It might also help to just put a support to the frame between the tires.
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That's what I would do.
I never leave a flat sheet metal open like this.
The design originally was weak.
 
imiceman44 said:
That's what I would do.
I never leave a flat sheet metal open like this.
The design originally was weak.
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The original design is strong and lightweight until it is compromised by a dent or deformation from impact. I never had issues with the fenders the first 3 years until I hit one with a truck tire unloading that bent the fender. It went downhill from there.

What you don't realize with these trailers is the frame is very flexible and these fenders are part of the structure when welded on like this. Once the fenders were damaged, I could see the frame flex down when loading a truck and up when chaining down the vehicle. Then when you drive down the road, the frame cycles from flexing up/down in the center and that is what grows the cracks.

If I made the fenders float by making them removable with well thought out mounting points, I could avoid this issue all together. The trick is to avoid mounts that bind up during loading/chaining. The other options is I can always make stronger drive-over fenders, but it comes at a cost of extra weight. However, that adds structure to the frame as well increasing the stiffness of the frame a bit.
 
Saturday, I was able to get my parts washer cleaned out as it was long overdue. I need to build a filtration system to collect the gunk before it plugs the pump. I've also heard it is good to use a magnetic mount heater on the bottom of the tank to warm up the solvent.

Onthe positive side, I run real solvent and it appears to do a very good job.

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kennyw said:
I had a couple guys come out for a core motor yesterday in a Subaru wagon. I guess anything is possible when you don't care about the car...

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I once bought a front axle from a guy, he said he'd deliver it. He showed up in an 80s Ford Escort hatchback. They had simply chucked the axle right into the hatch area, with the hatch still closed. Right through the window, lol. It was even cold weather.
 
kennyw said:
I had a couple guys come out for a core motor yesterday in a Subaru wagon. I guess anything is possible when you don't care about the car...
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And you don't care if you get killed if someone pulls out in front of you. An engine to the back of the head would be quite fatal.
 
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