Hinge fenders, remove or….

[93redzj]

I bought a 16ft car hauler a few weeks back and everything has worked good so far, hauled my 62 Chevy II, my XJ and our TJ on it thus far with no issue, however I just realized that once I get the new drivetrain under my XJ, it’s gonna be just a tad too wide for the fenders on the trailer. It’s gonna have a D44 front and D70 rear with 37x12.50x16.5 on it and those are looking to be about 79” wide with the inside of the fenders on the trailer measuring 76”.

The fenders on it currently have seen better days for sure but they still serve their purpose. Question is, cut them and hinge them Uhaul style (or replace with new ones and make them hinge), cut them off and run without fenders altogether, or reinforce them to be driven over top of?

 

[GotWood]

Stand 2x6's up on the inside and secure to fender.

 

[drkelly]

Cut them off. I bought my Kaufman trailer with removable fenders because my old cab truck was too wide. I took them off, and I don't think I've ever put them back on.

 

[93redzj]

Stand 2x6's up on the inside and secure to fender.

Inside as here? I like the idea but wonder how it would affect the hauling of other vehicles? I don’t recall how much extra clearance I had when hauling the 62 but I would like to make sure I’ve still got the ability to haul stuff like that when needed

 

[93redzj]

Cut them off. I bought my Kaufman trailer with removable fenders because my old cab truck was too wide. I took them off, and I don't think I've ever put them back on.

This was my dads thoughts, I haven’t paid much attention to other trailers out there but didn’t know if there were any negatives to running without fenders

 

[drkelly]

This was my dads thoughts, I haven’t paid much attention to other trailers out there but didn’t know if there were any negatives to running without fenders

I guess the only downside would be road debris getting thrown up. That might matter if you ever tow anything nice. Not a consideration for me.

 

[LBarr2002]

I'm not sure what the legalities of no fenders are...

I had tires blow and damaged my removable fenders so we towed from GA to Moab and back to SC with no fenders and didn't have any issues, but I'm sure people behind me didn't appreciate it.

 

[braxton357]

Lots of equipment trailers come with no fenders, i used a pair of them for years and it's nice for a lot of reasons, including forklift loading things and loading trucks. Now I've got deckover trailers and the trailers with fenders are 1/4" drive over diamond plate fenders, really like when it's raining or muddy not making a rooster tail of it.
My vote is just weld some 3x3" angle iron to them and make them drive over fenders

 

[93redzj]

Lots of equipment trailers come with no fenders, i used a pair of them for years and it's nice for a lot of reasons, including forklift loading things and loading trucks. Now I've got deckover trailers and the trailers with fenders are 1/4" drive over diamond plate fenders, really like when it's raining or muddy not making a rooster tail of it.
My vote is just weld some 3x3" angle iron to them and make them drive over fenders

Not a bad idea, seems pretty easy and straight forward. I wonder how much of a PITA it would be should my rig ever break and need to be winched up on the trailer and over the fenders. Trailer does have an 8k winch on it

 

[braxton357]

Not a bad idea, seems pretty easy and straight forward. I wonder how much of a PITA it would be should my rig ever break and need to be winched up on the trailer and over the fenders. Trailer does have an 8k winch on it

Not as easy as with no fenders but no tougher than going up the ramps

 

[Bebop]

I made my drive over fenders from scratch. I can use a highlift directly on the fender to lift the whole thing on the side of the road if I have to. They're strong AF.

2x6x.120 and .188 plate.

 

[upnover]

@Bebop fenders arethe shit for sure. But, if you wanna make them work on the cheap,... I'd add a support under the fender, between the tires, add a piece pf plate to the top of the fenders, and then put two married 2X's bolted through the fender to widen it on the inside. From what you said, you have 3" wider than the inside of the trailer between the fender wells. so 1.5" On each side. adding the layered 2X's (6, 8, 10 or 12 depending on the height of your fenders, will give you a lot more tire area going over them. Also, cut the 2X's at a better/ramp like angle, so you can traverse the span easier.

 

[93redzj]

@Bebop fenders arethe shit for sure. But, if you wanna make them work on the cheap,... I'd add a support under the fender, between the tires, add a piece pf plate to the top of the fenders, and then put two married 2X's bolted through the fender to widen it on the inside. From what you said, you have 3" wider than the inside of the trailer between the fender wells. so 1.5" On each side. adding the layered 2X's (6, 8, 10 or 12 depending on the height of your fenders, will give you a lot more tire area going over them. Also, cut the 2X's at a better/ramp like angle, so you can traverse the span easier.

My only concern with this would be making it too narrow inside the fenders to haul other non 4x4 vehicles

 

[Caver Dave]

I still say the best compromise between no fenders/drive over I've seen was Ricky R's... "drive over" fenders made of conveyor belt and no hassles

 

[OnlyOneDR]

I would never not want fenders on a trailer; no sense kicking up rocks and debris on whatever you are towing not to mention the mess it makes when it rains or if your tire has a blowout. It's one thing to fling stuff off onto the road and quite another to have a tire damage whatever you are towing on the deck. My Kaufmann has bolt-on removable fenders; I rarely use the feature but when I built my truck it needed to be <80" wide to slip between the fenders and that was a design constraint. You can always get wheels with backspacing that pulls the tires inward a little bit, especially on something narrower like an XJ, but 76" will still be really tough. Hinging is nice and I may change mine to do that at some point.

 

[93redzj]

I would never not want fenders on a trailer; no sense kicking up rocks and debris on whatever you are towing not to mention the mess it makes when it rains or if your tire has a blowout. It's one thing to fling stuff off onto the road and quite another to have a tire damage whatever you are towing on the deck. My Kaufmann has bolt-on removable fenders; I rarely use the feature but when I built my truck it needed to be <80" wide to slip between the fenders and that was a design constraint. You can always get wheels with backspacing that pulls the tires inward a little bit, especially on something narrower like an XJ, but 76" will still be really tough. Hinging is nice and I may change mine to do that at some point.

Yeah I’m leaning towards cutting these off and replacing, hinging the new ones while I’m at it. Building some like @Bebop did would be pretty sweet but I’ll probably buy new ones and hinge them as my solution.

 

[Croatan_Kid]

I've been wanting to do some work on my trailer as well and was up in the air over hinging the fenders, making drive overs out of c channel and also widening the deck to match, or making them removeable. I'm glad to say that after seeing this thread, I still haven't made up my mind

If I make drive overs, I'll probably make them as low profile as possible with a pretty low approach and departure angle. I think widening the deck with the same c channel would be cool as well, but add a bit of weight to the trailer. I'll probably just make some driver overs and live with that...and add a winch mount up in the neck...and cut the jacks out and move them up a few inches like they should have done when they made it.

 

[paradisePWoffrd]

I still say the best compromise between no fenders/drive over I've seen was Ricky R's... "drive over" fenders made of conveyor belt and no hassles

Have any pics of this? I am guessing its just a belt that is bolted on each end with no center support?

I would never not want fenders on a trailer; no sense kicking up rocks and debris on whatever you are towing not to mention the mess it makes when it rains or if your tire has a blowout. It's one thing to fling stuff off onto the road and quite another to have a tire damage whatever you are towing on the deck. My Kaufmann has bolt-on removable fenders; I rarely use the feature but when I built my truck it needed to be <80" wide to slip between the fenders and that was a design constraint. You can always get wheels with backspacing that pulls the tires inward a little bit, especially on something narrower like an XJ, but 76" will still be really tough. Hinging is nice and I may change mine to do that at some point.

I agree with this. My trailers do not have fenders on them, but I typically am hauling equipment so I dont worry much. If I were going to haul any cars, I would put some on.


What about building "stake" pockets and attaching the "stake" to the fender. Then they just slide up and out. Could be a simple 1" tube with a 1.25/1.5" pocket. stick a pin in the bottom of one so it doesnt bounce out. Most of the time, only the driver side is removeable, since they are typically for allowing someone to open a car door.

 

[Caver Dave]

Have any pics of this? I am guessing its just a belt that is bolted on each end with no center support?

It's been years (decades) since I've seen or talked to him, but IIRC, that's the jest... some heavier angle welded fore/aft of the tires and some conveyor belting bolted to them

What about building "stake" pockets and attaching the "stake" to the fender. Then they just slide up and out. Could be a simple 1" tube with a 1.25/1.5" pocket. stick a pin in the bottom of one so it doesnt bounce out. Most of the time, only the driver side is removeable, since they are typically for allowing someone to open a car door.

Aren't most of the "removable's" setup that way?

 

[paradisePWoffrd]

Aren't most of the "removable's" setup that way?

Could be. Its not a revolutionary idea. Ive only seen ones with hinges or bolted on.

 

[RoosterRash]

What about making a ramp out of a piece of channel that would sit down in the stake pockets and could be removed if not needed

 

[paradisePWoffrd]

What about making a ramp out of a piece of channel that would sit down in the stake pockets and could be removed if not needed

I did this with my old car trailer. Except it wasn't the fenders themselves, but the wood bracing. Used 6x6s cut at an angle on the ends. They would sit just inside of the fender, on the deck. I attached some wood at the ends that secured them into the stake pockets. Was easy to remove if needed. It would have been just as easy to throw a few deck screws through the top though.