Fender rust

[tractor1971]

My 2002 Dodge Ram has the great rust disease around the fenders in the usual place, as well as where the mud flaps were. I am planning on getting fender flares to put the rust in the fender under cover, but I will have to replace/patch in some sheet metal where the mud flaps use to be to screw the fender
flares to something sturdy. I have no extra tools to do sheet metal work with, and I cannot seem to find a patch online in Canada to weld in place. I guess my question is if anybody know of such a patch, or if not, any ideas on bending/shaping sheet metal to fit. This is not a show room vehicle. I appreciate the help.P1080606.jpgP1080607.jpg

[autobodytech43]

you can make that corner having a piece of sheetmetal over a small pipe and hammer forming it over the pipe to get the round edge. Then you'd cut some reliefs into it to get the right bend where the flap bolts into. This is of course since you don't have a metal shrinker/stretcher.

Len sells precut edges that are ideal for this type of repair

[Len]

My 2002 Dodge Ram has the great rust disease around the fenders in the usual place, as well as where the mud flaps were. I am planning on getting fender flares to put the rust in the fender under cover, but I will have to replace/patch in some sheet metal where the mud flaps use to be to screw the fender
flares to something sturdy. I have no extra tools to do sheet metal work with, and I cannot seem to find a patch online in Canada to weld in place. I guess my question is if anybody know of such a patch, or if not, any ideas on bending/shaping sheet metal to fit. This is not a show room vehicle. I appreciate the help.P1080606.jpgP1080607.jpg

The way we would do that job would be to weld in a piece of EZ Edge (C) as a backing then cut a moon shaped piece of metal to weld to the EZ Edge so that we would have a sturdy repair. I'd probably use epoxy primer and seam sealer to seal the back and fiberglass filler to shape the exterior before painting.

LINK

[Phil V]

My 2002 Dodge Ram has the great rust disease around the fenders in the usual place, as well as where the mud flaps were. I am planning on getting fender flares to put the rust in the fender under cover, but I will have to replace/patch in some sheet metal where the mud flaps use to be to screw the fender
flares to something sturdy. I have no extra tools to do sheet metal work with, and I cannot seem to find a patch online in Canada to weld in place. I guess my question is if anybody know of such a patch, or if not, any ideas on bending/shaping sheet metal to fit. This is not a show room vehicle. I appreciate the help.P1080606.jpgP1080607.jpg

Do you have any body working tools, sanders, paint guns, welder etc ? Any experience with welding sheet metal, working with body filler, blocking filler and primer as well as painting ? The answers to those questions will dictate if you're getting in over your head going that route and will directly impact the outcome of the work you do. If the answer to most of those questions is NO then there is a cheap/just about free way to cobble it using no filler, no paint and the fender flare will stay on.

[tractor1971]

Thanks for all the replies and suggestions. I always think people like you are not getting enough of the thank-you that is well deserved. I will do exactly what you are suggesting, Phil V-yes I do have all the equipment, and has done a little welding and spraying etc.
I will get the stuff from Len.

Phil

[SamG]

I do realize that you might not have access to rust-free used panels, but if I were in your situation and was going to go to the trouble of welding in a patch (or patches), I'd spend a little time trying to find a section from a used panel. It would already have the correct shape...no relief cuts to have to weld, etc...

All of the used stuff in your area might look just like what you've got...

SamG

wow, I just did an ebay search...there are repair patches for the cab corners, door skins, and the wheel arch, but nothing for the lower section of fender or bedside

[Phil V]

Thanks for all the replies and suggestions. I always think people like you are not getting enough of the thank-you that is well deserved. I will do exactly what you are suggesting, Phil V-yes I do have all the equipment, and has done a little welding and spraying etc.
I will get the stuff from Len.

Phil

Tractor1971, You're good to go then with the equipment and experience. Most newcomers to this site have little or no equipment and little or no experience so you should have no problems. The notched patch panels that Len suggested work great for wheel arches and will make an excellent way for you to attach your fender flares.

Sam, I think where tractor1971 is coming from is he has an older truck that is starting to get a little rusty around the wheel wells. He can't really justify putting new sheetmetal body panels on or even justify welding in sections of good used panels. The whole idea of using the fender flares is to buy a little time with the fender flares covering up the wheel arch rust for a couple more to several more years of the truck still looking good as opposed to rust around each wheel. Been there, done that. A while back I had an older Ford F150 4x4, it ran good but was starting to get rust out around the wheel wells on the truck (rear mostly on the ford trucks) I just couldn't justify putting a bunch of time and money into the truck. So I bought some Bushwhacker fender flares that covered the rust by a good 4 inches all the way around the wheel wells and the truck looked good for several years while I drove it. Still looked good when I sold the truck and upgraded to a newer lower mileage truck. When it comes to those fender flares sometimes "good enough - IS good enough and from a money standpoint a smart move.

[Chevman]

Last time I was in Alberta they used fine gravel on the snow covered roads, but that was at least 30 years ago, are they using salt now?

[tractor1971]

As far as I know, only fine gravel, but I noticed that the 2002 -2006 Dodge 1500 has fender rust issues regardless of salt. I do think they sprinkle a bit of salt on bad road sections however.

[Len]

As far as I know, only fine gravel, but I noticed that the 2002 -2006 Dodge 1500 has fender rust issues regardless of salt. I do think they sprinkle a bit of salt on bad road sections however.

Hey, I got an F350 that they put open cell foam between the inner wheelhouse and the bed sides that collects water and holds it against the metal. You would think that by the 1970s they would have seen how that causes the metal to rot out.