Cracked fenders

[kthompson57]

I had a couple stress cracks in the door side fender, arrived at a destination but the fender stayed on the road some place. $80 bucks for an unpainted one from Heartland.
Now the off door side is doing the same.
Anyone having the same problem?
Anyone have a good solution?
Super glue did not work.
I picked up some Gorilla Epoxy today to try.
Thanks for your help.

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[RedmondChuck]

There are posts on here where ppl have epoxied etc the back side. I also plan on doing this. The other one I remember is spray foam the inside after epoxy. I'm excited to do both also. Waiting for some cooler weather.

 

[alexb2000]

There is a fender brace underneath the middle of the fender that came loose on me. I imagine that it would have quickly caused the cracking you are experiencing. On mine the brace is held to the body with (2) No. 12 self-tapping screws, so nothing bullet proof. Did you check those?

 

[MTPockets]

Mine started doing that, so I added four more stainless steel screws. Also, place a spacer, or washers behind the skirt so you don't crack the skirt when you tighten the screws. Solved my problem and no more issues.

 

[Jesstruckn/Jesstalkn]

Adding a better support on the under side will help prevent that from happening in the first place. For those of you that can save yours.
I'll find my post and attach it here soon

found the link
https://heartlandowners.org/showthread.php/54076-Project-LM-365?p=497267&viewfull=1#post497267

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[BWStark]

My opinion is the fenders crack because of flexing from vibration and flexing. What I intend to do is cut 1/4" plywood to fit inside the fenders and screw and glue it inside the fender. That should cut down on the flexing.

 

[Doublegranch]

I lost a fender skirt returning from Goshen....After the new one arrived, I used small washers in front of the skirt and a foam or poly washer on the back side between the skirt and the metal J-wrap. Then used what I called a fender skirt metal clip on the back side of the screw. These are the clips you will see the auto industry use for door panels etc. This has appeared to be very solid and the first test will be in Sept on the next 3 rally's. I also drilled holes in the vertical brace behind the center of the skirt that was void of screws and did the same to the center brace.

I will let you know if this works.

 

[danemayer]

I've been through several sets and with full body paint, it's inconvenient. On the most recent set, in addition to the stabilizing bar, I put a thin layer of JB Weld Epoxy on the backside around each screw hole and covered the epoxy with Gorilla Tape. My goal was to spread the load from the screw head across a wide area. I have over 5,000 miles of mostly interstate towing since then and they're holding up.

 

[sengli]

I pulled mine off and used epoxy resin and cloth to re-enforce those areas on the plastic skirts. Like new again. The reason they broke initially, was due to them wobbling in the breeze. They need to be held on tight.

 

[Bbsscotty]

Would spraying the "as seen on TV" flex spray on the back of the skirt help with these issues??

 

[kthompson57]

Mine did the same as shown back in August.
I lost the door side and had to replace. I found paint at big box store to closely match. No one has noticed the slight difference between factory and non-factory.
I tightened screws and attached at all points available, still they shook every time I ran down the road.
So taking some ideas shared on my post, such as epoxy and gorilla tape, and spray foam.
I sanded the insides first to make sure the foam had a good grip, then sprayed as evenly as possible.
I still have one small crack but with the foam they are solid and do not shake going down the road.
I applied epoxy around each hole, then put the gorilla tape, this really helps to distribute that hold.

 

[mlpeloquin]

When my fifth wheel was new I found a small crack starting around two screws on the passenger side fender skirt. Then after inspecting, I found that there wasn't any center support as there was on the other side. I call Heartland parts department and they sent me a support. The wrong one, but better. It was metal not plastic. I bent it to the proper shape and it has cured the problem. Some have put washers around the screw heads to spread out the stress point and have had success. A rubber washer between the supports and the fender skirts would dampen the forces on the fender and may very well eliminate the problem as well. Movement is the cause so dampening the forces or eliminating the movement is the answer.

 

[teasac69]

All great ideas and appreciated. I am repairing mine now from the bottom of the fender that attaches with the brace breaking out at the screw hole. It happened while traveling and by the time I caught it, I had three broken out screw holes. I epoxied the holes from the inside and also used a piece of a plastic ruler I cut to fit and put it on the bottom.

The best "preventative" measure folks could take is to pull that screw out of the brace, replace it with a small bolt and insulating washers and use a nylock nut. When that screw backs out, you have no support and it will break very quickly if traveling.

This is a great example of a very simple factory fix that would save a lot of trouble and ugly broken fenders. Better supports and isolating washers on the fenders would save a lot.

I'm scratching my head with the foam idea. I'm certain it would make it more solid, just not sure if the extra weight would be good or bad.

 

[danemayer]

Given the irregular shape and the airflow, I'd think there must be a Bernoulli effect where the air pressure on each side changes constantly as you tow the trailer. And I'd bet that the faster you go, the more force is applied to the fender. Those forces would cause constant wiggle of the fender which can be controlled to some extent by having at least one brace.

But my suspicion is that even with a brace, the constant pressure changes are going to cause a failure of the fender material where the screws go through. How you reinforce the material around those screw holes seems to be the key question.

A washer will spread the load across a larger surface area, but I think you need more surface area than a washer will provide.

Anyway, that's my best guess after replacing several sets of fenders.

 

[kthompson57]

All great ideas and appreciated. I am repairing mine now from the bottom of the fender that attaches with the brace breaking out at the screw hole. It happened while traveling and by the time I caught it, I had three broken out screw holes. I epoxied the holes from the inside and also used a piece of a plastic ruler I cut to fit and put it on the bottom.

The best "preventative" measure folks could take is to pull that screw out of the brace, replace it with a small bolt and insulating washers and use a nylock nut. When that screw backs out, you have no support and it will break very quickly if traveling.

This is a great example of a very simple factory fix that would save a lot of trouble and ugly broken fenders. Better supports and isolating washers on the fenders would save a lot.

I'm scratching my head with the foam idea. I'm certain it would make it more solid, just not sure if the extra weight would be good or bad.

Honestly I don't think the foam added more than a couple ounces, but it sure added strength. I've driven some bouncy roads but never had any problems with the fenders. I am very happy with the results.

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[sengli]

Its an ongoing issue. Just got a new landmark, and the fenders were both cracked. I didnt come up with this fix, but it does work well. I used fiberglass resin, ans cloth to make repairs to the spots on the fenders, where the screws had broke the plastic. On my last fiver, these same type repairs lasted years without any further issue's

 

[MountainGoat]

I had to remove moth my fender trim pieces while travelling over the I40 in Northern Arizona. That road is a real piece of work...like someone tossed chunks of concrete onto the desert floor and called it a road. The Load Range G tires probably didn't help much but the "E's" were too wishy washy for my liking. The trim pieces were flopping and rattling so bad I could see it in my mirrors and knew they would end up on the highway. The manufacturer needs to build them with a bit more gusto, or make them more pliable so they don't crack around the fasteners.

 

[John T Bettencourt]

My Landmark did the same thing. I found that the factory puts the screws in with a gun and overtightens them. When I replaced them with new fenders I put the screws in by hand screwdriver no problem and have been that way for two years