Aftermarket inner fender beware

[dodgiesdad]

While we were working on the bedside of my truck tonight, preparing it for paint. My son and I heard a loud bang come from the front end of the truck. Upon opening the hood we discover the front spring mount on the new aftermarket inner fender had pulled off! Five of the six spot welds were incomplete and the other one failed! So now on the front of the truck which was ready for paint I have to straighten a spring mount and a inner fender and re-weld the spring mount back on. While I am at it I will add a few welds to the other side. At least I hadn't started spraying paint yet.

[revjames]

So where did you buy the inner fender from

[bcontractor]

oh....looks like the whole front is aftermarket ??...I hate rust ..so i wondering about ater market ......esp doors.....good luck..

[dodgiesdad]

The inner fender came from top banana, they are on my to call list for tomorrow. Yes the entire front except for the hood and new aluminum grill is aftermarket as is the rockers, cab corners, most of the floor and both doors. I hate rust to and would much rather work with solid metal over rust repair. I started this knowing I would have lots of fitting. Going in knowing that, it wasn't such a bad process. Did a bunch of small adjustments, the floors and inner fenders took the most work and time.

[1963c-10]

Member dlw posted this pic last year of a bad gap on inner fender/core support. I stay away from after market panels unless they are for patches. Just too many issues. I know sometimes it seems the only alternative and I hate to hear about guys having these issues especially when paying good money, but use the OEM stuff. Patch what you have to and avoid these issues.

[donthekawguy]

Imagine how rich you could get making quality panels that are thick enough and fit right the first time. Bill Gates kinda money rich!

[The Rocknrod]

Especially if you could sell a hood

[dodgiesdad]

Honestly I was surprised at the fit of the aftermarket panels with the exception of the inner fenders and floors I have used original sheet metal that has fit worse on other vehicles. My inner fenders were off the opposite way of the picture from dlw, the parts which mount to the firewall were off 1/2" to 3/4" I drilled the spot welds, slid it and rewelded them. The floor pans were just bad I had to cut out the section with the body bolt washer and relocate it about 2". The doors, outer fenders, and grill surround all fit fairly well. I will straighten this spring mount tonight and reweld BOTH of them.

[1963c-10]

On the bright side, your issues seem fixable. I hate to see that you have to fab new parts, but at least it can be corrected.

[DLW]

I tried taking the easy way out with the aftermarket stuff and even though I was able to make most of it work out by trimming, shimming, opening up holes, etc., in the end, I went back to my original parts since there wasn't that much work to do on them anyway since previous owner did most of the patch work. The original stuff went back on perfectly, so will just use it. I now have a bunch of aftermarket panels sitting around, maybe my next truck will fit these better. It's hard to find good original stuff and sometimes you have no choice but to use the aftermarket and modify to work.