47-55.1 fender welt?

[JDarby]

What is the best thing to use in place of fender welting or is it the best thing going today?

I would like to get away from the bead look and still keep the squeak at bay!

What do ya'll use?

Thanks in advance,
JDarby

[nvrdone]

I used thick rubber washers between the body & fenders. Had to trim the top edge off a bit so that they didn't show. Also cut strips of innertube to go under the running bard mounts and where the running board mounts to the rear fender. Took some work but the truck is now almost all squeak free

[leegreen]

I needed the beaded welt to hide how poorly the fenders fit the cab.

Everywhere else there was metal on metal contact I used strips of treadmill rubber track. Stuff is like 1/16", you can cut it with easily and punch holes into it, but it is indestructible. And free, if you find one being thrown out.

Another useful item is the webbing from seat belts or ratchet straps

[JDarby]

So the bottom line is to use something between metal on metal to keep the squeak at bay!

Thanks for your input guys,
JDarby

[mr48chev]

Squeaks and water being thrown through the space by the tires if you actually drive the truck on anything except no cloud in the sky days and sometimes that doesn't work if you hit a cloud burst on the way to somewhere fun.

Empi and probably other VW Bug suppliers sells several colors of pretty nice fender welting for VW bugs. If you scroll down the page you can see more colors. I know back years ago a lot of guys were getting VW fender welting for their trucks and hot rods. https://www.ebay.com/itm/16141882905...=PMax%20Assets

[dsraven]

I was gonna mention the vw stuff too but I thought possibly the strips would be too short. good thing mr48 posted. lots of local vw ahops will have these in stock in generic black

[e015475]

I didn't want to use beaded welting either, but once I saw the inconsistent gap between my fenders and the new bed sides, there wasn't much choice.

In retrospect, I should have paid a lot more attention to the body to fender gap when I was doing the body work.

I ended up making welting from some marine-grade naugahyde that was close to the color I painted the truck. I think I bought a couple yards of material and cut the welt diagonally to make each piece as long as I could. I bought the spline and took it to an upholstery shop and had it sewed - there's an attachment to their sewing machines that makes quick work of it.

If you do this, make one of the 'tails' of the welt long enough to pull on it while you are tightening the fender bolts to bring the welt evenly into the gap. You can trim it flush aftr you're done. It is pretty inconspicuous

[JDarby]

Thanks guys for all the great options!

Years ago I had a buddy who could get any color fender welt you wanted made.
To much time has passed, I sure could use him now!

[mr48chev]

You can still have an upholstery shop make up the welting by sewing the plastic bead in the folded over vinyl. A guy might want to try to use boat seat material though. Not the metalflake but material intended for outdoor use.

[mick53]

Has anyone ever welded the fender to the bedside? Maybe with a small inside radius? Sorry if that's a dumb question. I have new bedsides.

[leegreen]

When I see fenders welded on all I can think of is bondo and rust, no matter how nice the paint job is. But I confess I had the same worry bolting the fenders on with welting that might trap water.

It would be very challenging to weld the fender to the bedsides without warping the bedsides and fenders. There is no way to stretch the weld in a corner like that so you have to try and finesse the HAZ on both fender and bedside on both the sides of the weld. Including inside the fender. Even tiny movements of the metal will be hard to deal with in the right angel between fender and bedside.

If you want a smooth bead there maybe try some paintable urethane seam sealer

[mick53]

Originally Posted by leegreen

When I see fenders welded on all I can think of is bondo and rust, no matter how nice the paint job is. But I confess I had the same worry bolting the fenders on with welting that might trap water.

It would be very challenging to weld the fender to the bedsides without warping the bedsides and fenders. There is no way to stretch the weld in a corner like that so you have to try and finesse the HAZ on both fender and bedside on both the sides of the weld. Including inside the fender. Even tiny movements of the metal will be hard to deal with in the right angel between fender and bedside.

If you want a smooth bead there maybe try some paintable urethane seam sealer

Yeah that's asking a lot with expansion. What about brazing the flange and filling the groove with lead with a small radius? It's probably just a dumb idea. I need to widen my fenders by about 2" is why I was wondering.

[leegreen]

How does welding to the box side help widen the fenders?

Brazing would need more heat overall, but I guess in theory to you do it at a lower temperature. I'd be scared to try, I think the box side would be moving around a lot before you got even a small spot hot enough

props to anyone with the leading skills to run a tiny lead bead into the corner, I'd probably be dead from lead poisoning before I got that done neatly, with all the sanding I'd be doing

[mick53]

Originally Posted by leegreen

How does welding to the box side help widen the fenders?

Brazing would need more heat overall, but I guess in theory to you do it at a lower temperature. I'd be scared to try, I think the box side would be moving around a lot before you got even a small spot hot enough

props to anyone with the leading skills to run a tiny lead bead into the corner, I'd probably be dead from lead poisoning before I got that done neatly, with all the sanding I'd be doing

it has nothing to do with fender widening. I'm pretty good at leading. I learned about 50 years ago when bondo sucked. I think I'll put this idea to rest. I do want to make an inner fender for rocks or if I have a tire come apart.

[idbeast]

Originally Posted by mick53

it has nothing to do with fender widening. I'm pretty good at leading. I learned about 50 years ago when bondo sucked. I think I'll put this idea to rest. I do want to make an inner fender for rocks or if I have a tire come apart.

mick53 I sprayed mine with 2 coats of paintable rubberized undercoating, then painted it the same color as the outside of the truck.