InTheGarageMedia.com
ne great way to make cycle fenders for an open-wheel car is to start with a spare tire cover. For many hot rods with big ’n’ littles, this works to perfection for the smaller front wheels–but there are often fitment issues with the larger rear tires.
Dean Livermore, of Hot Rods by Dean, has a long history of finding great solutions for problems like this. He called on his chief fabricator, Ron McCorkle, to do the fabrication on this job.
Two ’36 Ford spare tire covers were used, and each was cut in half to make two fenders. For the front fenders, the original contour and width was just about perfect for the front tires of the pickup, but some major modifications were needed at the rear to fit the substantial Coker Classic Radial 700R16 tires (PN 62244).
McCorkle used an English wheel to re-arch the wheel covers to match the two rear tires. Most of the action was at the edges, which are somewhat challenging because they are made with a hemmed (double-thickness) edge.
Once each fender was stretched enough to match the big tires, plus a bit more for clearance, the fenders were ready to be widened. A bandsaw was used to split the fenders in half, right along the centerline. Next the fender halves were positioned on the tire so the width could be measured for the filler piece.
Two strips of metal were cut about 2 inches wide and carefully aligned and tack-welded to one fender half. After the strip was fully tacked to one fender side, the other side was attached in the same way. After verifying the fit, all the joints were finish welded and smoothed.
The last step was making the fender mounting tabs. Strips of 1/4×1-inch flat bar were contoured to fit snugly inside the fenders, and each piece was held to the fender with two screws. The tabs were drilled and tapped so that no nuts would be required on the inside, allowing the fender to hug the tire closely.
Brackets were welded to the front and rear of the rear axle housings to hold the bottom of the fender stanchions, which are made from 5/8-inch od heavy wall tubing. Bosses were welded to the bottom of the stanchions, which were nicely hollowed out to hide the hex head of the mounting bolt. The tops of the stanchions were given a graceful curve where they attach to the tabs screwed to the fenders.
One of the last steps was to position the fenders over the tires, trim and fit the top of the stanchions to match the fender tabs, and tack-weld them together. After disassembly, they were finish welded on the bench.
This is a great way to get vintage-looking fenders with minimum fabrication; they match the style of this pickup perfectly!
1. Spare tire covers can make excellent fenders for open-wheeled cars. A ’36 Ford tire cover is the perfect size for these 5.50R16 front tires.
2. The key to mounting cycle-style fenders is to make the mounts strong but unobtrusive. We’ll detail how these cool mounts were made and how the fenders attach to them.
3. The size and shape of the Ford tire cover is woefully out of proportion for the massive rear tires.
4. Ron McCorkle is using an English wheel here to stretch the edges of the tire cover, opening the contour.
5. Here is the tire cover nearly fitted to the tire. A little more clearance is needed for the tire.
6. The tire cover needs to be widened considerably. Ron is using a bandsaw to split the fender down the center.
7. Here’s the spare tire cover after cutting.
8. You can see how much the rear fender has been expanded by comparing it to the front fender in the background.
9. The fender halves are carefully positioned on the tire, making sure the tread is covered and that there is sufficient clearance of the tire. Two strips of metal are cut to widen the fenders.
15. Mounting brackets were welded to the front and rear of the axle housings close to the backing plates.
16. Here you can see the tubular stanchion welded to a boss for the mounting bolt. Note that the hex head of the nut is recessed–a nice detail.
17. The upper ends of the stanchions were given a graceful curve and trimmed where they will fit to the mounting tabs on the fenders.
18. Here the spacers are being used to give the fender proper clearance, so the stanchions can be fitted and tack-welded to the tabs.
19. After tack-welding on the truck, the tabs were finish welded on the bench.
20. Here is the stanchion with both ends attached.
21. After welding, the ends of the tabs were paired down for a cleaner look.
22. With the wheel removed you can see the relationship between the fenders and stanchions.
23. Here’s the finished fender. It’s perfectly sized for these wheels and tires and it maintains the hot rod theme of the pickup.
VOLUME 3 • ISSUE 18 • 2022