Wheel well

[Keith Moffett]

Ever had one of those summers when darn near everything you touch fall apart on you?
Last year I had a small (1/4 inch) hex bolt fall out of the drivers wheel well.  Turned out the new Michelin tires were rubbing on it.  These tires are the same size as the ones we replaced (also Michelin).  Now there is a 6 inch hole rubbed through the wheel well and of course no place for that bolt.
Anyone out there heard of this?  Did maybe it warp in our fabulous NW heat?   Any Ideas on the cause or repairs to the  wheel well?


Thanks much
Keith Moffett

[Richard And Babs Ames]

Front or rear wheel well?

We had the front axle moved to clear the rear air bag on our 1997 Patriot when we went from 255/70 to 275/70 R 22.5 for clerance. The 1998 came with the 275/70 standard and late1997 Patriots chassis did not require the front axle be moved. We recently went from G670 Goodyear 275/70 H to Michelin 275/70 J and they are a tiny bit taller.

Be sure you are at the correct ride height.Could mounting the plastic to the other side of the bracket increase clerance enough?

[Tim Bentley Co-Admin]

I have had rubbing problems from time to time and found that often a plastic tie can be used to pull the shroud out of the way.  Find a place on the frame or a near by bracket, drill two holes through the wheel well shroud for the plastic tie and pull it out of the way.  My coach has more than one of these that have lasted for years.

[Edward Buker]

Kieth,

Not sure what your wheel well construction is like. I had several problems on my coach with the tire rubbing the wheel well material, as well as the butt welds on the supporting metal straps failing at the top, while on the road. The front side of the front wheel wells gets the most buffeting and that is where mine failed.  The photos may give you an idea of how you might handle it.

I made a vertical brace out of the same size material as the original horizontal rectangular tube at the top of the wheel well.  1/8th straps of steel are welded to that, and are drilled for a bolt that will end up above the wheel well rectangular tube to clamp this assembly. These reinforcement braces can be installed without any dis-assembly, even on the road, and requires no welding, so no ECU disconnecting.  What is nice about this assembly, is that if you place an extra length of the metal tube in between the welded straps, you can bend the straps to custom fit the angle you want the fender well to follow to give proper tire clearances. Different wheel well locations may have different horizontal rectangular or square tubes in the original wheel well chassis framing. If I was bracing an original strap steel brace, I had a piece of angle steel welded to my brace to fit over it....some braces may be centered in the wheel well, for both support and to set clearance.  Your choice may vary, but you will get the idea from the photos.

 Whatever Magnum used for the horizontal support, I used that same tube size for the vertical new brace. You may be able to build one and screw a piece of fender well material to it and add the brace with the material to cover the hole. When you bolt the old fender well to the brace it should clamp it all together and also provide proper tire clearance. Though not perfect cosmetically it may be good enough. You could add some black rivets between the old and new fender well patch also.

I did all my wheel wells with these extra braces and have not had a weld break since. Hope this helps.

Later Ed

[Keith Moffett]

OK, I have a theory.
We did not have this problem prior to parking at the Redmond rally last year.  We were nose into a slight uphill rise that so cut the airflow, and it made the generator over heat.  With the air ride deflated, the front mud flaps were bent on the ground, but I wasn't concerned at the time as they are rubber.  Now I think, that between the tension on the mud flaps and the heat, my light duty framing for the fenders was bent just enough.
Ed, I like the work you show in your pictures.  It is heavier duty than our original framing, and seems like it will do the trick.
Now if I can just find some new material.  What is that fender material?  ABS?
Thanks to all for good input!
Keith

[Richard And Babs Ames]

Beaver Coach Sales, Alliance Coach or collision repair point. We used a conveyer belt as it is corded and more substantial and was close by. We could cut to any shape we wanted.

[Edward Buker]

Kieth,

If you do replace the fender well material, the easiest way would be to remove the old one, lay it flat on the new material as a template and cut it. Not sure what the material is.

 I used this source and had them cut all the pieces to length and ship the order.

http://www.metalsdepot.com/products/hrsteel2.phtml?page=rttube&LimAcc=$LimAcc

  I would use thinner gauge steel for the square and rectangular tube, if I did this project over again. Tube steel is very strong. To adjust I would slip a length of tube in between the two metal tabs and bend an angle. Finish with a couple of hammer hits to tighten the spacing between the tabs. Slide it up into place and see if the well clearance was correct, if not repeat until happy. I made a set for all the wells but doing the fronts may solve your problem.

Later Ed

[Keith Moffett]

Say Ed, It seems that you have a fair ammount of clearance between the fender and your air bag.  Several inches, is that right?  I bent the frame work back on ours just (drivers front) jus about 3/8 inch or so and it was just touching the air bag.  I did pull it away a touch but it never stopped rubbing on the tire when I turn left.  Just the outside tread bead rubs.  I am not finding the logic here yet as the fender looks normal except where it is worn away.
Does this sound like your experience or is there as much room as it seems behind your fender?
Thanks
Keith

[Edward Buker]

Kieth,

I did not have much room and in some instances I believe the air spring may even momentarily contact the fenderwell material during a compression stroke given the dirt on the fenderwell material seemed to have been rubbed clean. There was never enough room to mount a new support near the air spring. That being said there was enough room to adjust my configuration to eliminate rubbing but it was tight, with little clearance between the tire and fenderwell during the tire turning arc. In the photo you notice that the added support is mounted away from the air spring and that the fenderwell material is angled a bit away from the tire. I did tend to mount some of the brackets at the point where the tire would contact so that I could create clearance in the best location. I remember that I had to keep the fender well material mounting bolts to the bracket low or high because there was no room for the bolt heads near the center region of the tire...it is a tight clearance.

In my case I built the brackets because a factory weld failed on the road where the strap steel was butt welded to the cross member and I had to jury rig it due to tire rubbing. The weight of the loose strap on the fender well had it all hanging below the coach. Beaver Coach Sales said they see broken welds in this area a lot. These extra brackets eliminate a lot of the wind vibration that break the factory welds especially on the frontside of the front fenderwells. The ability to adjust clearance was a side benefit.

If you take the point that you are getting rubbing and push the fender well away from the tire, can you get a a bow/bulge there where it all works? If so that is near where you would mount a bracket with the right mounting point bend angle to create that bow in the fenderwell material. I was able to create just enough clearance where I needed it that way. It tooK some trial and error getting the angle set just right.

Later Ed