Just thought I would post this here to share our experience in making a couple sets of tube fenders over the past two weekends.
First we went to the steel shop to buy some steel...
Some of this stuff was of other projects, but for the tube fenders we used 1 1/2" diameter x .120 wall tube, and we got some 12ga scrap sheets in various sizes (not sown in picture). We also used a 3/16" thick x 1 1/2" wide flat bar for the mounting material.
Started off by removing my front flares and cutting the factory fender (a little bit painful considering it was in perfect shape).
Next we measured, cut, and bent the horizontal tube at 90 degrees. We left some extra material at both ends to be sized later.
Then we measured, cut and drilled for the tub mount flat bar.
The fun part..."shaping" the grill mount. Only fun for the guy who gets to hit it with the hammer.
Then we measure, cut, and bent the vertical tubes...
The next step was to mark (eyeball) the angle of the cut where the tube mounts to the grille. We did this by holding a straight edge to the body and following it with the tube. No picture since this involved all of us.
Next we tacked the horizontal tube, notched the vertical tube, and tacked it on. Also made a duct tape template of the top plate by laying duct tape along the top of the tube and cutting it with my poor pocket knife along the center of the tube. (the template is seen here on the tire after being transferred to the plate).
We cut the top plate with the plasma cutter and grinded it smooth with flap disks. Then test fit it on both sides, tacked it on, and removed the tube fender for welding.
Then we templated the vertical plates, cut those out, and welded them on. The plate were welded to the tubing and flat bar with a 1-2" long weld every 4-5" or so.
Next I designed and cut out a little gusset and Jimmy welded it on.
That was it for my set of tube fenders. I took them home, grinded (ground) the material that overlapped smooth, cleaned everything off with simple green, primered and painted them. I used 1 can of nice black primer we got at the metal place, then 1 can of Rustoleum gloss black.
Let them dry overnight and mounted them the next day.
Drilled the holes for the hood latches, and sprayed a quick layer of paint on the exposed metal from the holes.
Total cost was about $90 including steel and paint.
Also cost me a pair of pants when i was notching one of the tubes and the cutting wheel got caught and came back and bit me in the upper upper thigh. Luckily it only caught my pants and not anything else.
Well, thats about it. Hope that helps if someone is looking to build their own.
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Tube Fenders
