I'm still patching on those front fenders but it's coming along. I'm wondering if there were seals or gaskets between the main fender part and that bolt on bottom part in the front of the fender. Maybe a filler of some sort? I can see daylight between them in some places. Seems as if there should be something there.

 

First Id like to welcome you to the forum, as far as your question goes, Im not the most knowlegable about this, but by me sayin hi your question will go back to the top of the page so somebody else that does know will get a shot at seeing your thread , however Ill take a shot at it since Im here. Ive never seen one but just about any of the catalogs sell fender welting that could easily be used for that purpose. Its rubber or plastic, flat with a bead on one side, thats used between the fenders and the body. some has slits for makeing corners, and some dosent. Sounds like something I may think about doing.

 

Hey Greg,
I know that's one of the areas that rusts the most on these old trucks.
Mine are fiberglass replacements so I'm not going to be much help - no welting between mine but it took a lot of shaping to get the gap down to size. Good luck over there! Maybe Doc will chime in - he's up in that part of Kentucky.

Ben in Austin

 

I'm kind of surprised nobody else chimed in on this. I honestly don't know for 100% sure whether or not a welt, etc. was between the upper and lower parts of the fender or not originally. My guess is not with that particular seam. Are you trying to put the same two original pieces back together? How well did they fit together before you took them apart. I imagine you're gonna have to use some metal work "persuasion" on the two pieces in order to get them to match better. Greg, that seam is the absolute most famous place for rust in these trucks. Especially the upper portion. Mud and water gets between the inner support panel and the outer sheet metal and just wreaks havoc over time. Show us pics of your patch job. Come look at my projects sometime, but I'm guessing you live over 3 hours away.

 

Welcome Greg1235!

The joint between the upper and lower F1 fenders that I have seen were all metal to metal. Certainly, there were gaskets, welting, or seals in other places, just not here.

You are empowered to create whatever solution meets your need - cause it is your truck!

Happy Motoring!

DW

 

thanks for all the answers...I didn't take the two pieces apart but I can see light through that part where the bottom half bulges out the farthest. You are right about the rust behind the support brace. I cut the bad out and replaced it with new metal, along with 2 other small places along that seam and replaced the bottom rear of the fender. I've about got the rust whipped on this fender. As for that seam I might use some sort of filler or whelting just to weatherize the crack without harming the appearance. Not sure yet what material might present itself. I'm always open to ideas. Again thanks for the help and it's truly appreciated.

 

You could use seam sealer to seal the joint. Same stuff they use to seal the gutter and cab seams. It's a rubbery when dry compound you apply to the seam like caulk and wipe off the excess so the seam is still recessed but water cannot get in. You should seal the inside of the seam as well to keep water out completely. The sealer will stay flexible so it won't crack out, and unlike silicone it can be successfully painted. They still use it on cars today. Take the fender apart and straighten the flanges so they fit as tightly together as possible. Paint with a good coat of epoxy primer and top coat before putting them back together.

 

i have repaired steel upper fenders and fibeglass lowers. i could see light so i tried to seal the gaps from the inside. when i drove it in the rain, the rain would channel into the groove and run out near the back of the seam. i decided then to caulk a thin strip of silicone (black silicone on a satin black truck) into the seam from the outside and wipe as much of it out as i could from the outside. that's how it stands now. it looks better now than it did.

 

There are two different types welting use. The type between the back fenders and box the welting with the bead is used. Between the two fender halves, fenders and running boards there is a flat welting without a bead. It's a thin rubber covered with clothe. I've taken over a dozen trucks apart and they all had the welting in seams unless the truck was so rotted out that the welting either deteriorated or fell out.

Check out the pictures in the last post in the posting:

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/9...ml#post8458680

 

Has anyone seen anti-squeak used on the 53-56?

 

Just a little reminder, on the '48-50 front fenders the bottom does stick out farther than the top. It mimics the body line on the back of the fenders. I worked a long time on the bottoms of my F-2 to make the bottoms match the tops. This was a long time ago when I first started working on the truck and didn't know better. Since after taking apart a bunch of trucks I and doing a lot of reading I came to realized the errors of my ways.

You have to be careful with what kind of sealer you use. Silicone will screw up a paint job big time. It's a PIA to clean up and will cause fish eyes in the paint if you decide to paint over it. Whatever type sealer you use make sure it says it's paintable.

 

You guys seem to know a lot about these trucks. I'm new to the forum. It's my dads old project. He has since passed away. I want to finish the truck. I'm sure I'll have plenty of questions. I hope you all will help.

 

How do you post a pic on this site? My files seem to be too big.

 

This may help.

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/6...-pictures.html

If your images are too big you're going to have to shrink them. I think Windows comes with a photo program that you can use to shrinking images. I'm not sure, I use Paint Shop Pro.

You'll learn a lot here, there are a lot of very knowledgeable people here. I personally have been working on my trucks for over 30 years and have had, at last count 17 '48-52 trucks, mostly parts trucks but you learn a lot when tearing them apart.

 

Thanks !! I'll try that.