I have all the running boards, rear fender and bed lined up.

I am now playing with front sheet metal......well sheet plastic actually.

Am I correct that the fenders only mount to the cab with one bolt at each side on the two tabs attached to the firewall seam ?

It looks like there are also two bolts into the triangular filler panel at the front of the running board, on the one crunched F-2 guard I have ??

So what retains the fender rubber that goes between the fender and cowl ? .....glue?

The repro rubber I got off egay is weird......it is split down the middle and looks more like it is meant to fit over a flange or something.....is it meant to sit over the lip of the fender

A flat rubber was what I was expecting.

 

Am I correct that the fenders only mount to the cab with one bolt at each side on the two tabs attached to the firewall seam ?

Yes that is correct. The weight is supported mostly by the front fenders resting on the fender brace attached to the radiator support and the inner fender to frame support.

So what retains the fender rubber that goes between the fender and cowl ? .....glue?

I would use a little glue. If the seal is made correctly, it will stay in place and pressure will keep it there. I have done it both ways.

It looks like there are also two bolts into the triangular filler panel at the front of the running board, on the one crunched F-2 guard I have ??

That is correct. Use the filler pieces! If yours are crunched they are available repop and are fairly inexpensive.

The repro rubber I got off egay is weird......it is split down the middle and looks more like it is meant to fit over a flange or something.....is it meant to sit over the lip of the fender

Weird but effective. That's how it goes.

Tim

 

The what ??

My inner fenders don't have any brackets/supports to the frame

The drivers side one has a gapping great gap between it and the frame where the steering box used to be.

Am I supposed to have brackets from the inner fenders to the chassis ???

.........Just as well I have "only" got them to the final primer stage, not paint

 

Yes, you should have inner fender support brackets which attach to the frame. Do you have a two piece passenger side inner fender? If so, the bottom piece has a support bracket which attaches to the frame. The drivers side is one piece, with a support bracket at the bottom.

These brackets take alot of stress and are prone to fatigue failure. Perhaps yours broke off. I would take a pic for you but we seem to be "time zone" challenged, mate!

I'll see what I can do tomorow unless one of our FTE breathren can fill you in with a pic.

 

The passenger inner guard was a bit torn about at the bottom rear, so I fitted a new bit ...... there was no sign of a support bracket, but that must have been the source of the damage.

My drivers side is two piece, however the back half of the insert panel was missing, probably taking the support bracket with it......I made a flat filler panel too replace it since I don't need the steering box bulge.

........and of course I have welded up the holes in the chassis and boxed already......thank goodness for Nutcert guns

Interestingly the tabs on the firewall flange that the upper guard bolts to were both badly bent and torn..........obviously the inner fender braces have been gone a while, maybe a casulty of the Hercus Diesel conversion many years ago.

 

I wouldn't replace the two inner fender to frame tabs. As far as I can tell they were only on the 48-50 trucks and were deleted for the 51 and 52's. The cab is rubber mounted, the front clip is rubber and spring mounted at the radiator support but then there are those two pesky inner fender mounting tabs that bolt hard to the frame. This just causes undue stress and fatigue. I eliminated them on my 49 and Secured the rear of the inner fenders to the front cab mount brackets with a couple of self drilling screws.

Bobby

 

Bobby is certainly correct. I would bet there are plenty of trucks on the road without the inner fender support brackets. Mine were there and my truck will never see the abuse and use it saw in it's younger years, so I used them.

Actually, I drilled mine out somewhat and put a rubber bushing in the thing. At least that way it's not hard mounted and will have some flex.

Hope this helps. Let me know if you still need a pic and I will try to get one this PM.

 

Here's a couple of pics of the mounting tabs before I cut them off and painted the inner fenders.

f1fordguy,
I'd love to see what you came up with. I contemplated doing something similar and then just got rid of them. On the 51, 52 trucks there is a mounting tab that comes off of the cab mount flange that the inner fenders bolt to.

Bobby

 

Bobby
I will see what I can do with a pic. I just put a rubber grommet thru the thing and bolted it down. Used thread locker just in case. I don't think you can see much because of the washer and lock washer but I will certainly look.

Your drivers side inner tab looks exactly like mine does. One hole, kinda jagged termination.

 

I had thought about doing just what you are describing, then I saw that the later trucks didn't have them at all. Like I said I ended up using a couple of small self drilling screws to attach the inner fender to the cab mount frame and cut off the original tabs.

I've seen alot of the inner fenders that are either extremely stress cracked around those tabs or have the tabs completely ripped off.

I think it will hold together for another 50 years
Bobby

 

I guess that my truck did not see many dirt roads. Both tabs are in good condition.

 

Actually, the tabs were deleted after '51. I have a set of '51 inner fenders with tabs, but my 52's are mounted to the cab near the cab mount. I will shoot a pic ASAP of the '51's tabs (what's left of them).

 

I have been flat out with event and club stuff the last couple of nights, but will get down to the shed to contemplate the problem tommorrow night.

I agree with the logic that a solid mount on the inner fender, between rubber mounts on the rad support and cap is just an invitation for stress cracks.

I like the concept of re-engineering things so the back of the inner fender attaches to the cab mount.

The pics of the inner fender, cab mounts and firewall however don't match my mental picture of what mine looks like......too cold to go and check now (well cold by my standards) so a tommorrow job.

I think my inner fenders have ended up out of shape when we did all the repairs to them, since they don't fit at the front apron very well.....maybe some heavy tweeking is in order.

 

I decided that if you guys can venture out in 15 ft of snow I should stop being a sook and go down the shed when it isn't even close to below freezing yet.

My pasenger inner fender is indeed misshappen at the front and rear as a result of the crack repairs. I will rework it to get it back near the mounts and the make a new mounting tab off the firewall/cab mounts to anchor them too.

I will strip the front sheet plastic off again on the weekend and get the inner fenders right.

I may as well make my radiator mounts while I am at it. I am putting a later F-100 radiator in front of the rad support, a) because I have one and b) because it will give me lots more colling capacity for those hot summer days I can only dream of right now

 

Actually, it was 95 degrees here yesterday.

On the mounting tabs on the firewall--you're going to need those! i can't imagine an easier way to make things solid.

In front of the radiator support? There is a car load of space up there. I just can't visualizw how you can do this without interfering with the sloped portion of the hood when you close it. Look at your hood closely--it gets shallower and more pointed toward the front. I think I would just try to engineer the radiator to go where it originally went. Avoids alot of potential clearance issues.

Send pics when you do these mods. Replacing the tabs on the firewall would be a good contribution to the body of knowledge of this forum. I also want to see how you do the radiator swap.

Tim