Tandem Trailer Fenders

Thats alot of work and expense. Did you price a new trailer?

ripnlips Said:
Thats alot of work and expense. Did you price a new trailer?

Sure have, a decent tandem axle with aluminum fenders and step ups starts at about 4 grand......the trailer is so important and is often so overlooked.....ranger boats come with a nice trailer, still how hard is it to have 2X6 bunks as opposed to 2X4 ?  Diamond plated aluminum fenders, IMO, are better than glass or galvinized.........basically I want a long term trailer.

Permo, I kind of went through the same thing with my Integrity under my Yar-Craft. I agree that having a good trailer gets over looked untill you fight with a cheap one. With mine, the fenders and frame were in pretty decent shape, however just about everything else needed some TLC at the ripe age of about 10 years. I had black carpet steps that looked like they were growing moss, bunks that were completely wore out, a winch strap that was tied in a not at the clevus, bad wheel bearings, wore out brakes, wore out tires, and last but not least I found I had cracked leaf springs after I bust one down at indian hills. I looked in to new trailers and decided to fix what I had since it was a nice loading trailer. I replaced the winch strap with a new one, got rid of all of the carpeted steps and replaced with aluminum diamond plate, put new sealed cedar carpeted bunks and side boards on, repalced the tires, replaced the bearings, put a new brake cylinder and brake shoes on, new heavy duty leaf springs (per manufactures reccomendations), and of course I had a couple of marker lights that weren't working. Cost me about a grand in total but I should be good to go for another 10-years!

If I were you I would pull the old fenders and have a set of aluminum ones made, diamond plate or otherwise. You could alway contact the manufacturer about some replacement fenders if there still in business. When I called Integrity about the leaf springs they offered me a free set that were a step heavier than what I had however I had to pay for shipping, in the end I found it wasn't any cheaper than buying them localy and then if I had a problem I had a place to go.

The other option is to do the best you can with what you have and then take them and have them coated with a Rino Lining or equivalent. Heck, you may want to consider doing the whole trailer if the paint is in rough shape. I always found the problem with working on a boat trailer is the boat is aways in the way! It would have been super nice to put my boat on a lift or another trailer for a couple of weeks while I was working on the old trailer.

If you dented up steel fenders.  Aluminum will only be worse.  I would look for a set of stainless steel fenders.  Call the manufacturer of your trailer.  I have a buddy with a set of them and they look great. 

Well, the manufacturer is out of business, so that's nice.  I had a heckuva time finding brake rotors last year.  

The diamond plated aluminum appears to be much thicker and much more structurally strong then the flimsy steel ones.   Maybe I will just have some work done on it.

Permo, I went through a fender search already this spring to replace one that a porcupine took out for me.

Just because the trailer is of a brand that no longer exists, look around at other manufacturer's trailers.  You will likely find another that used the same brand of fenders.

If that doesn't work, perhaps Glenn's Welding in Bismarck could fabricate something more to suit you.  And there's of course that trailer place over in Mandan, but I don't recall the name of it offhand.