My fenders are not holding up too well, and I need more clearance. Obvious choice is tube fenders, but who wants to spend that kind of money. I picked up some EMT and some sheet metal and have started into it. Here's the progress so far.
Great job shooting the video. I was looking for some general tips and tricks and discovered your video(s). The videos are like Pringles, ya can't do just one... Great job on the fenders. Your video was detailed enough to help a guy know what he's getting into....lol
Not that someone hasn't at some point mentioned it. EMT is very finicky conduit, if you bend it do it in one smooth motion at each bend to avoid any folding in future projects. That is the easiest way to stop it from folding. ( folding being when it wrinkles just to avoid confusion) The only other thing is you might want to consider moving your bench vice. Sparks from grinding is simply hot metal. Shooting hot metal into a quad box receptacle can cause serious issues. Just a quick tip and a suggestion to help promote safety. Jeep on! I was an industrial electrician I have hundreds of hours of experience.
I've been a little concerned about the sparks too, but to my surprise have never had a problem at either of my shops. I normally do try shoot away, but in this case, there was a camera in the opposite direction I was trying very hard to avoid!
Fenders turned out great! Two questions. How do you like the JD bender and are you happy with the strength of the EMT? I'm getting geared up for the same project.
Thanks man. JD bender lives up to it's reputation, it's awesome. Especially with the air/hydro pack. I've been pleasantly surprised with the EMT. It's pretty tough stuff despite being so light, stronger than you'd expect from something that's just a conduit. I first used it for building a roof rack on my XJ and that sold me. For the fenders, it worked out plenty strong. It's not solid steel, hit it hard enough and it will bend/dent, but for the wheeling that I do, it's a perfect compromise of strength and weight.
Rims are just 16" steelies. They come primed and I got them painted to match. Offset was 3.5", I think. So they stick out a little farther than I would like for practicality sake, but look pretty cool. If you're into that look like I am.
+richarddbeck Use Princess when you'll only be using your purchase a few times. Canadian Tire if you want a more durable product (this applies to anything that has moving parts and needs a steady calibration. Another good vid Kelly. Thanks. 👍 Always nice to see a fellow B.C. Jeeper.
I did the same thing,, but man paint hates sticking to galvanize! plus welding it makes nasty fumes.( note, use muratic acid to dissolve the galvanize off before welding) and emt is made to bend so its a low grade, thin walled erw thats then galvanized.. I used it one time and it was good practice but ill never use it again. structural tube is pretty reasonable and i can find it local in the o/d i need to bend it in either pipe or tubing dies.
+SHAWN ELIASON Paint isn't a big deal, you just have to use the galvie specific primer. Fumes are definitely nasty and cleaning is a must. I never new about the muratic acid though, thanks for the tip!! As far as strength goes, I've been really happy with it. Structural tubing definitely for things like cages and maybe suspension, but for fenders and roof racks, I think that's kinda overkill (and overpriced). OD in a bender, as you mention, makes a huge difference. The EMT I used was 1-1/4" which happened to have a 1.510" OD. The extra 10 thou made absolutely no difference in my 1.500" dies. Thanks for the input!
+Tyler Berard Are you asking how wide I made the flares? Made them to have about the same coverage as stock, maybe a little bit more to cover the larger tires, particularly at the back to prevent rocks from flying up and dinging the body.
+Antoine Covel The bumper's my own design. There's a lot of excellent bumpers available, when I was looking I found a lot of bumpers that each had things I was looking for. None had everything I was looking for in one package, so I built my own incorporating all the things I wanted.
Yah, in retrospect I would have been better off to buy a set of fenders for sure. But there's something about putting your own blood sweat and tears into it that does it for me.
@@MichaelCook1981 For those who own jeeps oversees, its best to own the tools and dyi. Aftermarket makes sense the US but beyond it becomes too expensive,!
Was this your first time bending tube? If you look into it, there is a mathmatics to bending tube. With a little bit of thinking a head, some graph paper and, some good old fashioned math you can save lots of cash on material.
+The Quizzle You're absolutely right, there's even some really good bend calculators online too. That would have worked good for me if I had a plan to follow, which I didn't. It wasn't too bad and EMT is dirt cheap ;)
I wanted a tighter radius than the usual ~9+" radius that you get with EMT benders. I ordered the 5.5" radius 180 degree dies for the JD squared bender. They ended up being perfect for my fenders. Good luck with yours!
+goonerpomwi Maybe. The body panels have some curvature, so the fender flairs don't sit flat on the steel, which would make it difficult to use them as an accurate pattern. Cardboard curved to the contours of the Jeep, then laid flat on the steel. I'll try that with the rears though and see if it works.
+Dezmond Demyen Yah, on the Island, but no way I could do a set for anywhere close to competitive to what else is on the market. Took way too much time, which is OK for something one off for myself, but I'd have to get set up properly for production to get competitive. Sorry.
