Aluminum flatbed fender clearance

[CarlG]

Ok, I'm getting pretty close to pulling the trigger on my build. Been dealing with Alum-Line for the flatbed, and one thing stood out. Look at this picture, and the clearance between the rear tire and the fender arch in the flatbed. Mark at Alum-Line tells me that they typically do a 42-inch wide fender.

I'm looking for some opinions on whether people think this will be OK with 35" tires? Does the tire tuck up inside there or would it come into contact with that skirt?

 

[Basin Deranged]

I'm not exactly sure what your question is, but if you give the bed manufacturer the model and year of your truck and the size of your tires they should be able to make a bed for you that will not rub on the tires.

If you want to know whether the tire will tuck in behind the skirt, measure the distance from the outside sidewall of one of your tires to the outside sidewall of the other tire. Then tell the manufacturer of the truck bed that you need a bed that is wide enough from inside of left skirt to inside of right skirt to accommodate your tires.

 

[Durango1]

OR you could do what I did. Ask the flatbed manufacturer how much weight and cost the whole fender thing adds. When I found out I asked him" "Why do I need fenders? What do they do for me?" Case closed and never looked back. (I put the weight and cost savings into under bed weatherproof and locking storage boxes!)
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[elmo_4_vt]

The fenders on mine are 39" at the base. My 35s could just barely touch if I were to have no air in the bags and hit a large bump, meaning they will tuck, but the outside could touch if it goes down enough as where the tire is wider than the contact patch. It's minimal enough to where it wouldn't do any damage to the tire, but may leave a mark on the tire. Hopefully I'll never be off roading with no air in the bags, so it shouldn't be an issue. If the wheel were to articulate, it would clear due to the angles of the solid axle. I would strongly recommend creating a drawing to show EXACTLY what you want and get their agreement in writing before putting money down. They made a small, but important mistake on my bed are trying hard to make mine right, but it still not fixed. I'm happy I have everything in writing and in drawings to cover myself. If you need any help with the drawing part or talking dimensions, let me know. I think mine turned out pretty well.

Don

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[CarlG]

If you need any help with the drawing part or talking dimensions, let me know.

I think I'll take you up on that. You used alum-line too, right? I've got to get the truck 1st though!

 

[CarlG]

OR you could do what I did....

Tempting. keep it simple. The fenders on the alum-line design look pretty integral though, not sure if they're structurally important to the box mounting or not, I'll have to ask...

 

[elmo_4_vt]

The wheel wells on the alumaline beds are not structural. They mount the boxes before and after the wheel and then just fill in the Gap with a flat piece of 1/8 or 3/16 aluminum. I just liked the look and they weigh less than 10 lbs, so the extra weight wasn't an issue.

Don

 

[CarlG]

I imagine the fenders might improve the vehicle's drag coefficient....from "horrendous" to "horrendous - 0.0000001"