My tall rubber hits the trailer on almost every angled dock. I can see and hear the treads rub on the cross members underneath the trailer. :? I just go really slow and carefull. Some docks, adjusting the tandems will help, but not all. I always said to myself if I had full fenders, I would destroy them. Most of the trailers I use have 22.5's and I have 24.5's which does not help. Sorry to hear of your mishap, that really sucks. :x

 

They aren't installed too high. I'm sitting on 24.5 rubber, and the angle of this particular dock was just a bit too steep. There is only about a 2.5" - 3" clearance between the top of my tires and the bottom of the fenders (might be a little less, might be a little more). It was nothing the shop did. As it was, it barely touched the fenders. Had it bent them or dented them, then I would be more concerned about their height, but it only scratched them.

This is one of the reasons they install a 5th wheel riser on fiberglass full fenders. If I weren't on 24.5 rubber, I would probably have had them put a riser on my 5th wheel, but that extra height would have likely put my trailer over 13' 6" in the front.

 

Unfortunatley there isn't much you can do, the tall rubber and the trailer height have you over a barrel, you can not have a 5th wheel height over 48" to maintain 13'6" trailer height

Just have to be careful, thats all, those sloped docks are fender killers

Since I pull a tank, I have NO issues with height, also the tanks have MORE clearance above the tires, due to their design.

I welded one inch spacers on the axles and deflated the air suspension, I then put 3/4" wood on top of the NEW tires, laid the fenders on the wood and installed the brackets, I have done all my trucks this way, never had a problem, but I also haven't pulled a van in 20 years or so.

 

wimp

 

Your truck looks great rev,..it's a shame about your fenders,.the same thing almost happened to me. I had just put new diamond plate aluminum full fenders on mine a couple of weeks ago, and when I was done, it didn't look right. The top of the fender was almost the same height as the pivot pin on the fifth wheel. I figured that I would tear them off the first time I hit an off angle while truning a corner,...so off they came until I can fabricate better mounting brackets.

The truck still looks great 8)

 

I think we should take this as an opportunity to do a total makeover..........again. After all all, it's looked like that for over a week now. :wink:

Seriously, sorry to hear about that Rev, that sucks.

 

Today my inverter system started acting up, so I ran down to Lowes to grab a 400 watt one to hold me over until I can figure out what is wrong with it. While I was there, I ran over to the cleaning aisle to see if they had any aluminum polish (I ran out of Mothers Aluminum Polish). They didn't have any, but I noticed they had bottles of Brasso metal polish. I figured what the heck, since they were only $2.97 a bottle, I'd give it a shot. I did a small area of my fuel tank after I got parked again, and I'm shocked at how well it works. The stuff stinks to all heck, and it takes a lot more elbow grease to get it to polish, but the stuff actually works, and at a fraction of the cost of regular aluminum polish.

 

I used that stuff to polish my brass when I was in the army. I liked a product called "Wad" ( I think that is what it was called ). It came in a can about the size of a large can of shoe polish only a little bit deeper. It was a cotton-like materal that had the polish in it. You just pinch off a piece to use. I don't think I would want to do a whole fuel tank with it tho. Better suited for small projects like belt buckels.

 

I did a 1 foot by 1 foot section in about 10 minutes. In the dark. I'll see tomorrow how good (or crappy) it looks. I was reading online about the stuff, and on one website, they recommended that you follow the Brasso polishing with Blue Magic polish paste. Strangely enough, that's the exact crap I bought that wasn't getting through the oxidation. :lol:

 

Polishing in progress...




FINISHED!




Here's the damage that the trailer caused when it came down on the fenders:




Here is what it looked like while it was happening. It barely touched, but it didn't take much: