Anyone R & R a rear wheel housing

[Lionel]

Have the need to replace a right rear wheel housing due to damage. Anyone who did one, what advice do you have?
Thanks, L

 

[papakb]

Chain down the springs before you begin for safety.

 

[Lionel]

Thanks, but I'm talking about the rear "fender", not a suspension part.

 

[snowtrac nome]

they are a sob lots of rivets if you have a turtle back model much more work. I did one in Iraq that was hid by an ied you will need a rivet setter and bucking bars and clecos best advice I can give you would be to befriend an aviation mechanic and buy him a few cases of beer to come over and help you

 

[papakb]

Sorry, my error. This part is referred to as the wheelhouse and I would recommend taking a good set of measurements before your remove the old one. That large hole in the rear crossmember (D pillar) is not an alignment hole. Other than that it's a pretty straightforward job. I would recommend using a rivet shaver to remove the old rivets. If you drill them out there's no guarantee that your new holes will line up since these things are basically handmade. You'll notice that the holes are not on straight lines and are not evenly spaced. The other thing you want to do is make sure you use the correct length rivets if your going to reinstall the new wheelhouse with CherryMax rivets. They are veru fussy about their length. If your just using Pop rivets you don't need to worry about their lengthy, just make sure to use 3/16" rivets. That little angle bracket above the axle that ties the wheelhouse to the cross beam under the floor is a PITA to get correctly positioned.

I found an adhesive called SikaFlex worked very well for between the panels. You can find it at trailer shops and truck repair places. The SikaFlex doesn't dry out over time so if it takes a good shock it won't break and will still exclude the moisture and do it's job.

Kurt

 

[Lionel]

Perhaps easier to just do the outer skin alone? Or ........ pound it out? Thoughts???

 

[6X6WES]

you can straighten alum but it is tricky we work on some postal trucks and they are built the same. use a oxy acetylene troch but use the gas only NO OXYGEN that is the right temp for alum. heat the affected area and hit with your hammer and back up with the dollys 3 or 4 times heat again and 3-4 more hits ect... if you do want to replace "yard store" has great deals on kits with guns , buck bars , clecos , ect... be careful drilling as the holes need to be precise . try to fix first and if it fails replace it . good luck

 

[riderdan]

That looks like it has a pretty big crack in it. Unless you're set up to weld aluminum, I'd replace the panel. They're not that expensive, and riveting a new one on seems more straightforward than trying to fix that mess.

Just my opinion, but I took sheet metal restoration (a class in the auto-restoration degree I'm in the middle of) last semester

 

[papakb]

A word of caution about welding anything on a HMMWV body. This stuff is hardened aircraft aluminum and whenever you weld it you weaken the area surrounding the weld. This can lead to it more tearing. The other thing you should do is drill a small hole at the end of the tear to keep it from continuing. This is called stop drilling. It is possible to weld but you really need to be an experienced welder with the right equipment to do the job correctly. As Riderdan says, for the cost of a new wheelhouse I would suggest replacing it as a an assembly. You'll be happier with the results.