What to do with wheel wells

[Harp]

So I am in the middle of putting in a new floor in a 72 Argosy due to extensive rot. When I got to the wheel tubs I found the wheels had been rubbing on the inside and wore a hole in one and almost all the way through the other.
I live in NC so I went to Out of doors mart and picked up 2 new ABS plastic tubs. The problem is they are not wide enough. Just about 2 inches short. They measure the same size as the old ones but the old ones were "cheated " towards the skin of the camper causing the wheel rub. Any suggestions???
Also by the time you put the subfloor over the top of the thick plastic it bows the floor and creates a large gap. The whole situation has me frustrated. First major issue I have run into.

[cwbiii]

Not quite sure of what you are trying to explain... but I would probably try to fabricate them out of sheet metal (galvanized) and then spray them on the wheel side with a quality rubberized coating. This way you can control the dimensions better and have a product that won't wear out as easily from the abrasive action of tires or debris coming off of them.(sand, salt,etc)
I would also carefully inspect your suspension elements for wear and age.
Springs can be "sprung" by too heavy loads and weaken or deform. If your tires are actually meeting these wheel wells then you need to address that or it will re-occur. I recently replaced both axles in my 68 AS.. not terribly expensive though not cheap either but made a big difference in what height it sits at and how softly it rides. Well worth the price in my opinion. Especially since I spent a lot of time and money to make this trailer right again and I'm in no hurry to see it get shaken apart.

Chuck

[Gregsch]

You can modify the wheelwells you have by cutting them in half and putting a strip of ABS in between them and welding it back together with MEK. Just finished a similar project with good results.

[HiJoeSilver]

How big are the wheels/tires?

[Inland RV Center, In]

Originally Posted by Harp

So I am in the middle of putting in a new floor in a 72 Argosy due to extensive rot. When I got to the wheel tubs I found the wheels had been rubbing on the inside and wore a hole in one and almost all the way through the other.
I live in NC so I went to Out of doors mart and picked up 2 new ABS plastic tubs. The problem is they are not wide enough. Just about 2 inches short. They measure the same size as the old ones but the old ones were "cheated " towards the skin of the camper causing the wheel rub. Any suggestions???
Also by the time you put the subfloor over the top of the thick plastic it bows the floor and creates a large gap. The whole situation has me frustrated. First major issue I have run into.

Perhaps the previous owner replaced the axle/axles with the wrong hub face. What hub face dimension do you have ?

Andy

[HiJoeSilver]

Also, does she need new axles. Sounds like the tires may be to high in the wheel wells as well as to wide or high profile.

[Harp]

As for the axels and hubs they are all correct and new axels were put on 4 years ago. Some of the floor near the wells was replaced then and the tubs were mounted too close to the wheels because the newer tubs don't span the gap between where they should mount on the frame and the side wall. The distance from the frame to the side wall is 16 inches the tub is 14 so they riveted to the side wall and left a 2 inch gap between the inside edge of the well and the frame, not covering the span. This pushed the well 2 inches closer to the wheels on the inside causing the rubbing. Widening the well would work or having new ones made. the old ones were only attached at the side wall also causing them to shift. I'm going to come up with a plan tonight after I survey the situation once more. Thanks for all the ideas. As for putting the sub floor over the thick plastic will it make a difference?

[Aerowood]

I routed out the sub floor where it went over the flanges in order for the floor to set flat. If I were to do it again I would fabricate new steel wheel wells.

[Belegedhel]

My wheel wells looked as though someone had put some weight on them from the inside, deforming them downward, and then they rubbed on the tires until there was a hole worn through. When putting the trailer back together again, I was determined to have new steel wheel wells built, but all the estimates I got were in excess of $350 for the pair of single wheel tubs. Being early in the rennovation, I wasn't used to shelling out $500 for every project, so I took the "standard" advice and tried to patch the ABS wheel wells with fiberglass.

Anyone thinking this is a good idea should be sure to to use the much more expensive marine epoxy or SMC fiberglass, as I found that the standard polyester fiberglass did not stick to the ABS well (regardless of how much roughing and degreasing I did to the surface). This, of course is something you discover about a month after everything is put back together and all buttoned up.

Anyway, when reinstalling, I routed out the mounting area on the underside of the plywood to ensure no unevenness to the floor. My interior wheel well covers were disintegrating, so I built new square ones out of leftover aluminum from my many other projects. This way, at least the covers have enough rigidity to protect the wheel wells from deformation from inside the trailer.

good luck!

[cwbiii]

Galvanized sheet metal is fairly inexpensive and easy to work with. A sheet metal shop should be able to fabricate you a pair for relatively short money. I generally make my own relatively small stuff with a couple of basic tools... the tough one for that is a shear and brake that can do the long edge in one shot...but you can cheat and build it in 2 smaller sections and rivet them together. I bought a simple 30" workbench mounted brake for under $100 and have used it for many tasks... don't try to bend the aircraft aluminum though as it is hardened and will snap rather than bend 90 degrees.
Galvanized steel bends easily and cleanly as long as you don't exceed the recommended thickness (gauge) for the brake you buy. I use an air shear to quickly cut up large metal pieces and hand powered aircraft shears for small work.

Chuck

[rugjenkins]

I just finished building a new set for my argosy. I used 22 gauge sheet metal and welded everything together. I also welded 2 1/2 stub plate to the exterior frame where the wheel well sits. This avoids having to router the floor . If I have any issues I can just drill out the rivets and repair or replace. I then will rivet the wheel wells to the stubs. I also painted them with bed liner paint. They came out great!

[Daytonacoupe]

Originally Posted by rugjenkins

I just finished building a new set for my argosy. I used 22 gauge sheet metal and welded everything together. I also welded 2 1/2 stub plate to the exterior frame where the wheel well sits. This avoids having to router the floor . If I have any issues I can just drill out the rivets and repair or replace. I Attachment 253995Attachment 253996then will rivet the wheel wells to the stubs. I also painted them with bed liner paint. They came out great!

I'm looking for options to replace the ABS critters on a 1987. The plastic is getting tired. If I fab replacements out of metal I've been wondering whether to fit the lip of an aluminum or stainless well under or over the sub-floor, and your solution looks like a great fix. It'll keep road debris away from the edge of the floor. Nice.