Wheel well, outer replacement. 1975 31'

[shadeemry]

Ok, so the PO had a bad tire blowout, and cut a hole in the curbside wheel well the length of a man to put garden hose tubing on a copper line, please bear in mind the entire AS has been redone in pex.

I tore out the wheel well , or what was left of it, thinking it was going to be simple to replace. well, from what i can tell, its underneath the sub floor. Is their any tricks i can do to re-attach the donor wheel well in a proper manor so that it serves its purpose? i have another one from a donor frame that's in really good condition.

any takers?

[Mixter]

Interesting... my '76 wheel well is not under the subfloor. It fits into a c-channel type extrusion that slips over the subfloor the same way as the c-channel around the sides. Then the wheel well sets on top of it- in its' own little channel. Have to have the interior out to replace, so I've wondered what I would do if I have a blow out that damages it once I have this thing all back together.... Guess I'll have to buy tires more often than I'd like as insurance.

[shadeemry]

Originally Posted by Mixter

Interesting... my '76 wheel well is not under the subfloor. It fits into a c-channel type extrusion that slips over the subfloor the same way as the c-channel around the sides. Then the wheel well sets on top of it- in its' own little channel. Have to have the interior out to replace, so I've wondered what I would do if I have a blow out that damages it once I have this thing all back together.... Guess I'll have to buy tires more often than I'd like as insurance.

or get antiqe'ers insurance. Tire blow outs suck, this one was so bad it destroyed the subfloor the water heater was on and i had to replace that . I also found out that if you go lower on steel rims in terms of ply, you can never go up again, as you will bend/crack the rims. however this doesn't apply to the aluminium forged rims.

[shadeemry]

Originally Posted by Mixter

Interesting... my '76 wheel well is not under the subfloor. It fits into a c-channel type extrusion that slips over the subfloor the same way as the c-channel around the sides. Then the wheel well sets on top of it- in its' own little channel. Have to have the interior out to replace, so I've wondered what I would do if I have a blow out that damages it once I have this thing all back together.... Guess I'll have to buy tires more often than I'd like as insurance.

its also quite possible the PO or shop that worked on this never replaced the channels correctly, if thats the case, i have channel left, and ill just cut and fab it back, can ou take some pictures of yours and post if you would be so kind?

[Mixter]

Yes, but out of town this week. Will post Friday... remind me if II forget

[Belegedhel]

The wheel well on my 73 was installed underneath the subfloor as you describe. As I recall, it even gets sandwiched between the floor and the fore and aft outriggers as well. It would be tough to replace "correctly" without major surgery. I supposes you could cut the flange and about 5/8"off the bottom of your new wheel well and then seat it on top of the old one, above the floor, for something of a doubling or nesting effect. You could seal it up with vulkem and buck a few rivets in there to keep it together.

[shadeemry]

ughh... its looking like major surgery then to do it right..