Fender Diagonal Brace between Wheels of Trailer

[Don52]

Last September I welded some flapping fenders back on to the side rails of a landscape trailer. One of the members of the Weld Talk forum suggested adding a diagonal brace for the fender that is located between the two tires. The following pictures describe the process to add the diagonal braces to the fenders:

1. Shows the fender without the diagonal brace. In this picture you can see a vertical angle iron post centered between the two wheels. This is the metal that the diagonal brace will attach to.

2. Shows cutting the notch at a 30° angle to match the angle iron. You would think that the one angle of the vise would be either the 30° angle of the brace or the 45° degree angle of the notch. It turns out that this would only work if the angles of the vise were tipped in the same order as how you tipped the part. In my case none of the three angles of the three axis vise are either 30° or 45°. I wound up using SolidWorks to figure out the correct angles. I just set the angles to the SolidWorks recommendation and it worked perfectly.

3. This was simple because there is only one angle. Set the angle and cut the notch.

4. I used my swivel mast horizontal saw to cut the angles. I really like it for cutting structural steel at an angle.

5. Here are the braces all notched and ready for welding.

[Don52]

6. This shows the two pieces of the diagonal brace clamped for welding.

7. For this picture shows the first TIG weld on the diagonal braces.

8. In this picture the diagonal braces are clamped to the fender and ready for welding.

9. This is a picture of me MIG welding the diagonal brace to the fender and the angle iron upright that is centered between the wheels.

10. This is a close up of the bottom MIG weld.

[Don52]

11. This is a close up picture of the top MIG weld.

12. Back view of the welded diagonal brace taken from inside the fender.

13. Front view of the welded diagonal brace taken from inside the fender.

14. This shows the diagonal brace all done and painted.

[Don52]

15. While I was working on the trailer I noticed that the latch that supported the left hand side of the ramp was bent and worn on an angle as can be seen in this top view picture. I am always amazed by the way metal gets worn on construction equipment.

16. I made a replacement latch out of ¼” metal instead of 3/16” that was also wider. I slotted the hole in the vertical direction so that it would align even if trailer twists a little. This picture shows the replacement latch clamped in place.

17. This picture shows my MIG weld to attach the latch to the ramp.

18. This picture shows the latch painted with the pin in place.

[walker]

I have done a fair bit of work on some landscape trailers. It seems that no matter what I do, they find a way to tear it up.
Weld fenders back on, build cans for the lights, etc, then it comes back in a years with busted lights, hacked wiring broken springs, bent axles, ton up ramp, you name it. I keep trying to talk them into a stouter trailer, but haven't been successful.
When I put on fender braces, I just cut a tube and used a flat plate, not an angle iron, so it was much simpler.