how do I repair cracked fenders?

[Yamaha_Rules69]

My rear fenders have a nice long crack in them. (I ran over my own leg! ? LOL ) Well anyways, what would you try to use to fix them? I tried super glue, but that didnt work at all. Has anyone here ever tried Gorilla Glue? They say its supposed to hold anything together. Let me know what works. Thanx.

[Xowner]

i drill holes along the crack and zip tie them or use fishing string

[thefox]

I have used a soldering iron to melt the plastic back together for the back side of the plastic. It worked fairly good, just do it in a well ventilated area. :D

-Andrew

[Kook]

I'm not much of a body man, but I do a lot of woodworking, so I'm pretty familiar with Gorilla Glue. It works great on wood, but I can't imagine it working on plastic. It is water activated and it works so well on wood because the water penetrates the wood fibers and the glue then goes into the wood. It obviously wouldn't penetrate plastic at all, so I wouldn't expect much in the way of strength.

I just recently combined two methods I heard about here. I drilled on both sides of the crack with my smallest drill bit and then "laced" it with 30 lb test fishing line. Then, as an added step, I used epoxy and fiberglass screen wire on the back side to reinforce it. Looks pretty darned good, if you ask me.

[Jeb]

My rear fenders have a nice long crack in them. (I ran over my own leg! :? LOL ) ...


Randy, did you bust up that 84 Tecate fender all ready! lol! That thing made it 19 years! lol!

I've used the "frankenstein" method of stitching up cracks before. I've used zip ties. It works great, just ugly. Next time i do it, I'm going to try very small holes and heavey test fishing line, like KOOK said he did. I'd also like to try some of those plastic weld sticks you see for sell on ebay sometimes.

Remember this: If it's a big long crack, you don't have to stitch the whole crack up all the way. Just stitch up an inch or two at the end and one or two times (1 to 2 inches long) in the middle, depending on the length of the crack . Up where the crack stops, drill a small hole right at the end to eliminate the end of the fracture. That'll keep the crack from splitting any further.

Good Luck!

[ATCMedic]

I,ve used a soldering iron from behind as well and it works really well. If the area that's cracked is subject to stress you can reiforce the repair with an extra strip of plastic melted on over the repair (on the back again so it won't be seen when the fenders are mounted)

[Jason T]

We recently did a 200s fork conversion on our 200es, but unfortunately we did not get a 200s front mudguard. So we had to use the 200es mudguard which is two inches too wide. So I used the jigsaw and cut two inches out and used the soldering iron to melt it back together. It took me an hour to do but it looks okay and is almost as strong as original.
I have attached a picture to show you the results.
Jason :)

[mkramm]

you could try what the guys at my test lab do. They mix abs plastic with acetone to make a paste, then they smear the paste into the plastic they want to join together, one the acetone evaporates it leaves the melted together plastic there.

disclaimer: I dont know if it will work on atv fenders, I havent had to try it yet. If they are toast anyway, it might be worth a try.

[Yamaha_Rules69]

Jeb, sadly, I admit it. I broke the fenders you sent me on the first ride with them on!! The crack is pretty bad too, its about 8 inches long or so on the left side. ( I have thought about fiberglassing them underneath, but dont know if that is such a good idea ... after all the diffrent ways you guys told me. Well, I'll have many ideas on how to fix it now. Im thinking more along the lines of re-melting it together or something like that, because the frankinstein look is a little scary. It might be okay for holloween. lol Thanx for the very helpful ideas and methods.

[Yamaha_Rules69]

I almost forgot. I was just briefly going to tell you guys about how the project is going along. It is going at a decent pace, but still has its issues of course. I got some great parts from some of you guys on this site, which is helping a lot. So far, I have cleaned and repainted the frame and swingarm, put new bearrings in the swingarm, bought a diffrent carb (the one I had was trash) bought rear plastics, bought the stock fatty pipe, and made a home-maid airfilter. I got it running pretty good today, took it for a spin down the gravel road. The only problem with it is the clutch, which is shot internally, and I dont have the right shifter, so its hard to shift. There are still a LOT of other things wrong with it, but buying a diffrent bottom end would take away a lot of headaches for me. I intimidated my neighbor when I went past his house today. I flew past his house in top gear. Right when I got to his house, he said "I could hear you from the moment you left your driveway. (my house is like 2 miles away) Anyways, he has a 2002 400EX, and is always trash talking trikes. I asked him what he thought of my ride, since the last time he saw it. He said "that thing scares me." lol I cant wait to drag race him, and see the look on his ashamed face when he looses to the "old threewheeler" -D

[MR ATC]

i found the absolute best way to repair cracked fenders is to replace them.

[Wickedfinger]

Here, Here Bill, I second that .....

[mkramm]

how fast does a tecate go in top gear anyway?

[jenndnn3]

Polyurethane Glue will work....Dries almost clear, sandable and paintable. This stuff will glue anything, so be careful because once it dries well it is stuck good. It is called Pro bond made by elmers..By the way it takes FOREVER to dry.