Fender Fixer-Upper

[Custom200]

I was wondering how to repair a broken set of fenders. I have a 1985 200x and the part of the fender in front of the back wheels are perfect but the back piece where the big sticker goes is cracked up pretty bad. its all there but held with wire and stuff. I cant dish out the money for new fenders at the moment and i dont want to cut rhe fenders. How can i fix them?

[atc4everbob]

I never did like the look of zip ties on the plastic. I've had a couple of trikes with cracked plastic that I repaired. If accessible on the underside, I like to use a very thin sheet of aluminum on the inside, drill holes, and rivet the aluminum (on the inside) in place with a few rivets. I then touch up the rivet heads with red paint, which makes it almost unnoticeable. In other words, just the rivet heads are visible on the outside. It's also strong enough to keep the crack from growing. Works great.

[honda 4h]

red silicone works and looks good after a stitch up i use the high heat stuff its the closest red that i found good for filling small holes on the fenders to.

[junkrider]

I have a "plastic welder" which I got off ebay for about $80 USD. Used buy-it-now and it was delivered at my doorstep the next morning (kinda weird fast!).

I get red or blue plastic "wire" to use with it from ebay. About $20.

Basically, the thing is an over-sized soldering iron with a flat wedge shaped foot to melt a groove in the plastic and a hole that the plastic wire goes through, similar to a hot glue gun. It's really easy, but time consuming.

My kid's lt230 had shredded fenders, found a pair of slightly better fenders on ebay for $15 (front and rear) but they were cracked badly, no missing pieces though. Took me about 6 hours to "weld" the fenders, then I painted them flat black with vinyl paint. Sort of frankenstein, but considering it's a kids ride, I didn't want to put the cash into new fenders. Looks okay, cheap to do, and holds up nicely.

If you don't have the cash for fenders or you think you will just crack new fenders, then I'd get the welder, it's worth it.

-mike

[hondahaulic]

however you decide to repair them, i think it would be a good idea to drill a small hole at the very end of the crack to prevent the crack from growing. even if you weld them, i would still drill the hole and then fill it in with weld.

[Custom200]

Thanks guys. im off to do it in the morning

[junkrider]

however you decide to repair them, i think it would be a good idea to drill a small hole at the very end of the crack to prevent the crack from growing. even if you weld them, i would still drill the hole and then fill it in with weld.

Yes! Alway do that, with the welder thingy you can just fill the hole in.

Good advice Hondahaulic.

Oh, and run the drill in reverse when you drill, else, you run the risk of further cracking the plastics when your drill grabs in.