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Hello all;

I started a new job this week and it has been going very well. A new routine is yet to be established, but I was able to get into the shop for a few hours yesterday. I worked for about 6 hours, but had to call it early as my back was giving me grief. I had previously shortened the rear fenders at the front to line up better with the running boards. There was a gap at the back as the radius on the fender was brought up higher when I shortened it an left the gap. I am also looking at my previous welds and I can see how much I have improved. Enough so that I am cutting away as much of the previous work as I can while replacing the edge with the radius.

I started with the paper for a template, cut out some 18 ga pieces and then used the Pullmax machine to form the edge. The radius is pretty tight so it cause a lot of ripples in the corner as the edge was formed. I made some cuts and with some hammer work and cutting here and there got the corners welded up and looking good.

That was pretty much where the good times ended as the rest of the time was spent fighting myself. I laid the new piece over the fender, clamped it on and then made a cut where I figured I had new fender material under it. Nope, remember kids to measure twice and cut once! I welded that cut up and then marked a line into new material. I spent the next hour carefully cutting and welding the new piece in. I could have been much faster had I cut the new piece to the proper size then laid it over. I had to take extra time as I was cutting through both pieces which also made getting the patch flush more difficult. Then I struggled with the new fender material thickness and blowing through with too much heat. GAH!!

I did get a nice surprise though, my younger son came out to help for a while. I set him to work doing some dismantling in the cab while I struggled on the fender. Once he was done with that he came and helped me with the fender. Took some extra time to show him what I was doing, but he caught on quickly so I let him run with that fender while I started the other.

In the end I did not accomplish as much as I had wanted to, but hey....

Steve