The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop *Rear Fender Rivets*

I've seen a few trucks with these two bolts in the rear fender and unless they are for a brace I'm stumped. Are these factory bolts?

If you are talking about the rivets at the top of the arch of the wheel opening, those are stock. They were not bolts.
The first time I took my resto-mod '49 to a local cruise in, a rough looking guy walked up to my truck and looked me in the eye and just stood there smiling. It seemed odd, so I asked him what was he smiling about. He simply pointed at the rivets in the fender and said, "That."
He was appreciative of the fact that I went to the trouble to make sure that those rivets were there. Most folks seem to just weld the inner brace to the fender and mud over it. He made me smile that day.

I thought you were describing 52Carl, but then I looked at who was posting.

Yes, they're hollow rivets and are stock.

Zactley!

That's guys. What's odd is all the pics I look at even stock trucks and old Barn Finds I never see those rivets. I had to look for days before I found the pic I posted and that was a video I took a screen shot of. Never seen them in person only 2 or 3 pics online. Are these rivets shown in the manual?

Where can you get the rivets?
What are the specs on them?

Thanks,

MIKE

Here’s what I came up with for those rivets.....I just used 2 small Allen head machine screws. Painted the fenders first and then installed the braces. Occasionally when I show the truck, somebody asks about them. Works for me....unless you’re a purist...good luck. Dave

Nice. Got a pic of what the brace looks like?

Think I may have found a pic. I have the other braces installed. Never knew about the crown brace for the fender because I have never seen them on an AD truck I've looked at in person and only a few online.

Zippie, I sold a pair of them on this site earlier this year. They look like this: https://www.stovebolt.com/ubbthread...ear-fender-inner-braces.html#Post1340127

Flatblu4748,

Thanks. I don't think I'm looking to add them at this point (I don't think) I was more curious than anything as you just don't see them that often. In my case not until here recently.

Here's a good presentation of tubular or hollow rivets that are used for the rear fender brace.
Tubular Rivets
These guys probably sell in minimum lots of 1000 (I haven't asked). They should also be available at the larger hardware stores. Measure the thickness of the fender and brace and the shank diameter and add the clinch allowance. You'd need a setting tool as well.

The head of this rivet is very thin. I use a small flat blade screwdriver type bolt and nut. I chuck the bolt in a cordless drill and run it on a bench sander with the drill on. A poor man's lathe if you will. It is nice to have an original rivet handy to match it up while sanding.
I then prime it with epoxy primer and have it painted body color, and assemble it when the fender comes back from the painter.

I really haven't noticed them until I read this post.
My 1950 3100

I talked with a fellow at a show once about his gorgeous 53 Chev truck. I asked him if his rear fenders were reproductions and he replied, “Yes, how could you tell?”

I told him that his rivets were wrong. He asked how that could be. I noticed that the rivets indeed looked stock in height, diameter, etc. But one thing gave it away, the distance between the two rivets was too large and I told him so. It was quite noticeable to any AD fans out there but to an untrained eye you’d never know.He said he’d never been asked that before so quickly in a conversation before. He always had to reveal that they were replacements.

Now, I wonder if reproduction fenders come with these rivets or do they have to be installed by the owner? If they require installation perhaps we should give the center to center dimensions, in case someone doesn’t have an original brace to use as a template.

My green turd shows the rivets at 1" OC.

Yep, same here. But mine was an orange turd.

Here are mine. Notice that on one side that things are just a little cock-eyed! Must have been part of a Monday morning or Friday afternoon work shift--LOL!

Fox: fyi, here are my “rivets” again: centerline is 1”. I purchased these reproduction rear fenders from Classic Industries in KC about 15 years ago. Those fenders had the braces and rivets already installed
(w a CL of 1”). I’d drilled out the rivets before I painted the fenders and took the easy way out reattaching the braces with allen head machine screws, in the same spot...unpainted...I like the look.
Good luck, Dave

Good to know. I’m not sure how that guy’s rivets ended up spaced out so far, but it wasn’t 1/32”, more like 1/2”, so it was noticeable.

Are your repros steel or glass by the way?

Fox, my reproduction rear fenders are steel.

That fender is toooo shiny!!

The sunshine hit it just right!

I worked in a restoration shop that used hardware store carriage bolts in a small size. I think they might have had to file off or sand off numbers or letters on the crown of the bolts. They looked like original rivets.