Contemplating Inner fender replacement

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, Skimlinks, and others.

rhyary

rhyary

Joined
Apr 5, 2006
Threads
167
Messages
1,481
Location
Albany, NY
Both of my inner fenders are rusted and I am looking into replacing them.

the part numbers for manufacture year 03/1996 - 12/1997 are :

53710-60164
53720-60153

The above numbers were replaced by these, according to cdan:
RH 53710-60163
LH 53720-60152

which are the same numbers for the 11/1995 - 02/1996 manufacture years.


It is hard for me to see what's involved.

To anyone that have taken the fenders and the inner fenders apart. Can you share with me what's involved?

I can see that they are bolted in place, not welded. But any help with gotchas, what parts may have to be ordered with the inner fenders, any information will be greatly appreciated.

It is my DD so the more I can plan in advanced the less time the truck will be off-line.
 
Last edited:
The only thing I can think of that will help would be go to go TIS and download the body repair manual.
 
I recently had a body shop replace one of my outer fenders and they said that the outside lip of the outer and inner fenders is bonded with epoxy or something. I'm not sure if that's unusual or not, just something they commented on.
 
Thanks guys.

For those of you who take a part these trucks, from the parting out forum. Any experience taking fenders off?
 
I replaced mine, take off outer fender, unbolt inner fender (firewall upper and lower, front rad support upper and lower) then pry off, mine was sealed with seam sealer in a few spots.

The hard one was the driverside, there is a lot of crap bolted onto it. I unbolted it all and used a ratchet strap to suspend everything wile I swapped them over.

Took about 4 hours total for both.
 
What did you do to replace the seam sealer?
Would silicon be a good choice?

Also, Since the rust happen in the same place on both side, I would like to give it a good coating of something before installing. This is not going to rust again on me, not even in the north east. But short of gold plating it, what should I use?
inner-fender-rust.webp
 
Last edited:
POR-15 can be good. I used that on my skid plate, and other than where I dragged it across a rock (and literally scraped it down to bare metal) it's held up very nicely.

If you want some sound dampening properties, check out Second Skin Spectrum. You can purchase a 5 gallon bucket of it which will do your whole truck then some. It's often used underneath a vehicle or in wheel wells as a protector, so it'd be pretty good here too. Plus it will keep that panel from vibrating and help reduce road noise.

I have that on the floor of my truck, and traffic in and out (mostly me in the drivers seat) hasn't touched it.
 
You can do either/or. The ultimate solution would be both. It goes on fairly thick (ideal is about 3 MM), so it can change how stuff bolts on to it, so that's something to watch for. It adds a significant amount of weight, after doing Spectrum on my door panels (I also coated the back of the fiber board) the door was noticeably heavier and had a nice "thunk" when closing.
 
Mine where rusted out in the same place to a lesser degree than yours. I used POR-15 on the areas that had rust in old ones and also sprayed a coat of fluid film on those areas before the roads got salty this fall.

To reseal the seams that had them stock I got a 3M automotive seam sealer.
 
New inner fenders.
Painted with first coat POR15

Tomorrow second coat.

Sent from my iPhone using IH8MUD
image-1383198511.webp
image-3136560939.webp
image-2182314125.webp
 
Next, I applied two coats of Second Skin Spectrum.
I have to say, I am very impressed with how hard the POR15 products are after dried.

The Second Skin Spectrum I have reservations. I am not sure if it really going to stay on. At least from the wheel side. From the Engine side it may stay on fine.

This is going to be a long term test for fighting rust in the north east. My truck is DD and I drive it in the winter and they use salt on the road here. So if after all this effort and expense, I can take a new part like the inner fender (apron) and rust proof it for the next 20 years, then we have hopes for these Landcruisers. Otherwise, they will rut away with nothing stopping it.

Rami

Second Skin Spectrum
image-816997710.webp
 
Last edited:
As someone mentioned before, use an automotive grade seam sealer where you need it. Stay away from the silicone. The generic silicone will break down faster than the automotive grade stuff.
 
I called 3M and confirmed that the "3M Ultrapro Autobody Sealant - 08300" is the right product to use for this. I actually got the technical department @3M involved. The verdict is that the 08300 is not rust inhibitor so the seam needs to be primed and painted.

So when I remove the old fenders I will paint the body side. The fender is already treated as mentioned above.

3M also sells a seam sealer that goes on bear metal. But it requires a special tool and it is a two part sealant. Like Epoxy it needs to be mixed from two tubes.

For my need, I want nothing to do with bare metal. So I chose this route.

BTW, the technical department advise using the 08300 to seal the plastic parts of the OEM snorkel. So for that they advise using the "3M Strip Calk Black - 08578" product. I should be receiving it today.
 
Details of the spot prone to rust. If yours has not been rusted at this spot consider yourself luck. I recommend you POR15 it now and puts some second skin spectrum on the area to seal it.
image-1431485203.webp
 
The inner fenders where replaced this weekend. Besides many many bolts to remove and replace there is not much to say. To take a part, just unbolt gazillion bazillion bolts.

To put together you need two people. The new parts don't line up perfectly and you need someone to push the fender into position so you can start a bolt in.

all in all it took us about 24 hours working straight from begging to end non-stop . 30 with the OEM snorkel. It was a long weekend.

I have a lot of stuff in there. A stock car should be a lot easier.
image-570699579.webp
image-2044110272.webp
image-300596648.webp
 
Thank you for the pictures and update.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Back
Top Bottom