I am wanting to put some fenders on my lowboy tractor and am looking at either the Minimizer ( polyethylene) fenders or the (polypropylene) ones from Fleet Engineers. Does anyone have any experience or preference for either fender? Any feed back will be helpful. Thanks
We use 4 plastic half round fenders on our lowboy tractor. Im not sure if they are polyethylene or polypropylene, but they came with an unlimited lifetime warranty. They seem to be durable fenders, but we do break them quite often. Our lowboy does go through some abusive situations though. If your not abusing your truck, they will probably last you a long time.
We have minimizer on our trucks and the actual fender don't break the mounts break before the fender! A company that hauls for us sometimes has fleet engineer and he really likes them they have 4 set screws that you loosen and the whole fender comes off for ease of maintenance! Looks is each persons preference! Jerry
I have the fleet engineers...navy blue... I put taller saddles on my 5th wheel for clearance, turning through dips, scratches nicely with bull rack, protects fairly nice when hauling and driving lots of gravel, but the rocks will wear through them and over time where the rocks hit the underside, will show white spots..fatigues the material. wouldn't go without them though. dittos on the mounting part with the fleet ones
That's a nice short hood. Right color and everything.
:drinkupThank you, you'll hear her for a couple miles first, then shows up with the beauty next:notworthy
I went ahead and purchased the fleet engineers, black in color. Mounting was fairly easy....took only 45 minutes per fender. Like millercross3 said above,you have to raise your fifth wheel plate or the fenders will get into your trailer. I have ran them for a couple of weeks now and now I really appreciate them alot....cannot believe I went so long without them. They really keep road spray and rocks off my equipment millercross3, nice looking truck.........I have a blue flat top Freightliner Classic that looks almost identical to your Kenworth.
thanks...one thing I did was put some light rubber canvas inbetween the two fenders to keep stuff from coming up inbetween the two fenders and a set of those black frilly hula girl type deals that mount on the inside and outside edge would help with rock throwing..esp on the inside side...I've got lots of lots of rocks that get thrown under and around my fifth wheel, and knocked my back window out on the sleeper...if I had them maybe it would have kept that from happening. did you get the chrome straight mount or the offset mount? I had the chrome jobbies..I'm a self proclaimed chrome-aholic!, but I'm switching them over to the offset due to my drill not making the hole in the right spot(not my fault, the drills, hahaha) then it would buckle the fender a little too much and not put the right arch on it, plus the offset are heavier built. I've tore three fenders off, but I keep putting them back on...I guess I'm addicted to them.
I thought about putting something between the fenders also, but was afraid it would start piling up with rocks and dirt.....do you have any trouble with that? I attached a mud flap to the rear fender and I thought about adding flaps to the front fenders ( the main reason I haven't is because of looks....what do you think?). I bought the black painted offset mounts.....well made and easy to install. I thought about getting the chromes one with the black fenders because they won't chip and would look sharp....but my wallet told to go with the black. How many inches did you raise your fifth wheel plate? I raised mine 4" and so far haven't had any trouble of the my lowboy gooseneck getting into my fenders.
You would get some dust and occasional rock but a quick swipe of the hand and it's pretty clear. Got my rubber from Mac's hardware...maybe 3/16 thick flexible but firm. I already have a rear bumper with flaps so I was good there. I have a step box on one side and bare on the other. The other side is chewed threw due to front tire throwing rocks back even though I have flaps on the hood, front side of step and the back of step and they still get back there. Pretty sure I'm no speed deamon too...I just cringe driving grave, even though I haul it. On those 40 miles gravel jogs...turn the radio up and tell yourself everything will be ok. If you put some on there I'd go with something firmer, but lighter than the normal anti spray ones with the little nipples. BLACK.....don't do the aussie thing and put like cat yellow or white like they have it on their roo sausage makers(if trucks had fashion sense...that'd be a huge no no in my book hahaha) but whatever pulls your love string I guess. The stainless ones looked SWEET against my blue, but with time and our hwy guys using chloride-salt-sand (chrome/stainless destroying mixture), those stainless(must have been poorer grade) rusted a little and stained from that garbage. They still chip from that crushed rock gravel roads too. I'm not sure what height my saddles were..gotta be that 4 or 5" range too. Lucked out at my local truck graveyard(DISNEYLAND) and got the assembly for close to $100. I think used at the time was somewhere near $600. If you haven't dipped it them yet.....you will...just wait hahaha! Inevitable! My belly dump was ok on them, but the bull rack was like a P O'ed cat. SCRATCH. If I wouldn't have been turning in such a bad approach with closed tandems..and perhaps I might have been a little heavy, it would have been alright. I've dipped it on them before without turning, they flexed a little and right back to normal. Phew, posters cramp. Throw a picture up and lets see them black pearls you put on your girl!
I had to get some help to get a picture up of my truck.......but there she is
I was wondering if you had clearance from the neck when seperated from the deck on a NGB, it looks as if you do. I have hendrickson pad walking beam suspension with a lot of axle travel on my lowboy tractor and was concerned about how high I would have to allow for clearance for the travel. Milliercross3, how do you throw your chains on, and do you have enough clearance for them? Having been in the Bakken last winter I know that chains are not just for looks!
*GULP* a freightshaker I pains me to say......jk...looks good...what's happening to the paint. The fenders look like they were meant to be on there. Did you end up putting anything inbetween or on the inside curve of the fender? I was curious about the clearance with that neck to. Looks to be a.o.k! If I need chains to get where I'm going Ox...I shouldn't have going there in the first place. :lmao I run locally from where I'm at. If the rain is falling or the snowflakes are flying...my sweet baby is parked in the shop:tong
Ox, I did raise my fifth wheel plate 4" and it looks like that is going work. In the picture,I have the lowboy unhooked and the gooseneck is a little lower than when I am running down the road.
millercross3, Thanks......I kinda like the old girl too. She's a '95 and starting to show some age on the roof edges......guess I am going to have to give it a little paint.Always seems like there is something that needs attention. I haven't done anything between the fenders yet.......thought I would run it a while and see what happens.
I have plenty of clearance when I am attached and in the haul position, but when I lower it to the ground I am afraid the neck would hit the fenders on the back drives. I may have to go with fenders mounted to the lowboy neck, they are ugly, but would sure save on mud and rocks hitting the back of the cab and mirrors, as well as whatever I am hauling.
Ox, My goose neck ( when unattached from the deck of the lowboy ) is held up by 2 hyd arms down to the frame of the truck. If I pulled the arms up ( letting the goose neck come down ) is only time my fenders would come close to hitting. What kind of lowboy do you have? Like millercross3 told me above..."throw a picture up"....lets see what you're working with.
Here is the old gal with about 88,000lbs on her:
Good looking rig....I really like the looks of your day cab.....Load King lowboy? I had a tamdam axle Load King and the goose neck looked like the way yours is, kinda low towards the rear of the neck. To raise mine, I added some steel to the blocks ( or spacers ) that control the ride height.It gave me a little more ground clearance and a little more above the drive tires. Looks like someone got a new hoe.....is that yours?......thats a beast. What is it, a 336E?
Thanks, it does okay for an 89 ex logging truck. It is a 1996 Aspen 50 ton lowboy. I can add spacers as well to raise the ride height. We normally haul a bit less than this and the ride height is better, the flex in the neck lowers it down some with heavier loads. Yes, it is a 336E and I wish this machine was mine because it was very nice, but we just rented it for a project that we had loading 730 haul trucks. We rent most of our equipment as we do a variety of jobs with different equipment needs, and having started business in 2008 ( my crystal ball was a bit foggy) we have yet to acquire much owned equipment.