[sourdough]

I've gone through multiple iterations of repairing fenders. The factory bracing is simply crap. The screws thru the fender are a poor way to hold them. And, as I've found over and over.....look at how the top of the J panel is secured under the transition strip. I've seen it before but on this trailer the failed to get maybe half of the support screws in the transition strip into the lower J panel; it's just held on by the tension of the metal in the strip instead of the screws going through it. It lets it flap and over time it just gets worse.

I removed my braces, pulled off the transition strips, pushed the J panel up as far as it would go without pulling out the ends under the more permanent fixtures (with DWs help), ran new screw through the panel that now was under the transition strip and then put rivets into the panel below the transition strip to stop the J panel from continually dropping and flapping. The flexing is what drives the poor fender into the dirt. I added additional aluminum supports (1"x1/8") formed to fit. The fenders themselves all have the original Roberts screws through painted finishing washers on the outside screwed thru the trailer exterior into 8x32 speed nuts. All cracks, backside of the holes have been reinforced with a coat of epoxy.

These mods have finally...finally, hopefully stopped the incessant problems with the J panels/fenders. Maybe it will help someone else.