Badd Dogg Guy19

Hello everyone. I put on a set of the Mopar Diamond plate flaps around a month and a half ago, and to be honest, Im not to happy with them First of all, they are no where near worth what they charge, and to me, they are too narrow also. I was thinking about purchasing some diamond plate material, you can actyally purchase "cut offs" from companies for real cheap, and was thinking of tracing the Mopar flaps on the peices, than add a few inches of width to them, that way they will do better in protecting my truck with the wider tires.

Anybody do anything similar like this?? I want a wider diamond plate flap, and I figure I can make a set of four, for under $50, compared to the $50 a pair I paid for the overpriced Mopar ones!!

P.S. The Mopar flaps will be up for sale along with a set of Original Mopar tube steps I pulled off my truck when new.

mikmaze

as much as I can not stand home depot they do sell nice sized bits of diamond plate perfect for what you want to build, I used a bit to fab up my train horn valve mounting plate.

Herrin811

been getting my treadplate at ace hardware....Makes for nice trim pieces

Made my own door entry guards, intercooler guard, and splash guard for the BHAF....Got some left still, what to do with it???

Superduty

I made the mudflaps on my truck.

Went to a big truck shop and bought the smallest flaps I could find. Went to a sheet metal shop and bought some cut off, which they sheared to the right size. I got some SS rivets and riveted the SS to the flaps.

The flaps are heavier than the regular pickup truck variety. They were like $5 each. The SS is thicker. They were 1/2 price or less. The SS and shearing was expensive. I was very happy with the result. I put them on in one leisurely Saturday morning.

You can just see the bottoms of them in the 5er picture in my forum.

If the flaps wear out like the first set did, I'll drill out the rivets, buy new flaps and I'm back in business.

I want to put a big Cummins C on them. Someday...

Badd Dogg Guy19

Hey "SUPERDUTY", would you happen to have another shot of your flaps available?? I kind of like the idea of maybe having a rubber flap, and than just put some diamond plate on the bottom, so the flaps will match my running boards. I also didnt like the fact as how Mopar wants you to mount the diamond plate flaps right against your paint. I put some thick double sided tape in between the flap and wheel well. I think the rubber mat with the D.P. on it will be a better route.

Superduty

I don't at the moment and it is dark here, so it will have to wait. Can it wait until the weekend ? PM me if I forget.

I used 2 pieces of SS. One to go between the flap and the body and another lower down on the flap. Pictures will show this. I used SS bolts to hold the flap to the wheel well using pre existing holes. I put a thick layer of roofing tar in between to keep water out and prevent rust.

I want this truck to last forever.

The only thing is the flaps flair out a bit. You'll see.

04 dodge diesel

I saw on the ebay store at -Cuts Metals a guy from Colorado has all sizes and thickness ,good deals , example 24"+12" , for 7.00 plus sh.

Badd Dogg Guy19

No rush at all SUPER, I just wanted to get a better look at what you did. If I dont here from you by Monday or so, I'll PM you, Thanks for your reply.

Superduty

Hi guys.

Here are my mud flaps.

They are just a bit narrow. But the next width was too wide. I think the rubber is 3/8" thick. They do cover the whole wheel, but just so. The picture doesn't make it so, but that is just the angle. I run 265/75R16s.

Flaps like this protect the rear rocker panel well. I don't mean to brag, but the truck just turned 7 years old. It has 85,000 miles on it.

Riveting the top plate to the flap and then bolting the flap/plate to the body sturdies everything up. You need the top plate to give the flap strength so it can be bolted. Otherwise it is like bolting a wide noodle.

The flaps themselves were really cheap. Like $7 ea or something. Go to a big rig parts shop. The SS was like $20 or something including cutting and I have some extra pieces.




The material is 403 SS cut offs sheared to the right size. The black stuff between the SS and the wheel well is roofing tar. It seals the SS to the body so moisture doesn't get in. It is a bit flexible. You could obviously use checkerplate for the bottom piece instead of plain. Some day I will mill a C or something in the bottom plate.



These are the SS rivets. I think they are 1/8". You need washers on the back (also SS) so that they don't pull through.



The flap bolts onto the wheel well with 2 5/16" SS bolts. My last set was done this way too. I should have washed the backside of the flap so you could see the washers on the rivets and the bolts. You can make them out if you look closely.

I don't know what else to say.

Badd Dogg Guy19

Thanks for the pics SUPER, You got me thinking now... I might do something similar, but use diamond plate accents instead of S/S. Appreciate your time in posting the pics. Now I just have some thinking to do....

Buffalo

There is a company in SE Washington, Northwest Customs, I believe, that makes custom mudflaps. One of the things they do, that is unique, is to put a bend (create a ledge) just under the fender, which, puts the flap, itself, back about 3" further than if you just hang them off the back of the fenderwell.

On my '91, the flaps hang down at the back of the fenderwell & I have bent them up & torn them off trying to back up in sand. When the tire starts to bury itself, the flap can get into the sand or gravel and actually get stuck under the tire. This only happens in reverse.

By putting a jog or bend in the flap metal, you put the rubber flap material far enough back that you can't back up over it.

NW Customs gets about 2-300 dollars, I believe, for a set of rears. I bought scrap alum. diamond plate & flaps at a big truck store & I think I have a bit under $60.00 into them. The expensive thing was having the bends put into the metal. That was $20.00 at a shop that had a brake to do the bends.

Mine aren't quite as pretty as the NW Customs but, they work great.

Joe F.(Buffalo)

Superduty

You can tear them off backing up to a curb as well. That is how I killed my last pair.

I don't recommend handing them too strongly so that they can break away in a pinch.

You are right about putting them further back would help that. So would higher up. I just watch them now. But... I like them right in the wheel well to keep the stones off the paint. If you move them back 3 inches, that 3 inches will get stones.

The biggest issue for me with keeping a truck a long time is keeping it rust free. I can fix everything else. Did you notice that I tarred the edges of the wheel wells ? I also do the inside lip of the fender. And I rustproof it as well. The number one rust area on a truck is the rear wheel wells.

BTW: checkerplate would work too.