Stress fracture (Inner side fender)
 

Hi Friends,

Wanted to get some thoughts on a new issue I discovered over the weekend while working on the rig. After just about 4 years and thousands of miles off road (Many on rough corrugated tracks). I've developed a pretty nasty stress fracture on my passenger side inner fender sheetmetal. I've been using a 4x4labs compressor mount that attaches with three bolts (Two on the fender and one on the bottom right above the wheel well).

The weight of the compressor seems to have been a bit much. I temporarily stop drilled the tip of the crack to prevent it from spreading but I'm sure it will get worse. I know a lot of folks mount compressors and batteries in the same place and I'm sure have had similar experiences. Have you all found a remedy for our paper thin sheetmetal?

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That's kind of the nature of aftermarket parts. You'd need to weld in reinforcement from the back before welding it back up.

Early FJ Cruisers had a similar issue, they called it fender bulging and even stock FJ's developed the bulge. I guess Toyota fixed the issue down the line.

easy. mount it to something better/more solid.

Frame/chassis problem- crack in fender well

this came up a few years ago. I've avoided a heavier battery recently, keeping that thread in mind.

It's the other side, but the problem is similar

Yup, I started thinking about that. Just welding it back together will only give temporary reprieve until it inevitably fails again. If I repair it I will definitely reinforce it somehow.

Hah, yeah that is probably going to be the ultimate solve eventually.

Yup, I remember seeing that way back when. It's the reason I went with a pretty small second battery. Luckily mine hasn't cracked there yet!

What mount is that? I had the same issue with my twin ARB mount due to the design. I ended up having to add additional supports and another mounting point to stabilize the mount. Details are in my build thread somewhere.

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Here's the link

Hope this helps.