Popup Camper Wheel Well is torn up

[handyman]

Hi Folks
I have a 1997 Rockwood Freedom 1620 popup camper. We were coming back from a camping trip and we had a tire blow out. We are fine, We were able to get off the hwy and change the wheel. The trouble is that the wheel well is torn up. It was rubbing on the new tire before we got it off the jack. We were able to have it towed to a friend's farm. My question is how do I fix it? The wheel well is cheap plastic. I don't think I can get a replacement part. I think that I may have to make one out of sheet metal. What are your thoughts?

 

[JayhawkRoy]

Here's one solution for a Rockwood (from irv2.com):
On our Rockwood popup, I had a blowout, well, actually, my wife had the blowout a few years back. We were on a road trip through the middle of AZ, she was driving, I was dozing. A trucker started honking as he passed us, and I looked back and saw the trailer leaning. She pulls over and the tire was completely torn to shreds. The blowout actually took out the inner plastic fender well, like ALL of it, plus all the stuff that was stored in the cabinet, (mattress heater plugs, etc...). It was all on the highway somewhere (not sure how long she was driving like that!!).

We get home and I order some steel fenders from etrailer.com and get to work fabricating new fenders - well, one fender at least... The next summer the same wheel had another blowout (not quite as bad as the first), but the steel fender took it like a champ.

I just ordered the widest weld-on fenders they had. I had to cut them down and modify the diameter by cutting notches and re-welding it, then installed it basically in the same place and the stock one, but used actual screws and RV sealant instead of staples like stock (STAPLES!!), then coated the outside with spray-on truck bed liner stuff. Never leaked.

 

[handyman]

Thanks, that sounds like the plan

 

[Eddie]

Good thing you are a "Handyman"