We had a mishap with one of the flatbeds & a tree at work the other day. While preparing to fix it I thought it may be helpful to photo the repair steps for someone to use as a guide to repair a dually fender or maybe a Blazer roof, ect.
This front is made of Sheet Molded Compound (known as SMC) & is the same material that the dually fenders, Blazer roofs are made of. Often times people misunderstand these parts to be made of fiberglass. The easy way to tell the Two apart is to look at the backside of a single layered area. The SMC is smooth on both sides while fiberglass is rough on one side (unless it was smoothed after being made).
The SMC is put in a mold & pressed into shape by another half of the mold, where fiberglass is built up of layers laying upside down in a mold which leaves it to some degree, rough on one side.
I wish now I had taken better pictures of the front prior to starting, but I didn't think about this until after it was off, upside down on a cart & I had removed the headlamp bucket for access to the backside of the area around the headlamp.
The methods here will work well on any SMC or fiberglass part. I used Fusor 100ez Heat-set plastic repair material to do the structural repairs. Fiberglass resin does not adhere well to SMC. I used 4 1/2 large tubes on the project @ a cost of about $46 a tube...still a long way from the $1600 for a used front that would have needed the whole thing painted & both sides lettered, ect.
The Front:
The underside (structure) of the front was damaged quite a bit also:
After cleaning & sanding with 36 grit, the parts were fitted back together...clamped & braced. Then plastic drywall mesh & the Fusor adhesive was applied to the backside:
After Two layers of mesh & goo, the backside was done:
Then I glued the headlamp bucket in & let that set up before turning the front over. The topside was then "V ed" down until the glue was hit remove the loose broken plastic & prepare for the application on the topside:
Two more layer were added to the topside:
And sanded smooth:
A layer or Two of bodyfiller & glaze:
It's off to the booth for a couple coats urethane primer:
Followed by some basecoat & clear, then back on the truck:
I've used the Fusor 100ez & drywall mesh in many applications like above & it holds up well when properly applied. Hope this helps someone in some way. Lorne
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