Glassworks Fender install guide

So. You went mid/ long travel and/ or thought your buddy totally knew what he was saying when he swore 285/75's wouldn't rub.
Then you realized he crawls malls and you stuff your wheels once and look like this:


And then you buy glass and search and can't find a good write up.

Here ya go.

(I gotta be up at 4 am so this is gonna be a work in progress as I get time to install/update this)

In the meantime, can anyone help address this issue?
Every other tab fits
Except these. I understand they're not supposed to line up but what'd I do wrong ? Now neither of those holes line up

 

If i remember correctly, the stock fenders had a piece that stuck out far enough for that headlight. So the hole you're pointing to is for the bolt that holds the fender down. Then there was another hole next to that one on your stock fender to hold the headlight in place

 

x2. your headlight bolts into the fender... not sure whats going on here

 

Mine were the same way but I thought it was because how I treat my truck... lol

 

I'd say don't even bother with that one. Cause it's only one

 

or fit it how you need to and drill and tap a thread hole into your truck if there is room where you are pointing to under that part??

 

What is stopping you from adding some glass to extend the fender mounting surface to accommodate the mounting tab? That would be my solution after I had exhausted all possible ways to make it line up of course...

 

Time, mostly. Hell I have free glass & resin from work but it's such a pain... I'm thinking I'll pop rivet some metal tabs on & mount to that

 

Well this install is kinda crap and now I get why there aren't any good how-to's around.
The hardest part is making them fit.
You'll run into crap like this constantly.
Your stock bolts are 1/2" long or so & the damn glass is crooked and sits 1.5" higher than the bolt hole... Now what?

You just force it and trim and shove it back into place & grind spots here & there...
I had planned on making a bolt-by-bolt detailed how to for the fitment part but... You'll get it to work just fine without seeing that and every piece of glass will be different. Just use a small pilot bit to drill into the bolt holes to ensure you're on center, then use a 1/4" bit to drill the hole out.


These two will give you problems.
Apparently there is no bumper cap to fit 2013 trucks....
So the only thing i have left to work with are the little flat plastic bits.

You can either trim back the glass 2"
Or trim the plastic back a bit.
I went for the plastic trim route



Cut an inch or so of the tabs on the back and file it flat. Then cut a 1/2" short & it fits pretty well now.
I used 3M body panel double sided tape to stick it to the fender, as you're cutting off the side that was once held in place by the old fenders

 

What to do with your radio antenna!
Not sure why I can't find this addressed anywhere but I've heard everything from
Just cut it off
To expensive "antenna-less" systems etc

Here's what I did


Carefully take this nut off.

Take this off and note how you can adjust it up & down.

The old "cap" thing on top will not match the curve of the glass anymore so i decided not to mount it on top


Grind out a notch to adjust it down an inch or two then drill a hole in the fender & use a grommet
Simple, looks stock & radio works perfectly still!

 

As I have come to find out while building my 86 "dual sport" truck, pretty much all off road fiberglass is utter crap.

It is made to offroad racing standards, meaning "it is just cosmetic and is going to get thrashed, so lets not try too hard".

You wind up with parts that sorta look like fenders/bedsides/hood and it is up to you to spend hours making it look/fit close to OEM or say "f-it, run it" and leave it as is.

 

THIS.
I kinda get it- racing will break stuff all the time & I can't count how many fenders or hoods I've seen broken off during the races.
But at the same time, it's annoying as hell seeing this shit quality & paying so much.
It'd make more sense to sell a "race quality" line that look like these & a street queen line that ACTUALLY fit perfectly.

It's Kinda comes to a judgement call. I got it as close as I could & it's not bad. Not too good either.
Gonna be such a pain pulling em off again to get painted.
Anyone have a suggestion for the bumper caps?

 

I think it's time for a real bumper rather than try and get bumper caps to work.

 

People have been saying that for years. Make a high quality, oem like fit version and another, cheaper, thinner, looser tolerance "race" version.
Not like it is horribly difficult, there are properly fitted fiberglass products out there for street cars.

 

Yeah, my Glassworks 4" flare 3" rise fenders were exactly like that. I was thinking of making a little metal bracket or something for the headlight. My antenna was stuck solid I ended up drilling it out =/. I ended up buying a new antenna and had to splice the wires together the plug didn't match the Tacoma antenna plug in the passenger pillar.
It's kinda annoying fitting it, take it off, shave some, test fit again, take it off, shave it basically over and over till it's decent. Then you work on the other side...

It was worth it in the end. It gives the truck a whole new look.

 

All painted!

Do not. For any reason go to earl Sheib in Montclair off of central ave. Those dickheads tried to charge me 540 and I said fuck that they're staying white.
Paid 400$

Do not ever show your wallet in that place. Fuckem. I paid more than they'd ever make on your paint job.

 

I got a fiberglass widebody from tacomabeast and before I am to put it on does any1 have any pointers on what to do? I don't want to make a mistake ill regret (sounds like I've already made a mistake by buying fiberglass smh).

 

Measure once cut twice. Itll look nice because you cut twice.