Installing 1st gen mudflaps on 2nd gen

OK, well if you are like me running a high clearance bumper, you have probably removed your rear mud flaps, since you have to cut them off for the bumper. I still wanted to run mud flaps, as I kept getting rock chips on my nice high class rustoleum paint job, and I suppose because it’s also the law here, so I decided to fit a pair of 1st get flaps. While I was at it, I also decided to try to fit up the 1st gen front flaps as well, these are not nearly as stiff as the 2nd gen flaps, so they do not get ripped off. So here we go.

Front Flaps:
The front flaps required a little trimming a little drilling and a little heat+bending, but overall they fit pretty well.
First just mock them up where you want them, the inner bolt hole actually lines up pretty well with an existing bolt on our trucks, so I based it off of that. Once you have the general idea of where you want them, start trimming. In the picture below you can see where I trimmed (the red lines). I also decided to heat the plastic up and bend it to allow me to use another exiting hole.

Once you have it trimmed and fitted where you want, drill holes so that it will bolt into existing holes. I was able to get 2 bolts and 2 clips per side, it is pretty sturdy.



Rear Flaps:
I cannot take credit for this, I got the idea from TACODOC, but here is the way I did mine. These took a bit more caressing, as you have to trim the bracket. Basically, once again, mock it up how you want it (cardboard works very well) and cut out the profile of the bumper from the flap. Once you have it where you want, hold the mounting bracket up and see what needs to be trimmed there. I ended up doing a lot of hacking on the bracket, but it is still pretty sturdy. Again, you can see where I cut (red lines) in the picture below.

Once you get the hanger and flap looking how you want in the correct spot, it’s just a matter of drilling some holes, using self tapping screws , and your good to go. I also drilled a third mounting hold on the flap itself (see pic above) to provide more support to the top of the flap.

And here is the final result, no more pesky rock chips, now only nice rock scratches haha.

 

My god your truck is awesome. Flaps look great.

 

Great job!

 

Thanks for posting this. I'm in the same boat, my front flaps are long gone.

Excluding local junkyards (I'll look into that) do you guys have any suggestions where I could source some gen 1 flaps?

EDIT - Nevermind. My new sliders are catching 90% of the mud. That's good enough for me. I'll touch em up with a rattle can now and then and call it good.

Cheers,

Salt