Thread: D4 Mudflaps

In the signature Andy... Prospeed.

Use Polyurethane sheet... It wont crack over time...

Blknight should be able to confirm, but Lara was/is running them since near new.. Doesn't tear or crack..

The other advantage, slightly more rigid and wont flick forward into the tyre and get damaged...

Originally Posted by Tombie

Use Polyurethane sheet...

Tombie, is poly sheet available anywhere other than plastic specialists?

Scott

Clarke Rubber may be able to help.Mostly deal with rubber but do have other products.
Andrew

My effort today. Another version using D1 front flaps thanks to Chris. I'll see how these go and possibly use them as a template for a polyurethane version at some stage.


The extra width should help protect the rear arches.



I used the two existing screws and added two extras for good measure.



I'd better put a screw in that empty hole. Looks unfinished.

Cheers,
Scott

Rubber conveyor belt material is much better than polyurethane. Typically they have woven material embedded into the rubber. This is what top caravans are moving towards. Imagine tyre carcass toughness. Apex belting in Melbourne make many such materials, and different organisations sell such materials to industry.

There are several suppliers of such materials. I'll check on the Australian Off Road site - there was a thread on such materials. The owner of AOR was looking to switch to increase the life of his guards.

I do think though that a larger and lower guard hanging off the sill rails (such as the ones made by for instance GOE etc) would better push rocks flat hence protecting the rear tyres ... and because they would be hung further forward, they could not be caught by the wheels.

I would have to disagree.

I can get my hands on any amount of rubber conveyor belt material, including from Apex Belting if I want to, but would not use this for mud flaps. It is generally too thick and heavy for this purpose. Yes - conveyor belting does have a woven fabric carcass (you can get it with steel cord carcass too) - but this is not needed at all in a light weight duty such as mudflaps.

Offcuts from sheets of rubber lining material, such as black linatex, are much better - used to use this on my Prado on the last minesite I was on, as the OEM Prado mudflaps were too small and pretty useless. Conveyor belting would have just pulled the screws out of the guards (especially the lightweight plastic crap on the Prado).

If you can find the right polyethylene sheeting for the purpose, it is much better than conveyor belting. It is plenty strong enough for the purpose, much lighter than comparable conveyor belting, "stiff" enough to remain in shape without "sagging" straight down, and if you use a high molecular weight poly, mud won't stick to it.

Originally Posted by BMKal

If you can find the right polyethylene sheeting for the purpose, it is much better than conveyor belting. It is plenty strong enough for the purpose, much lighter than comparable conveyor belting, "stiff" enough to remain in shape without "sagging" straight down, and if you use a high molecular weight poly, mud won't stick to it.

Exactly my thoughts. I design conveyors and we have a lot of success with PE as a chute liner, especially for stickier materials. You need something that is strong for its weight but presents a low friction surface. UHMWPE is probably the ultimate but maybe excessive for this application. Not sure about cost or availability of thinner sheets. Polyurethane is another option mentioned already.

Scott