Forum Discussion

willald's avatar
willald
Explorer II
Oct 15, 2019

Almost lost a mud flap...

....on the road, headed out for a long weekend camping trip last weekend. We stop at a rest stop about half way, notice when doing my 'walk around', that one mud flap is barely hanging, one corner dragging the ground, only one of the three bolts still holding it on. We are talking about the mud flaps directly behind the rear wheels.

Mud flap had broke off from two of the 3 bolts holding it to the frame, was only hanging by one. I went ahead and removed it completely and threw it in the trunk (towed vehicle), we did without a mud flap on one side for rest of the trip there and all the way home. Didn't seem to affect much (towed vehicle didn't get any dirtier than usual), but obviously don't want to leave it minus one mud flap.

Now, the questions: Where to get a replacement mud flap? Most places I've looked only sell the massive mud flaps that go the entire length and attach to receiver. Don't want one of them, just want to replace the one that was behind the (passenger side) rear wheel.

Other option is to just rotate the existing, old mud flap 180 degrees, drill 3 new holes in it and mount the mud flap that way. Wouldn't look as pretty, but nobody sees the mud flaps down there behind the wheel, anyway. Thoughts?

As always, all suggestions, opinions, etc. are welcome and appreciated. :)
Class A
  • JRscooby's avatar
    JRscooby
    Explorer II
    Oct 16, 2019
    willald wrote:
    Executive wrote:
    FYI. Mud flaps are not to keep your toad clean. Mud flaps are there for the protection of other vehicles following you. Your rear tires, like those on trucks, pick up rocks and debris from the road and hurl them skyward looking for the windshield of some poor unsuspecting fool using the highway with you. The mud flap normally will direct that downward back toward the pavement.....Dennis


    ...With several feet of overhang behind the rear axles, and a towed vehicle behind that....I'm having a hard time understanding how debris/rocks thrown upward by the rear tires could hit anything but the underside of the Motorhome or your own towed vehicle. Sooo, not quite following you on how mud flaps would be for protection of vehicles other than your own.

    If we were talking about a dually pickup or other vehicle with very little rear overhang and not towing anything, I'd agree. That's not really the case, though.

    Be that as it may, I definitely will be fixing the mud flap before the Motorhome rolls again. We don't have any trips planned for a while, anyway.

    Will


    For years, the reason I did so much work to make it easy to put flaps back on is backing up on soft ground it is easy to back over them, tear them off. Then if a LEO saw me on the way home, I would pay a fine, and my truck impounded until the flap was in place. Of course, no RVer is subject to the safety laws CMVs are.
  • Acampingwewillg's avatar
    Acampingwewillg
    Explorer II
    Oct 16, 2019
    There must be some truth in what Dennis had related...I know my MH not only has the dually Mud flaps on both sides but if debris gets by them, the full length flap at the rear of the coach handles the rest. Even with that being said, many years ago, I ran over one of those "bases" (black plastic base) for a traffic cone...picked that sucker up, went past both mud flaps, hit my guardian tow shield, cracked that, then took off my toad's driver side mirror.
  • willald's avatar
    willald
    Explorer II
    Oct 16, 2019
    Executive wrote:
    FYI. Mud flaps are not to keep your toad clean. Mud flaps are there for the protection of other vehicles following you. Your rear tires, like those on trucks, pick up rocks and debris from the road and hurl them skyward looking for the windshield of some poor unsuspecting fool using the highway with you. The mud flap normally will direct that downward back toward the pavement.....Dennis


    ...With several feet of overhang behind the rear axles, and a towed vehicle behind that....I'm having a hard time understanding how debris/rocks thrown upward by the rear tires could hit anything but the underside of the Motorhome or your own towed vehicle. Sooo, not quite following you on how mud flaps would be for protection of vehicles other than your own.

    If we were talking about a dually pickup or other vehicle with very little rear overhang and not towing anything, I'd agree. That's not really the case, though.

    Be that as it may, I definitely will be fixing the mud flap before the Motorhome rolls again. We don't have any trips planned for a while, anyway.

    Will
  • Executive45's avatar
    Executive45
    Explorer III
    Oct 16, 2019
    FYI. Mud flaps are not to keep your toad clean. Mud flaps are there for the protection of other vehicles following you. Your rear tires, like those on trucks, pick up rocks and debris from the road and hurl them skyward looking for the windshield of some poor unsuspecting fool using the highway with you. The mud flap normally will direct that downward back toward the pavement.....Dennis
  • 4x4van's avatar
    4x4van
    Explorer III
    Oct 15, 2019
    I ripped one off, like JRscooby said, by backing up over a makeshift ramp to get over the curb into my parking spot at home. I simply cut the top 1 1/2" off (just above the now ripped holes) and drilled new holes. I went ahead and shortened the other side to match, but it probably wasn't entirely necessary.
  • Acampingwewillg's avatar
    Acampingwewillg
    Explorer II
    Oct 15, 2019
    I had a very similar experience except with a bit of a twist. We stopped at a Rest area and I also noticed that my rear passenger side Mud flap was somehow wrapped up around the tire into the wheel well. I played hell trying to pull it back down into place(the mud flaps are a bit cumbersome and stiff). I finally was able to do it and move on down the road. Now here's the twist....about 1000 miles later while looking again, the center tread had separated from my inside dual(completely gone) which was the cause of the Mud Flap incident. The tire itself was still holding pressure but entire center tread was gone! I now make sure I look carefully at my tires and not only for correct pressure.
  • JRscooby's avatar
    JRscooby
    Explorer II
    Oct 15, 2019
    Warning! Drilling is not hard, but it will heat a bit to the point it can not be sharpened. I ground a dull point on a piece of half inch all-thread about a foot long, put a piece of PCV pipe between nuts on the other end. Lay the flap on 2Xs with a gap where you want the hole. Heat the point, and shove it thru the flap, nice round hole for the 3/8 bolt.
  • Dale_Traveling's avatar
    Dale_Traveling
    Explorer II
    Oct 15, 2019
    I would replace or rehang. It does offer some protection to the whatever on the coach is behind the rear wheels from whatever the tires might pick up and eject in the rear ward direction at a nearly the speed of sound.
  • willald's avatar
    willald
    Explorer II
    Oct 15, 2019
    JRscooby wrote:
    Not rocket surgery. On my trucks, I would punch 4 new holes across the bottom, and 4 a couple inches below the original, so I could just shorten them. Any truck stop should have replacements, with just a little cutting.
    BTW, most likely you backed up a curb or steep slope, and onto the flap.


    Yeah, that's what I'm thinking about doing, just drilling a few more holes on existing flap and using it. Not sure replacing is necessary here.

    Good point about backing up a curb or steep slope. Now that you mention that, think I know just how this happened. Will have to be a bit more careful about that.

    Will
  • JRscooby's avatar
    JRscooby
    Explorer II
    Oct 15, 2019
    Not rocket surgery. On my trucks, I would punch 4 new holes across the bottom, and 4 a couple inches below the original, so I could just shorten them. Any truck stop should have replacements, with just a little cutting.
    BTW, most likely you backed up a curb or steep slope, and onto the flap.

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