Go Home! Endo-Skeleton Wings (Fenders) See All Photos
   


Last year I won the 'most vehicle damage' award at the 'Slindon Safari' winch challenge. Most of the damage occurred driving round a tree in a side slope on a punch laid out by my friend Chris Watts (Cheers Chris!). I pretty much tore off my near side wing - it was totaled.

Another truck there, driven by Ian Patterson had effectively a roll cage built into the wing. He could lean the wing on trees or earth banks without sustaining any damage. Fantastic I thought! I wandered over & had a chat with Ian, took some photos and made sure he wasn't too worried about me having a go at making some - he seemed pleased that I thought the idea was good enough to copy.
    Originally mine were going to be much simpler than Ian's - but as the design & build process went on, they started to look more & more similar. I suspect Ian went through the same kind of evolutionary process.
    While I was constructing mine, another friend, Paul Wightman, built some which were vastly simpler - arguably a better solution with some provisos. He just bolted a bent section of tube (much like mine) from the bulkhead to the bumper and bolted the standard wing top to that. He fabricated a new side for the wing, but that is just flat Aluminum sheet. The main proviso is that Paul's Bulkhead has been strengthened somewhat such that it can take the force of a frontal impact on the wing (force transmitted through the tube). A standard bulkhead is not that strong and may not fair that well in an impact. I would rather have to replace the wing than the wing and bulkhead!
    Mine are braced to my roll cage and down on to the chassis, but could be braced to the chassis at both ends and not need to connect to the bulkhead at all.
       
    Click Here to see all the photos of the build process.