BOX1

P1000m5 DIY Minimalist Mud Flaps: <$50

dnjones161

dnjones161

Well-Known Member
May 30, 2018
583
1,712
93
Ohio
Ownership

  1. 1000-5
I know this has been done before (@GlockMeister and @ohanacreek were the builds that I found while searching), but I wasn't able to find a good "parts list" or detailed instructions, so I tried to keep a record while I was going (back and forth to Menard's to swap fasteners:D).

A little background about my goals for the project:

I almost pulled the trigger on a set of Mud Busters over Christmas, but I didn't want quite as much coverage as they offered on the outside (running factory wheels), and I couldn't bring myself to spend $150 dollars on the rear set and then take a Dremel to them. I store a lot of stuff in the foot well of the back seats during longer rides, and it never fails that its soaked or stuffed with mud when I’m done for the weekend. I’ve also noticed that the underside of the bed on the 1000-5 has 100k little nooks and crevices that all hold mud, so I thought a set of mud flaps might prevent a bit of that and speed up the clean up process as well.

That thought process lead my to these three goals:

  1. Created a decent looking set of rear mudflaps the size I wanted for <50 dollars (sweet spot on mods IMO)

  2. Cover the front of the wheel-well as to not suck mud in the rear seat foot wells.

  3. Retain a factor-ish look.
So off to Menards I went with a dream and a 50 dollar budget. The big question mark was the cost of the HDPE. I had to special order this sheet, but I ended up with a 4x8 foot sheet of 1/8th inch HDPE for 27 dollars on sale. You can get smaller chunks, but I had a homemade roof for the front of the Pioneer on my mind (mods < 50 bucks are quickly becoming my preferred form of entertaining myself on the weekends when its too cold to ride), so I went with the bigger chunk. Honestly, wasn't that much more than buying several smaller sheets.


It took several trips back and forth before I landed on this parts list, but I think it will be most helpful to have the complete list in one place, so here it is:


6x #10 sheet metal screws ¾ inch $0.82


6x fender washer for #10 screws
(I want to say 7/32 inside diameter is what I settled on but its easy enough to find the correct washer with screw in hand at the store) $1.60


4x ¼-20 1 ½ inch elevator bolt $2


4x ¼-20 nut $2 (intended to use nylon nut but ended up using standard nut/locktite as nylon nut required to much grip on the elevator bolt to seat)


4x ¼ inch ID fender washer $1.60


6x factory plastic clips $2


1x 4x8 ⅛ inch HDPE sheet $27


2x factory door bushings $0 (thanks again to @Montecresto, @OleRed and @Cuoutdoors)


So I was at 37 dollars in material (probably closer to 20 if you take into account the sheet was mostly left over for my roof project). Note that Menard's charged a 15 dollar "special delivery" fee for the HDPE, but refunded it in full when I returned the two pieces of plywood the HDPE sheet came sandwiched in. Very pleased with this.

Next it was time for a little cardboard mock up:

IMG 20190112 113641073
IMG 20190112 110320131
IMG 20190112 110305950
IMG 20190112 121219472


Here are the "final" measurements that I came up with.

For the top piece:

Top


And for the "front" piece:

Front


Note that the "top" piece took a little extra trimming to fit properly around the frame once the HDPE was used, so I left out specific measurements up there. I also don't know if the "frame hole" on the front piece was entirely necessary after mounting, but its easy enough to make adjustments with a dremel after mounting. The big measurements to pay attention to are the length and width of the pieces. Of course if you wanted to go wider, you could always go > 10.75 inches.


After I had the mock ups, I measured and made cuts with a jigsaw, a table saw and a dremel. I recommend doing as much work on the table saw as possible: it was by far the easiest and cleanest to work with.

IMG 20190113 213810301


Note the sanding block to clean up the edges. A little massaging with the heat torch to put an angle in the "front piece" where the wheel well bends and we were ready for install.

Each piece has 4 mounting points.

The "top" piece mounts in the frame of the bed with 3 #10 metal screws (predrill 1/8th inch pilot holes), and 1 factory clip mounted in the dip where the seat latch drops into when they are down. As others have said, I like the 5/16 drill bit when installing factory clips rather than the recommended 3/8 for a snugger fit.

IMG 20190124 202101834



The "front" piece mounted up with 2 of the elevator bolts in the "step", if you will, and then two factory clips up in the fender. Location is hard to describe for these so I tried to take good pictures.

Note I used two pieces of re-purposed factory door bushing as spacers for the elevator bolts. The slightly larger piece goes on the inside (toward the motor) to keep the fender flare oriented properly.

IMG 20190124 153952208
IMG 20190124 154007130
IMG 20190124 174034764



I think the best way to make sure everything lines up is to mount the bottom two elevator bolts temporarily to set the width and height of the bottom piece, and then have a 2nd person hold the piece straight and tight to the inner fender while drilling pilot holes with a 1/8 inch bit through both the fender and fender flare. 1/8 inch bit is much easier to get through- but watch your fingers as it would be easy to go through both fenders and a hand if you weren't careful.:eek:

You can see I played around with painting some of the hardware black. You can't even spot the elevator bolts unless you are RIGHT up on them, and the clips look to be factory from the top. That was another goal I suppose- to be able to remove them if I wanted and not look like a complete cob-job.

I also had to trim a little triangle off the bottom piece to make the two flow together when closed, but very minimal and again, this stuff is super easy to adjust with a dremel tool and couple cutting wheels.

The last thing I did was round a few of the sharp corners to smooth out the look. All in all I'm super happy with how it turned out.

Here's a few of the final product:

IMG 20190124 153903118
IMG 20190124 153849692
IMG 20190124 153913164
IMG 20190124 153931110
IMG 20190124 202025985
IMG 20190124 202033949
IMG 20190124 202051441
 
GlockMeister

GlockMeister

The Bearded Wonder
Lifetime Member
Supporting Member
May 11, 2016
7,603
35,552
113
Greenville, Mo
Ownership

  1. 1000-5
Nothin wrong with that. Looks good! Something you may want to consider is making a piece to go around the rops too. Make it where it can be easily removed with a couple push rivets.
 
dnjones161

dnjones161

Well-Known Member
May 30, 2018
583
1,712
93
Ohio
Ownership

  1. 1000-5
Thanks guys.

@TimG I'd be interested to see how much of a difference they would make on the underside...I've never really paid attention to the bed bottom on the 1000-3. I'm sure it would change the mounting on the "front" piece a little, but honestly figuring the mounting out was easier than I thought it was going to be originally.

I took it for a quick spin this morning and was able to find some water to splash through (ice to break through)- bed sides stayed completely clean. Looks like I've got just enough overhang to keep the mud off the bed sides/out of the door hinges at 10.75 inch width.
 
TimG

TimG

OLD SKOOL
Lifetime Member
Supporting Member
Apr 11, 2018
759
3,704
93
Southern Indiana
Ownership

  1. 1000-3

  2. Talon R LV
Thanks guys.

@TimG I'd be interested to see how much of a difference they would make on the underside...I've never really paid attention to the bed bottom on the 1000-3. I'm sure it would change the mounting on the "front" piece a little, but honestly figuring the mounting out was easier than I thought it was going to be originally.

I took it for a quick spin this morning and was able to find some water to splash through (ice to break through)- bed sides stayed completely clean. Looks like I've got just enough overhang to keep the mud off the bed sides/out of the door hinges at 10.75 inch width.

That will be a huge help especially when water for cleaning isn't handy. Like most of the times when your riding. :D
 
Smitty335

Smitty335

Well-Known Member
Lifetime Member
Supporting Member
Oct 3, 2016
35,360
207,915
113
NWA Arkansas
Ownership

  1. 1000-3

  2. 1000-5
I know this has been done before (@GlockMeister and @ohanacreek were the builds that I found while searching), but I wasn't able to find a good "parts list" or detailed instructions, so I tried to keep a record while I was going (back and forth to Menard's to swap fasteners:D).

A little background about my goals for the project:

I almost pulled the trigger on a set of Mud Busters over Christmas, but I didn't want quite as much coverage as they offered on the outside (running factory wheels), and I couldn't bring myself to spend $150 dollars on the rear set and then take a Dremel to them. I store a lot of stuff in the foot well of the back seats during longer rides, and it never fails that its soaked or stuffed with mud when I’m done for the weekend. I’ve also noticed that the underside of the bed on the 1000-5 has 100k little nooks and crevices that all hold mud, so I thought a set of mud flaps might prevent a bit of that and speed up the clean up process as well.

That thought process lead my to these three goals:

  1. Created a decent looking set of rear mudflaps the size I wanted for <50 dollars (sweet spot on mods IMO)

  2. Cover the front of the wheel-well as to not suck mud in the rear seat foot wells.

  3. Retain a factor-ish look.
So off to Menards I went with a dream and a 50 dollar budget. The big question mark was the cost of the HDPE. I had to special order this sheet, but I ended up with a 4x8 foot sheet of 1/8th inch HDPE for 27 dollars on sale. You can get smaller chunks, but I had a homemade roof for the front of the Pioneer on my mind (mods < 50 bucks are quickly becoming my preferred form of entertaining myself on the weekends when its too cold to ride), so I went with the bigger chunk. Honestly, wasn't that much more than buying several smaller sheets.


It took several trips back and forth before I landed on this parts list, but I think it will be most helpful to have the complete list in one place, so here it is:


6x #10 sheet metal screws ¾ inch $0.82


6x fender washer for #10 screws
(I want to say 7/32 inside diameter is what I settled on but its easy enough to find the correct washer with screw in hand at the store) $1.60


4x ¼-20 1 ½ inch elevator bolt $2


4x ¼-20 nut $2 (intended to use nylon nut but ended up using standard nut/locktite as nylon nut required to much grip on the elevator bolt to seat)


4x ¼ inch ID fender washer $1.60


6x factory plastic clips $2


1x 4x8 ⅛ inch HDPE sheet $27


2x factory door bushings $0 (thanks again to @Montecresto, @OleRed and @Cuoutdoors)


So I was at 37 dollars in material (probably closer to 20 if you take into account the sheet was mostly left over for my roof project). Note that Menard's charged a 15 dollar "special delivery" fee for the HDPE, but refunded it in full when I returned the two pieces of plywood the HDPE sheet came sandwiched in. Very pleased with this.

Next it was time for a little cardboard mock up:

View attachment 104150 View attachment 104149 View attachment 104148 View attachment 104151

Here are the "final" measurements that I came up with.

For the top piece:

View attachment 104153

And for the "front" piece:

View attachment 104152

Note that the "top" piece took a little extra trimming to fit properly around the frame once the HDPE was used, so I left out specific measurements up there. I also don't know if the "frame hole" on the front piece was entirely necessary after mounting, but its easy enough to make adjustments with a dremel after mounting. The big measurements to pay attention to are the length and width of the pieces. Of course if you wanted to go wider, you could always go > 10.75 inches.


After I had the mock ups, I measured and made cuts with a jigsaw, a table saw and a dremel. I recommend doing as much work on the table saw as possible: it was by far the easiest and cleanest to work with.

View attachment 104154

Note the sanding block to clean up the edges. A little massaging with the heat torch to put an angle in the "front piece" where the wheel well bends and we were ready for install.

Each piece has 4 mounting points.

The "top" piece mounts in the frame of the bed with 3 #10 metal screws (predrill 1/8th inch pilot holes), and 1 factory clip mounted in the dip where the seat latch drops into when they are down. As others have said, I like the 5/16 drill bit when installing factory clips rather than the recommended 3/8 for a snugger fit.

View attachment 104155


The "front" piece mounted up with 2 of the elevator bolts in the "step", if you will, and then two factory clips up in the fender. Location is hard to describe for these so I tried to take good pictures.

Note I used two pieces of re-purposed factory door bushing as spacers for the elevator bolts. The slightly larger piece goes on the inside (toward the motor) to keep the fender flare oriented properly.

View attachment 104156 View attachment 104157 View attachment 104158


I think the best way to make sure everything lines up is to mount the bottom two elevator bolts temporarily to set the width and height of the bottom piece, and then have a 2nd person hold the piece straight and tight to the inner fender while drilling pilot holes with a 1/8 inch bit through both the fender and fender flare. 1/8 inch bit is much easier to get through- but watch your fingers as it would be easy to go through both fenders and a hand if you weren't careful.:eek:

You can see I played around with painting some of the hardware black. You can't even spot the elevator bolts unless you are RIGHT up on them, and the clips look to be factory from the top. That was another goal I suppose- to be able to remove them if I wanted and not look like a complete cob-job.

I also had to trim a little triangle off the bottom piece to make the two flow together when closed, but very minimal and again, this stuff is super easy to adjust with a dremel tool and couple cutting wheels.

The last thing I did was round a few of the sharp corners to smooth out the look. All in all I'm super happy with how it turned out.

Here's a few of the final product:

View attachment 104160 View attachment 104159 View attachment 104161 View attachment 104162 View attachment 104163 View attachment 104164 View attachment 104165
That is slick! I like that way more than mud busters! But I'm stock width as well. Great job looks great1
 
dnjones161

dnjones161

Well-Known Member
May 30, 2018
583
1,712
93
Ohio
Ownership

  1. 1000-5
Also 15$ for 2 pcs of plywood?? Might of been worth keeping the plywood. Lol
Thanks guys. I wasn't in the market for plywood is that cheap? Haha I didn't pay any attention.

@JTW I'll be on the lookout for those. I wanted to ask if anyone had pictures of how they mounted up, but thought that might be crossing some kind of line since I wasn't buying.
 
O2bsmitty

O2bsmitty

Well-Known Member
Mar 29, 2018
240
524
93
Illinois
Ownership

  1. Do not currently own
Thanks guys. I wasn't in the market for plywood is that cheap? Haha I didn't pay any attention.

@JTW I'll be on the lookout for those. I wanted to ask if anyone had pictures of how they mounted up, but thought that might be crossing some kind of line since I wasn't buying.
It is for here in Illinois 1/4 plywood is 12$. Osb is 14$
 
dnjones161

dnjones161

Well-Known Member
May 30, 2018
583
1,712
93
Ohio
Ownership

  1. 1000-5
It is for here in Illinois 1/4 plywood is 12$. Osb is 14$

I'm fairly certain this was either 3/8 or 1/2 inch too. That's those Illinois taxes for you!

@JTW I remain intrigued....o_O....

Y'all gotta be careful tho, you already ruined the door bushing business, if we cut the fender flare people out folks are gonna stop making products for the Pioneer just to have forum members knock them off!

That being said, I re-iterate that I had no photos or instructions from the Mud Busters or any other fender flare. Just an idea and a little time on my hands. Turned out too good and too cheap not to share. I have certainly reaped the benefits of other members detailed project info (back up lights, tire size info, etc).
 
J

JTW

Guest
I'm fairly certain this was either 3/8 or 1/2 inch too. That's those Illinois taxes for you!

@JTW I remain intrigued....o_O....

Y'all gotta be careful tho, you already ruined the door bushing business, if we cut the fender flare people out folks are gonna stop making products for the Pioneer just to have forum members knock them off!

That being said, I re-iterate that I had no photos or instructions from the Mud Busters or any other fender flare. Just an idea and a little time on my hands. Turned out too good and too cheap not to share. I have certainly reaped the benefits of other members detailed project info (back up lights, tire size info, etc).
Lol.. you liked those pics I sent huh?

Wasn’t me on the door bushings... but the bushing prices have been ridiculous! The mudbusters are high for what they are... but they do work!
 
dnjones161

dnjones161

Well-Known Member
May 30, 2018
583
1,712
93
Ohio
Ownership

  1. 1000-5
Oh I agree, but I also understand making the money while you can before someone else copies the idea (which inevitably happens with all good ideas). Get it while the gettins' good as they say!

Drug companies do the same thing with brand name medications while they are still in patent. Of course everyone gets pissed at them too...
 
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