Help: 72 Dart Swinger front pass. fender rubbing

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GURT WILDERS

FABO Gold Member
FABO Gold Member
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Location
Concord CA
Hello my Mopar brothers and sisters. Im having issues with my 72 Dart Swinger front passenger fender rubbing my tire. Its a miner rub on the outter edge of the tread. Even measured my wheel base to see if there was an issue with wheel base but everything checks out in the suspension. By all appearances the fender looks original and exactly the same as my driver side fender, except the bottom lip of the fender is longer than the driver side. When the car is sitting on the ground it looks just fine, but when i put the car on the lift you can see the wheel sitting further forward in the wheel well. There is a noticeable size difference on the bottom lip of the passenger side fender. Trying to figure out if maybe this is fender is from a different year/model. Any help/tips greatly appreciated.

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I would have someone outside the car watch the tire as you go from forward, brake, then reverse and brake to see if you have movement fore and aft. Had this situation with a 70 Duster. The K member was cracked where the lower control arm bolts through. Idiot before me put it together and never tightened the LCA to spec and cracked out the k . Try this first just to see if you have movement. Check both sides. Good luck!
 
U may need a wheel alignment with the caster camber adjusted. Caster moves the wheel forewords and backwards. Camber moves it in and out. Kim
I definitely need an alignment as i just replaced some steering and suspension components. My main concern is that if you look at my photos, one bottom fender lip is longer than the other.
 
I definitely need an alignment as i just replaced some steering and suspension components. My main concern is that if you look at my photos, one bottom fender lip is longer than the other.

That fender measurement may be a year change thing. I just measured the '71 Dart fenders on my Duster and they both measure ~8", but a '72 Dart fender I have here measures closer to ~7.5" like yours.

The rear dog legs have a similar changeover, the 72+ fenders are about 1" narrower in the dog leg than the 70/71 Dart fenders are. You might measure the rear dog legs and compare those as well, you may have a one of each type.
 
That fender measurement may be a year change thing. I just measured the '71 Dart fenders on my Duster and they both measure ~8", but a '72 Dart fender I have here measures closer to ~7.5" like yours.

The rear dog legs have a similar changeover, the 72+ fenders are about 1" narrower in the dog leg than the 70/71 Dart fenders are. You might measure the rear dog legs and compare those as well, you may have a one of each type.
Thank you this is exactly the info i was looking for. Sounds like i might have a 70-71 passenger fender. And just to be clear the dog leg is the support bar that goes from the frame to the bottom of the fender lip right?? And lastly, what other models would use this type of fender that would be compatible? Demon? Duster?
 
Thank you this is exactly the info i was looking for. Sounds like i might have a 70-71 passenger fender. And just to be clear the dog leg is the support bar that goes from the frame to the bottom of the fender lip right?? And lastly, what other models would use this type of fender that would be compatible? Demon? Duster?

The "dog leg" I was referring to is the rear part of the fender, between the door and the wheel opening. My recollection was incorrect though, the front section is the part that changed, the rear did not. You can see more information and discussion of this here

Front Fender Dimensions

Seems all the '71 fenders had the 8" measurement, where the '72 fenders had a measurement in the 7 1/4" range (or most of them anyway?). I think this came up with the repop'd AMD fenders as well, I know it's come up before a few times.

Thing is the marker lights are different from 70/71 to '72, so either your fender was converted to the later marker or perhaps it's another "Ma Mopar strikes again" with a slight body change that just rolled through til parts ran out, leading to a mismatch on your car. Hard to say without looking at that fender up close.

As for other fenders, I'm assuming you're looking for one that would match your driver's side? '72 is basically a 1 year only fender. That particular fender can only be found on '72 Darts (2 or 4 door) and '72 Demons. Duster's used an entirely different fender, I may have muddied that fact a bit because my car started life as a Duster but now has a Demon front clip. You can swap the whole clip, but you can't mix and match. So if you're looking for 1 fender, you need one from a '72 Dart or Demon.

Heck I just noticed you're in Concord. The '72 fender I measured for this is in fact a passenger side '72 Dart fender that has the matching dimension to your driver's side. It's in great shape but wears its original brown paint. All my cars are '71's or '71 tributes, so I don't need it for my cars. Shoot me a PM, maybe we can work something out.
 
The "dog leg" I was referring to is the rear part of the fender, between the door and the wheel opening. My recollection was incorrect though, the front section is the part that changed, the rear did not. You can see more information and discussion of this here

Front Fender Dimensions

Seems all the '71 fenders had the 8" measurement, where the '72 fenders had a measurement in the 7 1/4" range (or most of them anyway?). I think this came up with the repop'd AMD fenders as well, I know it's come up before a few times.

Thing is the marker lights are different from 70/71 to '72, so either your fender was converted to the later marker or perhaps it's another "Ma Mopar strikes again" with a slight body change that just rolled through til parts ran out, leading to a mismatch on your car. Hard to say without looking at that fender up close.

As for other fenders, I'm assuming you're looking for one that would match your driver's side? '72 is basically a 1 year only fender. That particular fender can only be found on '72 Darts (2 or 4 door) and '72 Demons. Duster's used an entirely different fender, I may have muddied that fact a bit because my car started life as a Duster but now has a Demon front clip. You can swap the whole clip, but you can't mix and match. So if you're looking for 1 fender, you need one from a '72 Dart or Demon.

Heck I just noticed you're in Concord. The '72 fender I measured for this is in fact a passenger side '72 Dart fender that has the matching dimension to your driver's side. It's in great shape but wears its original brown paint. All my cars are '71's or '71 tributes, so I don't need it for my cars. Shoot me a PM, maybe we can work something out.
Ah man i cant thank you enough for all the info and forum link.
 
Check your strut rods. They may need adjusting. I had the same problem with my '71 Duster.
 
Hello my Mopar brothers and sisters. Im having issues with my 72 Dart Swinger front passenger fender rubbing my tire. Its a miner rub on the outter edge of the tread. Even measured my wheel base to see if there was an issue with wheel base but everything checks out in the suspension. By all appearances the fender looks original and exactly the same as my driver side fender, except the bottom lip of the fender is longer than the driver side. When the car is sitting on the ground it looks just fine, but when i put the car on the lift you can see the wheel sitting further forward in the wheel well. There is a noticeable size difference on the bottom lip of the passenger side fender. Trying to figure out if maybe this is fender is from a different year/model. Any help/tips greatly appreciated.

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You have some good sized tires on there which may aggravate the issue but Get a proper alignment done first and then come back and se us. Here's a alignment chart.

skosh chart alignment.gif
 
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