bed side fender trimming

[over2land]

I tried searching, but no luck.

 

I'm going to trim my fenders to fit bigger tires, and was wondering if anyone had trimmed the inner piece of sheet metal out of the bed.

 

I also was unsuccessful at finding a picture.

 

It looks to me like the in-board section of the rear inner wheelwell is single-thickness. However, it appears that the outer section is comprised of a top (visible from inside the bed) section and a bottom (only visible inside the wheelwell) section. I'm thinking of cutting that bottom section out entirely so I can go higher on my trimming and thus, clear bigger tires.

 

Will I end up with structural issues from doing this? Anyone do this and have any real-world experiance from living with this mod?

 

Thanks

[shawn]

i went up 3". which put the flair right on the line of the body bend. -- i think 2" would have been better for looks though.

[over2land]

Did you have to trim the sheetmetal inner fender?

[shawn]

i may have trimmed inners a bit but just left them loose. my freind did his and welded the inner to the outer ---looks good.

[over2land]

How long have you been running it like that?

 

I'm wondering if I can just cut the inners entirely out, sounds like you are close to the same strength I'd be at.

[DJM/78]

I've never had a clearance issue with the rear , what lift and size tires are you trying to run ?

[mnkyboy]

I've never had a clearance issue with the rear , what lift and size tires are you trying to run ?

 

:agree:

 

I can stuff 33s till the tires hit the frame and nothing is trimmed in the back

[shawn]

i did mine just as a cheap way to chop out the rust that was above the wheel opening. it was unsightly , - not its just slightly less unsightly.

[over2land]

going for 33s or 35s on a simple spring over. Preferably eventually 35s, but for the time being likely just 33s

 

I want to keep it low, but spring-over (which is higher than I'd wanted) is the affordable option to me right now

[DJM/78]

The spring over will set you at about six inches witch will work with 35"s , there is no nasty clip under there like the front that shreds up the tire , besides the fender bolts .

[over2land]

I had heard 4.5-5.5 inches, depending on what pack was in there, what axle you were using, etc.

 

I know on my 88 with 6.5 inches, I still had to trim the bottom corners of the rear wheelwells to keep the tires from hitting at full stuff.

 

I was hoping to keep this one lower than my '88, and still clear bigger tires.

 

On the 88 I went with Alcan springs, and they worked awesome on- and off- road, but it wouldn't carry a load anymore- not like the stock leafs did. On this one I was willing to give up some flex and ride (as well as save money) by just going spring over, but I was really hoping to end up at more like 4.5 inches of lift.

 

I know I can swap an XJ shackle in it and lose some height, but that alone won't get me from 6 to 4.5. I know I could pull the leafs apart and mix and match there, but I really like the leaf pack's performance as-is now.

[wannabeMJ]

well I'm jacking that thread up because its the same topic

 

I wanna cut my rear wheel fender so it's easyer to fix and I saw some pics of what you guys did

 

some people went and cut 2'' up and some 3''

I wanna cut just over the lip wich will give a rough 2'' kinda like this

 

but my main question is what did you guys do for the part of the flare that recces near the bottom of the bed

same with the front

like this :

[wannabeMJ]

never mind I found the answer staring at the fender flares for like 30 min then I went :fool: too myself and figured it out

thx anyway

 

Dominic