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Trimming for 3" and 32's on my ‘91 (large post)

zthang43

NAXJA Forum User
Location
WA state
I've gotten a couple PM's asking about my fender trimming so i thought it would be easier to just do a quick write up on it.
I know this has probably all been said before, but here goes:

Some background:
It’s a 91 Cherokee Briarwood (I have a woody!) that I bought totally stock for $500. These were the first modifications to it. I installed a Rusty's 3" lift (came out to exactly 3" of lift) and 32x11.50 tires on 15x8 rims with 4.75" backspacing. (I got the wheels from Summit Racing for $40 each.) I think the backspacing is critical to helping the tires tuck inside the fender wells; less backspacing will require more trimming. When the rear tires stuff, I have about 1/4" of clearance between the sidewall and the inner edge of the rear fender.

The front:
The first thing I did for both front and rear was to flex the suspension (with the swaybar disconnected) to see where the tires would rub.

Then I used masking tape to mark the fender flares where I wanted to cut. I cut right along the edge of the masking tape with a cut-off wheel on the die grinder. It worked really well. I trimmed to the tape line, and cut off the lip of the flare along the top edge of the wheel opening.
Img_2376a.jpg


Before cutting, I removed the inner fender liner.
Img_2380a.jpg


I cut off the front fender support where it was rubbing the tire, and cut the fender itself even with the base of the flare, about halfway up the fender opening. (Since then I have installed a steel bumper I made, and cut the whole fender and flare off even with the bottom of the marker light.)
Img_2385a.jpg


I left the flare mounts intact along the top of the flare, and bent the fender back over the mounts. (I’ll have to bend or cut the fender lip if I want to remove the flares in the future.) I cut into the fender at the bends so it would fold easily.
Img_2387a.jpg


I cut and folded the rear edge of the fender even with the base of the flare. I left the bottom flare mounting bolt intact. I used a big hammer to flatten the body seam as well.
Img_2386a.jpg


This is the end result. The tire isn’t rubbing on anything and will stuff a little bit farther if I found a taller bank to climb up. I get a little bit of rubbing at the top of the tire/ bottom edge of the flare when I turn the wheels full lock. (It doesn’t rub as bad as it looks like it would in the picture.)
Img_2389.jpg


The rear:
The rear was a lot easier. I used masking tape to mark the flares and trim the front and rear edges with the cut-off wheel. (I didn’t pull out the fender liner or cut the lip off the flare at the top of the wheelwell.)
Img_2340a.jpg


I hammered the body seam flat on the front and rear edges, all the way up to the radiuses. I didn’t need to touch the body seam beyond that point.
Img_2343a.jpg


This is the end result for the rear:
Img_2345.jpg

Img_2335.jpg


The tire tucks right up inside the wheel well with no rubbing anywhere. (Unless I put snow chains on.)
Img_2337.jpg
 
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