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How much trimming to fit 31's?

SonicCougar99

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Williams, AZ
I just did a 2" spacer/shackle lift on my 1989 XJ Limited, and a friend has some used 31x10.5/15 tires he's going to sell me. I know I probably need to take off the fender flares and probably do a bit of trimming, but any idea how much? I don't want to hack off too much and have it look goofy or mess up any future aftermarket flare mounting in the process.
 
Meh...

I've got a saggy 2.5" lift and 31s with stock flares and just a bit of trimming.

If you're using stock wheels you might get some rub n the LCAs.
 
Just hammer all the sharp ends in. I have a 2" lift and 31's and all I did was hammer the sharp edges in and trim the flare bolts. No runnin!
 
You shouldn't have to do any trimming. I'm on 3" with 31's and I didn't trim at all
3.5" for me and rubbed like hell.

it depends on if you bump stop, and how much you actualy wheel. if you're using all your wheel travel in articulation, you will blow out your fenders pretty good. the rear will rub pretty bad too.
 
I will be using the factory Limited wheels. Would I be better off getting spacers? Or maybe even wait until I get some newer, wider wheels and put them on then? I could be doing that within a month or so, depends on how much I make with my new job I start this next week.

In terms of wheeling, I really don't do anything too extreme. Mostly running in mud, actually. I suppose I will take the factory flares off and trim a little and see where things are.
 
The past few years I've seen a trend to trim way too much. We used to talk about how little to trim, now folks talk about how much to trim. Trimming can be done discreetly in a few places with good results and very little change in the look of the vehicle. No need to remove fender flares, or move flares higher, unless you run really big tires or a really small lift and 35's+.

Cut a little at the very bottom of the wheel wells, and pound the pinch seem back some, that will handle a lot of lift/tire combinations.
 
Back in the day I had to round the front bottom corners of the stock flare. I removed the bottom rear screw of the front flare pulled it back about an inch and put it back in.

In the rear I folded the pinch seam over and did the same things with the flare. At one point I had actually tapered the whole flare back to get a little extra room. Hinkley used to run MJ rear flare to avoid that, if I remember right they are about 1.5" wider at the bottom of the opening.

That worked with a 3" and 31's, 32's, and 33's, all on stock wheels.

31's and 2" of lift is pretty easy. Hell I have 37's and something like 5" of lift now and the only major issues I had were the back of the rear wheel well. Oh and every once it a while the front tire grabs the flare and pulls it loose. I usually leave it like that for 6 months or so while I contemplate fixing it correctly.
 
I ran 31s at stock height for a bit, no trim.
 
Stocks wheels you'll rub control arm and eat them up. You need to get spacers (at the possible expense of your wheel brearings)
 
I will probably just wait until I get wheels in another couple weeks or so. I'm a modded XJ n00b, I want 15x8 5x4.5 wheels, right? What kind of backspacing do I want to keep from rubbing on the LCA's?
 
it depends on if you bump stop, and how much you actualy wheel. if you're using all your wheel travel in articulation, you will blow out your fenders pretty good. the rear will rub pretty bad too.


I stuffed 31's on 2" all the time. It just hit the inner fenders when it wasn't bumpstopped.
 
I will probably just wait until I get wheels in another couple weeks or so. I'm a modded XJ n00b, I want 15x8 5x4.5 wheels, right? What kind of backspacing do I want to keep from rubbing on the LCA's?


4-4.75" works fine. Stock back spacing is 5.25". If you use a 4.5" BS wheel that is 8" wide, you get .75" from the BS and .5" from the 1 inch wider wheel, so that gives you 1.25" more room in the back for a 12.50 tire. Rubbing a small amount doesn't hurt anything.
 
Thanks very much for the info. Like I said, I'm a n00b when it comes to 4x4 stuff so I just wanna make sure I'm doing this right. I will only be running a 10.50 tire so that 1.25" should be plenty for me.
 
At 31's and a 3" lift, I rubbed on the corner of the fender up front, and smashed in my rear fenders. I didn't bumpstop- I didn't think it was that important to do THAT soon. It only takes one time to stuff and smash. I added a 1" spacer up front which eliminated the rubbing up front, but I just finished trimming my fenders since the rears were crumpled and beginning to rust. Mind you I stuffed in the rear with full camping loads.
 
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