Rear fender trim, no turning back now!

So, right before I left Germany I cut the front fenders to clear my tires, and really like not having to worry about ripping them off when wheeling, and I liked the way it looked.

I knew I would do the rear eventually, but it would have to wait until after the move and we got settled. Fast forward a few months, and I was tired of driving around with rear fender flares, and nothing on the front. Looked kind of silly to me.

I was not excited about doing the 'cut and fold' method since it rarely looks good, and you dont really gain that much clearance.

While I was at the 2009 Cherokee Crawl, I saw what I wanted to do. It was on Jaun's awesome burgundy colored XJ from Florida. I dont have a picture of it, (perhaps someone else does), but he did a nice job of truly trimming his rear fenders. Of course, he was stuffing 38 inche tires, and had much more need for it than I currently do, but I am planning for the future. This way netted be a full 3 inches all the way around the opening.

When you trim this much, obviously you have to go back in a weld in new inner fender material to re-connect it to the outer body. At this stage, all I did was cut the line I wanted, and get everything smoothed and ready for the rest of the work. My pops owns a Hot Rod Fabrication shop, and I will be at his place next week for a few days, so I am saving the welding, grinding and finishing for when I am there incase I need his professional help.

Anyway, I will update when its finished. Here is the progress after a little cutoff wheel love.

Look way better in my opinion already. Luckily I have an underbody/bedliner type coating on the Jeep, so it will be easier to touch up when we are finished.

~James

Couple more pics after I got it back together.







Makes the 33's look pretty darn small.

~James

Oh yeah trim it man! Looks good!!!! :yelclap:

Go a head and bump up to those 35's ya know ya want to. :shhh:

U can squeeze em in if I can. :star:

See:

Yeah, 35's would easily fit, 37's could probably fit with some bump stopping.

I need to get my rear suspsension working better, and this was a given once that happens. I am still on stock shackles with a 6.5 lift pack! It sucks, but will be better soon enough, then my tire actually will stuff into the fender well...lol.

~James

Would like to see pictures of the inside after you fixed what you cut.

Sure, I will post up pictures. Did you take a look at Juan's XJ at the Crawl? It was perfect IMHO. It would also work great for say... trying to stuff 42's.

~James

stumpXJ said:

Sure, I will post up pictures. Did you take a look at Juan's XJ at the Crawl? It was perfect IMHO. It would also work great for say... trying to stuff 42's.

~James

Click to expand...

No I did not actually. From a distance it looked like it was the same as mine.

I did the tab and tuck with mine. I did do a spot weld on each cut to "stabilize" the metal where two tabs come together and then lightly ground it down. I of course welded the the tabs to the fender well......

Looks as if your about the same distance away from the part near the door as I am.

I guess we'll have to wait to see the finishing touches.

i agree with ghost i kinda want to see the inside of your rear fenders and see how you closed up the cuts.

That does look good James, very proportional. I couldnt get away without flares up here.

On the rear suspension, are you familiar with Timmay's "slider box"? He's got a deal on them going, saw a few sets at the shop a few days ago.

http://jeepin.net/forum/showpost.php?p=1023734&postcount=570

Thanks John. I have never heard of this slider box. You have to be a member to see the link you posted. Got any pictures of it?

I was going to go with a greasable shakle, and HD's shackle relocation bracket. that should let me set-it up pretty good to allow some flex. right now, the shackle is hitting the rear OEM 'box' when the springs tries to flex. It makes some interesting noises going over bing bumps right now...

~James

stumpXJ said:

Thanks John. I have never heard of this slider box. You have to be a member to see the link you posted. Got any pictures of it?

I was going to go with a greasable shakle, and HD's shackle relocation bracket. that should let me set-it up pretty good to allow some flex. right now, the shackle is hitting the rear OEM 'box' when the springs tries to flex. It makes some interesting noises going over bing bumps right now...

~James

Click to expand...

x2 Spil the beans brother!

Check these out.. they replace the shackle. Drop him a PM, he just opened his doors to a cutting edge fab shop...Liquid Iron Industries.

Hmm.... so there is no shackle at all with this set-up. I could see it working very well, but would be a little concerned about the nylon or delrin (whatever he used) wearing pretty quickly. Seems like a sealed roller bearing would have been a little more logical.

May have to shoot him a PM and ask a few questions. Thanks for posting that up John, that would certainly help with my problem of the rear being too high after installing the shackle re-locator and new shackle. I dont really want to remove a bunch of leafs to get it back down as I then start to lose weight carrying ability.

~James

I have seen these before actually. I'm not sure where though. Maybe here. From what I remember its the delrin that he uses.

I guess a roller bearing wouldnt work unless there was clearance of the top and bottom rail. It wouldnt roll if both rails were hitting the bearing. Wonder if anyone has used this with a Daily Driver set-up. I registered on the site that the link is to, but didnt see any feedback on these.

~James

stumpXJ said:

I guess a roller bearing wouldnt work unless there was clearance of the top and bottom rail. It wouldnt roll if both rails were hitting the bearing. Wonder if anyone has used this with a Daily Driver set-up. I registered on the site that the link is to, but didnt see any feedback on these.

~James

Click to expand...

x2 I regestered but did not even get the confirmation email.

You'll probably find more info at Pirate, search Timmay and his 00 XJ build thread.

stumpXJ said:

I am still on stock shackles with a 6.5 lift pack! It sucks, but will be better soon enough, then my tire actually will stuff into the fender well...lol.

~James

Click to expand...

OFF TOPIC....whose 6.5 leaves are you using, and how are they working (obviously with the stock shackle for now)? I'll need to replace my current setup in the near future....RE 3.5's with Add A Leaf bending my main leaf....:eyes: I didn't do it...came that way. I'm thinking Big Offroad...heard good things.
Thanks:wave1:

Not entirely sure who actually makes them, but they came with my Clayton kit. They work great, just have to get the shackel problem worked out.

~James