Hey, so i just picked up a pretty sweet little rig that needs introduction... She's an 01 XJ limited, with about 7" of lift and 33" MTZ's, it's an RE 4.5" kit with CA relocation and renforcement brackets, plus blocks, shackles and spacers. Stock bumpers and flares, D30 front w/ 4.56's and an ARB, D35 rear with 4.56's and an ARB. Here's the problem, the PO was an idiot and was too scared to mess up the nice body so he put on lots of lift to avoid flares, also there is about 4" total up travel before bump stops hit. 
this don't cut the cheese with me. So, i have a set of rusty's flares on my 89 and really like the look of them, WAY more than bushwhackers which i hate. (no offense, it's the stupid little piece on the door that get's me) Now, i would love to just throw on a set of Rusty's flex flares and call it good. But there's that skinkin plastic wrap around bumper that hides the irregular rear quorter pannels that the rusty's flares won't mount up to.
This is my idea, C4x4 Fab has these cool little pieces that mount up on the back quorter pannels for protection and to cover where the stock bumper did. Could i get these pannels and mount my flex flares to them? i've looked around a lot but i can't find anyone who has done this before. This way i can take out the blocks and spacers, cut a ton of bump stopping and have a jeep that can flex, not to mention the pinion angle is WAY off, as in the pinion is aimed at the sky, so i'm getting vibes so romoving the blocks will fix that as well... What do you think? Pictures........
A set of the pannels installed...
A pic of the flares on an old xj (What i want to mimic)
How Rusty says to mount the flares on a 97+ Notice how the flare is cut off at the bumper, THIS is what i'm trying to avoid (not the picture i was looking for, but they still had to cut the flare to make room for the bumper, a better option than having the flare just stop where the stock one does.
This guy did something to make it work like i want it to but i can't see what he did.
So what's the verdict? Is it possible or am i going to need to do some custom stuff to make it work?
this don't cut the cheese with me. So, i have a set of rusty's flares on my 89 and really like the look of them, WAY more than bushwhackers which i hate. (no offense, it's the stupid little piece on the door that get's me) Now, i would love to just throw on a set of Rusty's flex flares and call it good. But there's that skinkin plastic wrap around bumper that hides the irregular rear quorter pannels that the rusty's flares won't mount up to. This is my idea, C4x4 Fab has these cool little pieces that mount up on the back quorter pannels for protection and to cover where the stock bumper did. Could i get these pannels and mount my flex flares to them? i've looked around a lot but i can't find anyone who has done this before. This way i can take out the blocks and spacers, cut a ton of bump stopping and have a jeep that can flex, not to mention the pinion angle is WAY off, as in the pinion is aimed at the sky, so i'm getting vibes so romoving the blocks will fix that as well... What do you think? Pictures........
A set of the pannels installed...
A pic of the flares on an old xj (What i want to mimic)
How Rusty says to mount the flares on a 97+ Notice how the flare is cut off at the bumper, THIS is what i'm trying to avoid (not the picture i was looking for, but they still had to cut the flare to make room for the bumper, a better option than having the flare just stop where the stock one does.
This guy did something to make it work like i want it to but i can't see what he did.
So what's the verdict? Is it possible or am i going to need to do some custom stuff to make it work?
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now i've got to figure out what to do about the flares... I'd like to eliminate the end caps all together if possible which means new bumper... Gulp... Anyways i'll think it through, thanks!
I'm thinking of maybe designing my own rear bumper and building it and a front that i've had designed for probably a year.... Here's my thread with rough drawings of the front... 
