Inner Fender Mods- TNT Inner Fender Replacement

[bajabronco]

Started the process of modding the inner fenders for more up travel and clearance for my 37's on my low COG rig.


Removing drivers side inner fender

Passenger side

Inner fender off !

Mocking up new inner fender

 

[Anak]

This looks interesting.

Anything you can show of what fitment issues come up with things like the battery tray and airbox will be much appreciated. TNT's site doesn't seem to show much of what is left on the inside of the engine compartment once these are in place.

 

[bajabronco]

Anak, I took some more pics today. There is a lot of work to figure out where to put everything cleanly and make it fit. The bracket that TnT provides for your battery is not great so we decided to make something better and reinforce the location where the battery sits on the inner fender.

Building the battery box. -

Here is where we reinforced the inner fender on the passenger side where the battery sits -

Here is a pic of how everything is squeezed in to the passenger side - you need to do a lot of fiddling to make everything fit!

Shot from the drivers side of the new passenger side configuration

 

[bajabronco]

One thing is that the hole in the front of the grill that all my wiring ran through - round one on the left, is now below the engine bay, so we created a new hole to the right so we could run all the wiring -

Here is a pic of the new drivers side inner fender -

We still have to figure out where to fit all this stuff!

 

[Anak]

Good pictures. That is the sort that TNT needs on their site.

Thank you.

 

[CSpeade51]

Looks great thanks for sharing.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[bajabronco]

Anak - here is how we set up the drivers side fender -

 

[bajabronco]

One thing to be aware of, that we found out after shutting the hood with the new panels - The hood spring interferes with the new panels and prevents the hood from opening. Hole saw to the rescue!!

 

[Anak]

Thank you.

I can imagine a few thoughts upon finding the hood wouldn't open...

 

[trailheadoffroad]

looking forward to seeing this all wrapped up!

 

[bajabronco]

I have pretty much everything wrapped up. Once I get my cowl intake, I just have to get it installed and I will be done, and then off on my Rubicon trip!

Here are some more pics of the new inner fender config


Drivers side inner fender- I am just using a temporary cone filter. With the limited space you have to go with a cold air intake (which with the new config doesn't look like it would get much cold air) or a cowl intake. I am going to be installing a THOR cowl intake.

Limited space for an air intake on the drivers side. -

Passenger Side -

Inner fender clearance on the drivers side after the modification -Lots of room for my 37's!

Clearance on the passenger side

 

[Anak]

Looks good.

I can see how the '97 and up windshield washer bottle would no longer fit, but I don't see that the '96 and down would be affected. Or am I missing how far back these reach?

 

[bajabronco]

Anak, I have only owned a 2000, so I have no idea where the washer bottle is for a 96. The inner fender mod is basically from the spring tower forward, so if the washer bottle is behind that area, then it will be fine. I ended up just buying the following small universal one -

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07NVFV883/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o09_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

With this new bottle there is only one engine - so the rear sprayer will not work anymore. I have never used the rear window washer sprayer, so I didn't care. I suspect you could use two bottles if you wanted to keep the rear sprayer functional.

 

[bajabronco]

USPS finally dropped off my THOR cowl intake this evening - !

I jumped on the install tonight since I have limited time before I leave for my Rubicon trip. I used my 4" cut off wheel and my grinder to make the hole big enough for the filter quick, not pretty ,but I made it fit.

The heat shield goes around the tube first then I put on the filter, then pushed it in. I had to trim the bracket that holds the vacuum lines. Note- if you have an under hood light, you will have to move it - it will hit the intakes heat shield when you close the hood.

Here is the intake mocked up. I couldn't find my RTV black to seal the heat shield to the firewall, so I decided to call it a night, and deal with it tomorrow.

One thing that I didn't notice in the box was the bag that goes over the filter ( pre- filter) - I have never run one before on my intakes. Does anyone have any thoughts on using a pre-filter on an intake? good or bad?

 

[whitexj98]

THOR says not to seal the shield so water can drain out. I couldn't stand the noise from that kit and quickly took it off.

 

[cwyman6]

K&n intake fits with the TNT fender chop. Done a few of them now. On the good springs I think I just predrilled the roll pin and cut them down so they dont pop up as far. It's been awhile

 

[Nimrod]

Anak, I have only owned a 2000, so I have no idea where the washer bottle is for a 96. The inner fender mod is basically from the spring tower forward, so if the washer bottle is behind that area, then it will be fine. I ended up just buying the following small universal one -

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07NVFV883/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o09_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

With this new bottle there is only one engine - so the rear sprayer will not work anymore. I have never used the rear window washer sprayer, so I didn't care. I suspect you could use two bottles if you wanted to keep the rear sprayer functional.

If you cared to keep the rear sprayer operational, it’d be a simple matter to drill a hole in the new bottle and install the pump assembly (or even both front and rear pump assemblies) from the old unit.

 

[Nimrod]

Does anyone have any thoughts on using a pre-filter on an intake? good or bad?

I run a pre-filter on my K&N and like having the added layer of protection. I don’t clean the filter quite as often as I used to before I had it and have noticed no adverse effect.

 

[Rob Mayercik]

Anak, I have only owned a 2000, so I have no idea where the washer bottle is for a 96. The inner fender mod is basically from the spring tower forward, so if the washer bottle is behind that area, then it will be fine.

The 96 is the oddball year, some older parts some newer ones.

On my '92, the washer reservoir hangs on the firewall right next to the passenger-side hood hinge. That is, of course, assuming that Jeep used the same washer bottle in 96 that they did on the 91-95 early HOs...

 

[Anak]

Yes they did.

However, my '96 also has the cutout in the driver's fender to use the late model washer bottle. It didn't come with anything there, but clearly they were getting ready to make that transition.