Rusty's Steel Fenders- Installed

Jbh97009

Jbh97009

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Damascus, Oregon
Ok, since there is basically no info and very few pics, I figured I'd do a mini write up with some pics for you guys to see. I've had my eye on these since they came out, ordered them about a month ago and finally got the time to install them.... I've tried to post this a few times and keep having issues, so I'll do it in a few posts and hopefully all goes well.

These were very well packaged, and shipped pretty quick. Boxes were actually a bitch to open and remove the contents! Lots of staples and spray foam!!
 
A shot of the fenders and hardware, LOTS of bolts lol!!!


So first step (after making sure its all there and in good shape) is removing all your factory flares, brackets, and inner fender liners. Then I just held the fender up and traced my 'cut line' on the jeep


Once that's done the fender cutting begins. You can do this however you want, but I chose to cut as much as possible. Also if you still have stock bumpers you will need to do some trimming of the end caps or remove them completely. I chose trimming.
 
Plastic cut:


And front fender cut:


I also went through and painted about 1" all the way around the cut black to seal it up. I still need to paint the frame and inside of the fenders but I'll get to that later.

Next up was the back. Again you can do this however you choose, and I again chose to cut as much as possible without completely re building my fender wells/inner fender. I trimmed off the lip then made a lot of vertical cuts between the spot welds and then beat it in!
 
Before and after shots of the rear fender cuts:




Now this was the first rear trim job I've ever done. Came out pretty good. I painted about 1" all the way around again so you can't see the white behind the black fender and to cover the raw metal from all the cutting/pounding etc. I actually cut a little too far, so I went through the inside with some seam sealer, and then sprayed the inside and outside with the new rustoleum sealer stuff so hopefully its buttoned up.
 
Also forgot to mention removing the rear cargo area plastic trim to acess the inner fender area. Also note that as with most jeep projects, one side is easy, and the other is a total bitch! The two passenger side fenders at easy (acess wise) but the driver is a bitch thanks to the washer bottle (which despite what the instructions say) must be removed, and the gas tank filler tube limits inner rear fender acess. Bloody hands and knuckles are inevitable!
Passenger side:


And driver:
 
Next is drilling an assanine amount of these holes:


The method I opted for, to avoid Allignment issues with the 17 bolts was to hold the fender up and get 3-4 of the top holes drilled, and finger tighten the bolts with the fender on the jeep and essentially use it as a jig. The sheet metal is just so thin, and curved I didn't want to risk the drill walking and holes not lining up. I would strongly suggest this method, get the fender hung with a couple bolts and use it as a jig:
 
Another thing to note, general fitment of these fenders is nearly perfect. I know that's not the case with some manufacturer's but rustys did pretty good! The only spot I had a real issue with was the front bottom corner of the rear fenders (just below the door handle) hit the 'lip' of the factory fender. Had I tightened it down it would have not only NOT sucked down tight against the body, but it would have deformed the body and likely ripped the blind insert right out of the body. Some grinding was required to clear the 'lip' or hump in the fender:


And my first try wasn't enough! Lol so I went a little crazy the second time around, having to remove 17 nuts, washers and bolts after tightening is a major pain in the ass! Here's a pic of my final grinding job:


So with the fitment/grinding issue squared away, I cinched the rears down and went on to the fronts. I ended up grabbing a couple clamps and just clamping the fender to the jeep and used it as a jig just like the rears. Worked great! Clamped fender on and drilled away!!


Also, like I mentioned earlier, on late model Cherokees the washer fluid bottle must be removed, which was kind of a bummer but I'll just grab one from either an earlier cherokee or find a nice small one I can tuck in under the hood later....
 
Got the fronts cinched down and good to go:


Finished it off, double checked everything, installed the gas tank door piece and went around the perimeter (sides and top) with black rtv to keep water from getting behind. Probably not necessary, and isn't in the instructions but I notice wrangler guys doing it and it makes sense so I went for it. Photobucket is giving me fits but I'll get some finished pics up ASAP.

Overall I'm happy with the fenders, the jeep looks a little weird right now but once I get my bumpers on, jcr light boxes installed, and paint the rockers it will all tie together and look great I think!

Only think I would change is to have them not stick out so far, but luckily in my case, my 36/13.50 bias iroks on 15" raceline monsters stick out just past the fender enough I don't think they will get hit too much..... If anyone has any questions feel free to pm me. Hopefully someone finds this helpful or interesting! Ill post up in a few weeks how they do off road (as far as stick out etc)
 
Couple driveway shots




Also forgot to mention there are two front inner fender braces for each front fender (one on each side even has a tab for mounting a light) that ties into the body/'frame', they are really solid! I'm actually pretty impressed, they should be able to take quite a hit with no issues. I can stand on them and they don't budge!
 


One other change I made was to pick up some stainless bolts for the gas tank door cover. They give you rivets but the rivets were so small and just didn't see them holding up too long....
 
Looks great, I've been looking at them for a while, but just a little pricy for me at this point still.

Makes it look like you need bigger tires now, lol.
 
Thanks. Yeah the price is up there, I just looked at it from the point of armor + fender flares, so its not that bad. I also needed to cut my fenders and retain some type of 'flare' for the county sheriff. All other counties and the state patrol don't care, but the county, and more specifically the city I live in (Damascus) is downright stupid about jeeps and flares. I've been stopped 6-10 times in the last 4 years and I'm done with it. Later down the road I may make the actual fender part removable but I'll see how things go first....

And yes, my 33's look TINY now!! Lol they looked pretty good before, but now they just look weird! Luckily I have a set of 36" iroks to fill the space! I planned on adding ~1.5" of lift before running the iroks, but now I'm thinking they might actually fit just they way it sits (with serious bump stopping)
 
How about some flex shots. Im really interested in how they tuck the tires in.

If you have specs on your axles and rims and tiresize that would also be helpfull.
 
I'm working on it. Just haven't had time to pull the forklift out and check things. I'll try to do that this weekend....

Axles are high pinion dana 30 front and chrysler 8.25 rear. Rims are 15" aluminum, not sure on backspace but I'm sure its 4"+ tires are 33/12.50/15 BFG KM2. There is lots of space. 35's would stuff just fine, and my rear fender just hugged the profile of my 36" irok so I think they will just barely stuff in the rear. Fronts have tons of space!

Like I said once I get my ubolt eliminators on and a spacer up front ill be running 36/13.50/15 bias iroks on 15" raceline's with 3.25" backspace and I think that will be perfect, just have to work on bumpstopping..... But I should be around 6.5" lift and have a pretty decent amount of travel.

In the mean time I'll work on getting some flex pics this weekend
 
Great write up and good pictures. Looks solid. Grab you some trim restore/dye and bring that door trim back to black so it all matches.
 
In the pics it's about 5" lift with 33" bfg km2's, now running 36" iroks with no clearance issues on the same lift, which is why I bought these fenders in the first place. Way more room than any other flare besides maybe the notch flares which I wouldn't touch....

I considered color matching, my friend color matched all his poison spyder fenders on his lj (which is white) and it looks good. I just wasn't sure how it would look on mine...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

1
CV axle OEM bs Chinese eBay design questions.
Replies
0
Views
76
1-tonxj
1
O
My 2001 4.0L ECU doesn't like #784 injectors
Replies
5
Views
236
Bent
Bent
Goose_XJ88
3 Link Discussion 2024
2
Replies
27
Views
2K
89Mock
89Mock
macgyvr
***Trail Communications***
Replies
0
Views
89
macgyvr
macgyvr
Anak
Replacing the Fittings for the Oil Cooler to Block on an 8.1L K2500
Replies
1
Views
257
Anak
Anak
Back
Top