Folding Quarter Panels To Increase Departure Angle?

Had a huge rust spot on my rear quarter panel. I cut it all off and was going to patch it, but then i remembered a thread i saw ages ago where someone did something with the rear quarter panel and folded it up.

Does anyone have any more information on this? Or know how to do it? Any pictures?

Here's what my jeep currently looks like with what i've cut out.

I would patch it first.

To cut and fold basically all you do is cut out the blue and purple triangles. Then fold the back sheetmetal at the red line and fold the outside sheetmetal back on the green line. Pound it flush with a deadblow hammer and screw it or rivet it together.

Edit: you are going to have to trim the front and back sheetmetal panels flush once you fold them.

Kingkong0192 said:

I remembered a thread i saw ages ago where someone did something with the rear quarter panel and folded it up.
Does anyone have any more information on this? Or know how to do it? Any pictures?

Click to expand...

Here is a good link.
I did the cut and fold, along with building a new rear bumper, to reduce the incidents of hitting the rear corners, in drop-offs.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/lwade/sets/72157630992095828/

just look up cut and fold

Whoops, forgot to include the link to the cut and fold that I used.
http://www.jeepforum.com/forum/f11/cut-fold-rear-lower-quarter-panels-right-way-1007865/

Did you look in the Technical FAQ Section?

http://www.naxja.org/forum/showthread.php?t=1048762

I think you may need to add some metal to make it work, but work it should.

Since you have that chunk of metal out, I would cut out the rest you need, fold what you can. And then weld/bolt whatever you need to to keep it sealed up.

Since you were already going to cut and weld in a new panel, just cut off all the bottome stuff below the body line and weld a panel to the bottom. Easier than the cut/fold/rivet/seal nonsense.

Well i made the new panel up today.

Still think instead of patching this hole i should just fold it up and weld a panel to the bottom instead?

IMO, I would just cut whats left, bend what you need to and weld a piece to seal it up. Maybe sell that piece to someone who needs it that doesn't want to cut their rear quarters?

Seems like everyone likes follow-ups.

I ended up going with the cut and fold method on both sides. Just need to grind down my welds, bondo it, and bedline it to make it look good again.

I didn't follow that thread at all. That dude was way too precise and i wasn't feeling it.

I cut out the front section of both of the quarter panels (the entire thing were the rust was in my original picture). I then cut out the triangles on the side and cut two slits up the back plate.

I then bent this up into shape, cut off the excess and spot welded it on. Once this was done i had some gaps that needed to be taken care of. I had some 1/8" plate laying around (same stuff i made my replacement panel out of) cut it into shape and welded it into place.

I think it looks really good actually.

If you have any questions feel free to ask.







Here's the other side that had the big rust hole in it. Going to make this look pretty tomorrow. Have all day to work on it.

Looks good man. Not sure if you plan on putting a bumper underneath that part of the quarter panel. I was thinking since my cut and folded quarters still get smashed by rocks when dropping off ledges, it might be a good idea to weld up some angle iron or something on the outer edge or even some thicker plate on the bottom to protect it more. Since you're already welding on stuff and seem to be good at it.

I plan on buying the JCR DIY bumper. Once i get that welded up i'm going to weld 2x3" box steel to it and extend it under the cut quarter panels. Should be perfect.

Used bedliner on my quarter panels today. The rusted out one needs to be sanded down some more and then repainted, but it's not too bad. Would much rather have it how it is now than a huge rust spot like before.

Bedliner doesn't really match the factory paint. I bedlined some of the quarter panel and then up and around my fender flares (not pictured.) I then used a brush to attempt to feather the edge where the two paints meet but it's not dry yet.

I'll post a better picture tomorrow for comparison.