sealing rear pinch seam

i searched for a while but could not find what i was looking for*

*disclaimer

n e ways, i plan on trimming and want to make 32's or 33's fit with my 3" lift, to do this i will have to cut through the rear pinch seam. i DO NOT have a welder. is there another way to seal this, maybe just some sort of expanding foam or something similar, or is this section very important to the unibody. please dont :flame: me for asking this. any and all suggestions will be appreciated, i plan on doing this in the morning. thanks

Ramsey said:

i searched for a while but could not find what i was looking for*

*disclaimer

n e ways, i plan on trimming and want to make 32's or 33's fit with my 3" lift, to do this i will have to cut through the rear pinch seam. i DO NOT have a welder. is there another way to seal this, maybe just some sort of expanding foam or something similar, or is this section very important to the unibody. please dont :flame: me for asking this. any and all suggestions will be appreciated, i plan on doing this in the morning. thanks

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Ramsey said:

I just got some new steel wheels that are 15x8 with 4" bs. i run 31x10.50 on 3" lift, i noticed today after flexing to full stuff that i have a some contact with the fender(no flairs on mine) going to take the dremel after it tomorrow. can i trim far enough without cutting the pinch seam,to clear 32's or 33's? if i can but would still have some contact i would guess that i could put in bigger bumpstops. next ? how much and how hard are bumpstops to put in and if the seam is cut, is a wire welder good enough to tack it back.maybe someone can post a link to a write up on one. I am really sorry for the very wordy questions, but i thought i would knock it all out in one post.

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i thought you were going to knock it out in one post(5 hours before this one), and what happened to the wire welder?
do not use the foam, it will act as a sponge and absorb and store moisture
seam sealer is available from auto part stores, it won't hold the seam together after the pinch weld has been cut out, but it will prevent water from getting in
you can actually make several cuts into the wheelwell opening, then bend the edge over, instead of cutting the pinch weld completly out,
do a search on installing cutout flares, and you will find what you are looking for, as far as directions for the rear...
and for the front bumpstops, i used the wheels/casters from an old toolbox, i would've used hockey pucks, but can't find them around here...
before you throw the 33's think about your gear ratio...

Ramsey said:

i searched for a while but could not find what i was looking for*

*disclaimer

n e ways, i plan on trimming and want to make 32's or 33's fit with my 3" lift, to do this i will have to cut through the rear pinch seam. i DO NOT have a welder. is there another way to seal this, maybe just some sort of expanding foam or something similar, or is this section very important to the unibody. please dont :flame: me for asking this. any and all suggestions will be appreciated, i plan on doing this in the morning. thanks

Click to expand...

You do not have to cut throught the pinch seam. Just make verticle cuts with a thin cutting wheel every 1.5" or so. Take these cuts to whatever height you want to trim them to. Then bend the metal back using a vise grips/hammer. The limiting factor on the rear sides is the inner fender. Just cut up to that, bend, and hammer it flat against the inner fender. If you're carefull it will make a nice smooth rounded lip instead of the sharp lip you get from just cutting.

Like I said, the inner fender limits how much you can trim on the rears. I don't think you can trim enough to get 33s under a 3" lift with no rubbing. I have about 4.5" of lift and have slight rubbing on full stuff with 33s.

find somebody with a welder and cut through the seam. it really isnt that difficult at all and afterwards youll be able to run as big a tire as you want

small pederson said:

find somebody with a welder and cut through the seam. it really isnt that difficult at all and afterwards youll be able to run as big a tire as you want

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Dude, why would you give him such redicules advice as that. Do you even have an XJ? Like I said, the limiting factor on the rear is the inner fender. Unless he plans on installing wheel tubs there is no way you can trim enough to fit large (33" and up) tires with 3" of lift. Cutting away the pinch seal will not do anything to add clearence and will just make the project much more difficult. Using the method I decribed he can get as high as the inner fender will allow without having to weld afterward.

I sealed mine with epoxy and then painted. It seems to be working well.

I agree with kid4lyf, don't cut past the seam, just cut up to the seam, make some vertical cuts, and hammer it over. I run 33x11.5's on 3.5" of lift with no rubbing in the back. I trimmed mine just as described above and did not add longer bumpstops. You need to search more. Search for trim fender in the modified tech forum.

will do some more searching, thanks for the info. it does seem a lot better to just cut up through instead of just cutting it all off. will probably just try and stuff some 32's in there, or use 1 inch spacers and shackles to put 33's

I did something similar as in this article.

http://www.jeepin.com/features/bushwacker/page2.asp

Then I sprayed undercoating over it seen as I live in the rust belt.

We recently finished cutting out my rear fenders. I completely cut out the entire pinch seam and spot welded area leaving about 3/8" of the flared out portion. After the trimming was done, we had to pull the inner and outer panels back together and weld them together all the way around the fender opening (adding 1/4" rod as filler in some areas). The final product is very clean, and very strong but it was ALOT of work and very time consuming. I am running 33's and about 4" of lift and I can stuff the tire all the way to the top of the fender opening (my rear lower corners are removed also). I like how it turned out, but for all the work involved, if I had it to do again, I think I might just make cuts and fold the sheetmetal back.

kid4lyf said:

Dude, why would you give him such redicules advice as that. Do you even have an XJ? Like I said, the limiting factor on the rear is the inner fender. Unless he plans on installing wheel tubs there is no way you can trim enough to fit large (33" and up) tires with 3" of lift. Cutting away the pinch seal will not do anything to add clearence and will just make the project much more difficult. Using the method I decribed he can get as high as the inner fender will allow without having to weld afterward.

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oh really. hmm. maybe i didnt do it afterall.... :roflmao: do you own an xj? have you actually cut higher than the pinch seam? then stfu.

cut the seam high enough, get a hammer and bend the inner fenders higher and weld. if you are rubbing on the inside of the well then you need more backspacing which wont be a problem anymore with your super trimmed fenders. check this out, maybe it will clarify your confusion here

thanks for the link, it did help some. i trimmed one front fender and ran out of cutting disks. those things sure wear quick. i think i will be going with the vertical cut and bending for the back. probably will stick 1.5" spacers and shackles on top of my 3" and hope to squeeze in some 33's.sound good?
:dunno:

Here are some pics of 2" of lift with 32" swampers... I cut and folded the rear pinch seam and am planning on adding some more bump stop in the future, but the 32" swampers (probably measure out to be about what most 33's are) stuff nicely in the rear... The front is a different story, but that's because of the steering aspect and the fact that I need to trim a little more out of the tops of the fenders.

damn thats nice, really only 2". did you cut all the way up to the wheelwell and then fold it flat. what bs you have on the wheels. hell 33's might just work out fine. also how much more bumpstop you have on

small pederson said:

oh really. hmm. maybe i didnt do it afterall.... :roflmao: do you own an xj? have you actually cut higher than the pinch seam? then stfu.

cut the seam high enough, get a hammer and bend the inner fenders higher and weld. if you are rubbing on the inside of the well then you need more backspacing which wont be a problem anymore with your super trimmed fenders. check this out, maybe it will clarify your confusion here

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You're missing the whole point. I'm sure you did do it, I'm saying you didn't need to. When I refer to the inner fender it isn't concern for rubbing on the inside, it's that you can only trim the outer fender up to the inner, no farther. That is the limiting factor. You can get that far by either cutting away the pinch seam OR the slit & bend method. Both will get you the same amount of trimming, again, to the inner fender. You can't get any farther by cutting than you can by bending. I'm sorry if I hurt your feelings with the "do you even own one" crack but for you to tell him he can just cut away and get as much clearence as he wants for whatever tires he has is wrong and, IMO, irresponsible. He's coming here for advice and you're telling him, "Sure, go get those 35s and the 3" lift, you'll be fine, just trim a little more fender."
We both know that's not true.
Perhaps I came across too harsh but I just saw this in action last Monday. Someone I know showed up at the Badlands with a 2" budget lift and a brand new set of 33s. He had trimmed the hell out of his fenders (well past the pinch seam) and was told by a well meaning but uninformed guy that this combo would work. He spent and hour doing some unwanted custom tire siping before going home.

Ramsey said:

damn thats nice, really only 2". did you cut all the way up to the wheelwell and then fold it flat. what bs you have on the wheels. hell 33's might just work out fine. also how much more bumpstop you have on

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Yep, only an RE 2" lift. I'm running v8 grand cherokee coils up front (stock ones) with the 2" spacer in the RE kit. I was expecting the GC coils to give me another inch, but they didn't, so it sits the same as it did before with stock XJ springs, just a little stiffer spring overall I guess.

If you look at the rear fenders after you take the flare off, you will see exactly where I cut to. Basically I folded over just the flat surface that includes the pinch seam and the flare mount holes, which is right where the inner fender starts.

To be honest, I'm not sure what the BS on the wheels is... if stock is 5.25, these are probably 4.25. I'll see if I can dig out one of the boxes they came in when they were fresh white steelies. I have no LCA rubbing with this setup at all, full lock to lock steering.

As of now, I have not added any extra bumpstop, just haven't had the chance to. I've taken it wheeling a couple times so far, but nothing serious, and I haven't had any huge rubbing issues yet, but I also haven't flexed it completely. I'm planning on adding a hockey puck to the bottom of the coil bucket in the front, then measuring at full stuff in the rear and fabbing up a custom mount for the rear bump stop to lower it down further (some square tubing basically).

3" with some trimming, bfg at 33x12.50 (rubs, but only at full turn)



cheesy rc lift, i'm doing rusty's spacer and shackle and going to 34x10.5 ltb's

the rear has only been cut to the outside of the weld, I'll be folding the rest soon.

more pics at www.precisionwood.com/xj.html

I don't mean to sound like an idiot, but what is on the other side of the inner fenders? is it the interior?