Triming rear

[Nik]

I cut all of the fender out till the inside pinches with the otuer panel. I still need to tak 6 or so inches out in the rear. How do you cut this since it is pinched to the inner panels. I think I can just cut that stuff right? Well anyways I need to cut a bunch and was just checking to make sure it is all right. The inner panel that creates the wheelwell look from looking at the underside of the rear wheelwell, thats not the panel that takes part in the actual seal from the inside of the interior of the jeep, what I 'm asking is it allright to cut this withot messing up any seal to the interior of the car.

Thanks

Nik

[xjaddiction]

I'm a little confused, but I think your talking about cutting past the pinch seam in the rear?

If you do this, you will need to put it back together because it reduces the integrity of the unibody. I've seen some who didn't, and ended up with some creases in the rear quarters up by the rear window. So, if you cut past the pinch seam, you will get into the interior of the jeep, and you will need to put it back together.

I (a friend of mine came up with the idea) cut the inner fender well into pie wedges. I folded the pieces up and drilled and riveted back to the outer fender well (that i folded under to overlap the under side of the fender well). This really stiffened up the rear quarters. I took some fender well paint (the tar-like stuff) and painted the whole under side of the fender (the part that I cut). Then I put some wide window sealer tape strips(I got these from a local hardware store. these are used to seal around window after putting the window in, and before siding or brick. They are about 3 inches wide and have an extremelt tar-like sticky surface on one side, and a silver heavy cloth tape side on the other.) over the tacky (from the paint) underside of the fender. this closed all the opennings that were made from the pie wedge cuts. Then I painted another layer of under coating. because the tape molds to the curve of the fender well, the cuts are completely hidden and sealed. This has held up for a year and a half.

Hope this helps you.

Greddy

[MaXJohnson]

Time to stop cutting. That pinch seam is where the wheel well joins the outer body panel. It is more than just a matter of sealing off the interior. It is also structural. That seam helps keep the rear of the body rigid. If you separate the two panels and ride in the back, you would see the panels moving in relation to each other. Not a good thing.

If you have to cut further, you will need to re-weld the wheel well to the outer panel or design a larger (tub) wheel well.

On an unrelated note, I thought your responses to the "mall cruiser thread from hell" were pretty cool. Most guys your age would have gotten all defensive and gone ballistic. You, on the other hand took each critisism one by one and dealt with them. Pretty cool under fire :cool:

My hat's off to you.

[Nik]

Hey thanks man, I think I'm gonna re weld it. I'll get under there and look at it to see if I can rivet it back together like xjaddiction was talkn. I think I could do that. To clear up where I'm cutting it is about two or three inches up the sidewall of the outerr panel where the inner meets the outer. I need to take more off the tail section because we set the rear axle back a little to help the pinion angle and leaf and perch relation to set the larger axle in right. I looked at the rear and it doesn't look so much structural, but I know what u are talking about structural strength up under thee.

[DeadEyeJ]

You might want to do a search of this forum for threads that deal with custom wrap-around rear bumpers. Many guys have made bumpers that wrap clear around from the rear to the wheel wells. Involved in this job, would be removing the rearmost quarterpanels and sealing it up. This mod makes for some killer wheel well clearance for the tires.

Just a thought...

Jared

[iispms]

I did mine this past weekend. I rewelded the inner skirt to the fender...it is a pain, but it works. I basically cut the flares off.

One thing to watch for when doing it is the wiring harness on the driverside....or you will be resplicing like I did!!