Cut Lower Rear Quarters...(pics and write-up)

[freerider15]

Well I had been meaning to do this for some time now, and I noticed the number of people wanting to know more about this. I learned to do this from Chris Lasater(CagedXJ), and so I figured I would pass the info on to others!

Here is the start of things, which is drawing out where to cut on the actual panel. NOTE: the red line is where you cut all the way around the panel. The blue line is where to cut a little later on.


Here is what it will look like when you have cut all the way around...


The next step is to cut where that blue line was in the first pic, which results in this...NOTE: You cut like this on the inner part of the fender as well!
The Blue arrow show how that peice will fold up later. The peice that will show after cutting is outlined in purple, and has the red arrow pointed towards it. This peice folds up flat on the inside of the quarter panel.


This is a picture of the inner part of the fender when cut.the peice outlined in blue is what will fold up, to situate where the red box is. The lighter blue outline of the folding up peice is actually how much should be cut on the inner part. I cut a little bit too much, but it still worked out.



This is a picture of that inner peice outlined in purple before being folded up flat to the inside.


The next two pictures are the metal starting to be folded up.



This is the metal all folded up, being sealed with some sealant before I start pop-riveting...

[freerider15]

This is it sealed up and pop-riveted on the outside.


This is what it looks like from the top of the inside. Some of the pop rivets didn't want to cooperate so I had to make sure they were working from the inside.



Since some paint chips did come off in the process I repainted the area. I am sure it can be done without harming the paint, but I wasn't as subtle with it as I could have been.


This is the finished product, in the second picture you can look closely and see the pop rivets(sorry camera sucks).



All in all it took about an hour to do both sides. I would recommend doing the passenger side first, because which ever side gets done last looks better(practice). Getting this done I used an assortment of tools(dremel, angle grinder, BFH, 2x4 and floorjack, and pop riveting tool, etc.) I love how it looks, and it will be real functional on the trail.

[JeepinAudiophile]

Nice job, and thanks for the write up...once my pristine limited has a few bumps and bruises i'll refer back to this one and proceed on with christening it as a trail buggy...

[Mark Hinkley]

Why do you guys do this?

This must be the worst mod I could think of doing to a XJ unibody. You can see the extra brace DC put in when they did the redo in 97. That corner holds the rear half of the body from twisting more than any other single point.

I just don't see the extra clearance overcoming the pure destruction of a unibody structure.

Now, if you're going to FULLY cage this XJ then have at it, but for uncaged XJs with this mod make no sense to me.

mark

[Trevorxj]

Mark,

I disagree, I have been running this mod for almost 2 years now, with no unwanted problems(Except for no longer rubbing on the rear corner). I was runnind 4.5" of lift with 33's and I was always rubbing on the rear. After removing this little piece, no more rubbing. This then I have moved on, now I am looking like this on the rear.



I think it is stronger now than it was stock

[freerider15]

When I cut, I didn't cut into any welds, pinch seams what so ever. I kept away form the welds the were by the bumper. As for "bracing," I didn't cut anyhting that would even resemble bracing. I do plan on a full inner cage in the future, but I still dont think what I did was enough to really effect it. The guy I learned this off of has a full cage, and this mod, but he even agreed that its not that structurally important.

[Stoney]

opps

[xj-fx]

Originally Posted by Trevorxj

Mark,

I disagree, I have been running this mod for almost 2 years now, with no unwanted problems(Except for no longer rubbing on the rear corner). I was runnind 4.5" of lift with 33's and I was always rubbing on the rear. After removing this little piece, no more rubbing. This then I have moved on, now I am looking like this on the rear.



I think it is stronger now than it was stock

I think it looks better than stock too!

[Big Red]

Does anyone else have any feedback on this mod? I'm thinking about doing it to clear my 37's on my 2 door with an interior D & C cage. I hit this area alot when wheeling on the Con/Fordyce and think that cutting it would be a good idea if I can do it clean and not cut anything structural.

Troy

[Jes]

Originally Posted by freerider15

When I cut, I didn't cut into any welds, pinch seams what so ever. I kept away form the welds the were by the bumper. As for "bracing," I didn't cut anyhting that would even resemble bracing. I do plan on a full inner cage in the future, but I still dont think what I did was enough to really effect it. The guy I learned this off of has a full cage, and this mod, but he even agreed that its not that structurally important.

Yes you did cut into a pinch seam, in fact, several of them.

[Big Red]

Originally Posted by Jes

Yes you did cut into a pinch seam, in fact, several of them.

Is there a safe way to cut this area out without cutting pinch seams? I got a black diamond plate section to go over this area, but I just as soon cut it out. I have seen this done quite a bit. Do you lose uni-body strength by cutting this area out? With/without a interior roll cage?

[basalt51]

Originally Posted by Big Red

Is there a safe way to cut this area out without cutting pinch seams? I got a black diamond plate section to go over this area, but I just as soon cut it out. I have seen this done quite a bit. Do you lose uni-body strength by cutting this area out? With/without a interior roll cage?

I'm pretty sure that was all JUST discussed about 4 post prior.

[Big Red]

Originally Posted by basalt51

I'm pretty sure that was all JUST discussed about 4 post prior.

I've seen this mod done alot and didn't know if it was safe. That is the area that gets hit alot rock crawling and can transmit the impact to break a rear window. I just assume cut if off and pop rivet the sheet metal over like the write-up shows, but I do know that it is not advised to cut into the pinch seams. For example it is common and advised to just make relief cuts into the rear wheelwell area and then pound those over instead of cutting very high. The inner and outer sheetmetal come together in this pinch seam and you will have lots of problems if you cut into it. So do you guys advice putting a diamond plate material or some skid over this lower rear quarter area rather than cutting if off?

[jmaxj]

what did you use to seal it out of curiosity?

BTW: good job on the write up

[bigwhitey]

Thanks for the write up I cut mine off the same way. I used black silicone to seal mine all up. Then I put on .100 aluminum tread plate to cover it all up with clear silicone. I also made a piece to cover the fuel lines on the drivers side.