Q for those who've raised their rear fenderwells

I've got everything opened up and ready. I've trimmed and cut the bottom of the rear-most panel and it folds up beautifully even with the body line at the taillights.
My question relates to the actual raising of the now-free inner fenderwell. Mine's a 2dr, by the way, so I'm looking to raise the inner fenderwell a good amount to match the TJ flares I have and make room for the eventual 35s that are calling my name. It's still pretty stiff due to the curves, and yes it's freed up all the way front to back. Did you guys wind up sectioning the inner fender to get it to bend up? It's looking like I'll need to make about four cuts in it to get it to rise up in the opening - and then patch back over them before folding the outer fender down on top of it.
Any advice?
TIA

Here's how I did mine

First I cut out all of this useless crap


That left this big hole here


Needed something to fill it with, so I used this:

The hole from the inside


The other side (dealing w/ the gas filler hoses)


combining pieces of metal with controlled lightning and the injection of a molten filler metal(aka welding)


set in place


more of the construction


inside


that is a 33x12.5 w/ 3.5" lift


Side shot w/ same lift and 36x12.5s



best poser pic I can find right now


it still rubs a little, but only if I come down REALLY hard.

all in all, I'm happy.

thanks for hte pics i had always wondered what you did.

CheapXJ -
I'd always liked what you did - I admire the no holds barred attitude. By in my case, I need to retain the full functionality of the back seat and cargo area, so going radical with the wheelwells isn't an option. I'm left with opeing up the stockers to match TJ flares.

Any words of wisdom from those who have done this on the details of how you enlarged the outer half of the inner fender?

Damn! I feel inspired! I've been wanting to hack at my 2-door for awhile now and I've already got the TJ flares. The rear seat is gone. The interior minus the cargo area is de-carpeted & Herculined. I even took a welding class this summer. It is going to have to wait until after deer season though. I've got too much going over the next few months and last year when I started a "short" project I wound up missing the 1st few days of the season working on it.

Robert

XJWheelie said:

last year when I started a "short" project I wound up missing . . .

Click to expand...

. . . insert your favorite tragedy here!

Truer words have never been spoken. The wife and kids are out of town for a few days, and between the onslaught at work and the evil new neighbor intent on building on my property, I'm having a hell of a time finding time to work on my Jeep with a big wheeling trip now just 13 days away!!

SOOOOO . . .
who can give me some advice on my inner fender issue?!!??

:tear:

im impressed cheap xj, you are head of the class for big tires with little lift, now i see what everyone was talkin' bout. Now i think less of my 4 door

I made several cuts into the pinch seam and then used a BFH to roll the metal over and up against the inner well. I covered the whole mess with paint and undercoating.

That help?

Rev

Take a close look at it from the inside with the plastic panel off and you'll notice that you can cut as much fender as you want, but only to about half the depth of the fender, and still keep the inside portion of the fender and the seat if you just get some wheels with as much backspacing as possible, or some wheel spacers or full-width axles. This probably isn't a good description but you'll understand if you pull the plastic panel off and look at it.

Hi Rev -
No, I'm actually well up past the pinch seam to where I have the inner and outer fenders separated. I'd have had plenty of rnom diing it the way you describd fo my 33s, but am looking ahead to the "someday" set of 35s I want.

XJ92 -
I've got the interior removed - my question really has to di whth HCW best to get that inner fender opened - both raised at the top and lenbthened front to back. It looks like I'll have to make some cuts in it to get it to open up that way, but I was looking for confirmation of that or soLd advice otherw(qe.

Anyone who has done this have any words of wisdom?

I have a 4 door but I did the same thing as you. I cut about 2 inches above the seem to match the tj flare, I left the inner fender well intact while I trimmed. I then used tin snips to cut the inner fender well into strips about 3 inches wide. Then I hammered those up to where I trimmed and into the shape I wanted the wheel well. Then I welded all the seams up with a torch. I burnt my paint pretty bad so I sanded it down applied filler to deal with the minor warping then I primed and painted the quarter panel, and used ruberized undercoating on the wheelwell. I don't have any in progress pics but I can snap a few later so you can see my final product if it will help.

Thanx, CW
I was thinking I'd be able to get away with 4 cuts or maybe even just 2, but every 3 inches? That must have made for a lot of patching. How did you close up those cuts to be able to weld them - patch in some sheetmetal? I mean when I raise those pieces the cuts will get wider, correct?

Yeah I forgot to say that I welded the outside seam solid to reconect the inner and outer fender and then I used 5 or 6 pieces of sheet metal to patch the gaps, then I tacked the slivers to patch panels from the inside. You probably won't have to make so many cuts because you don't have to deal with the shape of the door. And looking back I think I got carried away with the tin snips

Thanx for the info!

What Rd (f.k.a. ArmStrong) said:

CheapXJ -
I'd always liked what you did - I admire the no holds barred attitude. By in my case, I need to retain the full functionality of the back seat and cargo area, so going radical with the wheelwells isn't an option. I'm left with opeing up the stockers to match TJ flares.

Any words of wisdom from those who have done this on the details of how you enlarged the outer half of the inner fender?

Click to expand...

YJ rear seat?

CheapXJ said:

YJ rear seat?

Click to expand...

That's an interesting thought . . . but DON"T GET ME STARTED THINKING OR I'LL REALLY BE IN TROUBLE!!!!!

:laugh3:

I love the tall tire/short lift approach, and the way you've pushed that envelope. But for now I'll stick with the TJ flares and see how long that lasts me. I picked up some extra sheetmetal today and will be back at it tonight!
I'll post pics when I'm done.

Thanx, everyone!

I took the wheelwells from a wrecked XJ and used the front 3/4's of the OEM wheelwell (attached) and the rear 3/4's of the wrecked ones and blended them together by just going rearward...

It added about 4.5" to the length of the wheelwell and allowed 38.5's to fully stuff with about 6" or 7" of lift...

It is not too bad once you get over chopping a huge hole in the rear quarter!

Matt

You work is absolutely silly. I may try this in a couple of years.

Congrats on a job well done cheapxj.

What Rd (f.k.a. ArmStrong) said:

CheapXJ -
I'd always liked what you did - I admire the no holds barred attitude. By in my case, I need to retain the full functionality of the back seat and cargo area, so going radical with the wheelwells isn't an option. I'm left with opeing up the stockers to match TJ flares.

Any words of wisdom from those who have done this on the details of how you enlarged the outer half of the inner fender?

Click to expand...

im tired and am not going to read all the responses after you said this so excuse me if something similar has been said. that being said,

cutting them like you propose is a paaaaaaain in the ass!!! what i did was trim the lips of the tj flares and figure out how high i wanted them to be. then, having somebody hold the flares to the body or tape them, i drew an approx. line to where i wanted to cut. after i figured out how i wanted them to look, i cut like a madman and shit my pants a few times. youre gonna want to save all the steel that is part of the inner fender, as you will use that to tuck up inside. anyway, grind out the plug welds and get the metal all clean and ready to weld. then cut the inner fender in about 4th's from the outside to the inside seam. then, mash those parts up against the body panel sheet metal and draw a line on the fender metal where they meet the body. youre gonna want to cut lines from the edge to that line about every half inch or so. all that cutting is to allow enough forming of the metal to get it how you want. then when you get it all tucked up nice weld it on there with a low power welder, cause you'll be blowing holes through there like a mo fo. next, get some some thin sheet from the stizore and cut out pieces to fit over the nice triangular slices you have running across your fender well. weld those on the best you can, use caulking on any part not welded together, and then do somehting like hurciline the well to seal everything real nice and make all the new seams blend in real nice. hope that helped