Trimming the Fenders

So I my dad is bringing me a welder to use for a while. And a cutting wheel. We are going to do some cutting this weekend WOOHOO. We are going to mark where the flares are now and cut there. In the back we are only going to cut the outside fenderwall and then cut the innerwall to size and weld it back together.

So what you say. Lots of people have done this.

My question is this. this cut seems to take 4" off. what it the biggest tire you think I can get in there at stock height with 4"BS wheels? I am going for a LOC wheeler with lift to come later. I only what to cut once. Will this fit 32's at stock or do I have to trim more?



Oh, btw it is a 89 laredo with new stock spings front and back
Thanx

You may want to pick up some extra sheet metal befor you start. I took alot more then this off but i replaced the metal in the back of the rear fender well to reach how far I cut.
After you cut the front fold that seam on the inside over that's where my wheels rubbed the most.

thanx for the tip

I run 35s on 5-6 inches of lift without rubbing the fenders. I use rims w/ 3.75 inches of backspace.

On the rear fenders, simply make a relief cut in the upper corners of the openings (the relief cuts may not even be needed) and simply fold the sheetmetal over. Add flares as required. Avoid seperating the inner fenderwell from the body. It's part of the structure. Look for the spot welds and leave them alone unless you're going to rebuild that area.

On the front fenders, the most important part is to remove the plastic fender liner & carefully fold the sheetmetal seam it covers, flat. Again this is a structural area. I made a small relief cut but I'm not sure it's necessary. Trim fender opening as required & add flares. Chuck the plastic liner and fabricate sheetmetal shields to cover the gap between the back of the fender & the door. You'll see what I'm talking about when you remove the plastic liner

A lot of people just use pool noodles to fill the gap. I painted mine with the same rubber coating once I got it in there.

I think if you cut past the welds and fold the metal over it's actualy weaker then seperating and welding back together.

lL ll
weld on the end or weld at the bottom

againstherwill said:

Will this fit 32's at stock or do I have to trim more?

Click to expand...

Well I'm at about 6-7" of lift and without bumpstops I still rub slightly with 33x12.50's on 4" bs rims on my 96 4 door with stock fenders and flares

you could probably stuff 32's in there, if your running somthing like a 32x10.5 or 32x11.5
31's would be a piece of cake....
I'm in your same boat, just cut the snot out of my front fenders, and my rears are coming up soon! I'm still sittin at stock...

waiting on my Income tax refund.

bigwhitey said:

A lot of people just use pool noodles to fill the gap. I painted mine with the same rubber coating once I got it in there.

I think if you cut past the welds and fold the metal over it's actualy weaker then seperating and welding back together.

lL ll
weld on the end or weld at the bottom

Click to expand...

Don't cut past the welds

Mistwolf, they are talking about welding up the rear after they have cut it. They can do it as long as they weld it back up. If its a good welding job, it might be better then the stock way of doingit. I know when I welded my rear up, there were several places that were open completely that I welded back up.

That being said, I cut the rear of mine, and it looks like I can fit 35s. Im on 32s right now and it looks really funny with so much cut. Fully stupped in the rear I still have about 3'' left before I hit the body.

I will go get some pics and post them up.

cloudswimmer said:

Well I'm at about 6-7" of lift and without bumpstops I still rub slightly with 33x12.50's on 4" bs rims on my 96 4 door with stock fenders and flares

Click to expand...

You need to cut them flairs!! Thats way to hight for 32s, you should be running 35s with that much lift :lecture:

edit: Here are the pics. Sorry about the bad quality, but you get the idea

Okay I finished the cuts and welding yesterday late. And it looks Great I will post Pics later tonight.

Mistwolf, You MUST cut past the pinch welds if you are going to get any sort of clearence. YOU MUST OF course RE-weld the inner fender to the outer fender. And as starboard M says it may in fact be better (tooting my own horn for my booger welding skills).

I will have to say that after doing this I much more prefer the cutting wheel to the sawsall. Tried both and the sawsall is unstable at best. THe cutting wheel is the onle way to go.

Anyway with the stock height and the cutting it looks like I could easily fit 32's at 3.75 to 4. BS.

I have to say that this site and most of the people on it Rock (Sorry I am a child of the eighties and not up on cool sayings). The ideas and docuementation that you guys come up with have been invaluable to me formulating the ideas that I have for my XJ.

I will post pic tonight.

Thanx again

Cloud, Cut, CUT CUTT CUTTT!. After I post you'll see why it is great. it looks very much like starboad M's and you could fit so much more.

againstherwill said:

Mistwolf, You MUST cut past the pinch welds if you are going to get any sort of clearence. YOU MUST OF course RE-weld the inner fender to the outer fender. And as starboard M says it may in fact be better (tooting my own horn for my booger welding skills).

Click to expand...

That's the question I have, for the rear.

Are people saying, if you don't want to re-weld, that you do relief cuts up between those little factory welds and fold everything back and up -- or are they saying to not go past those welds when you do relief cuts?

(I stay confused most of the time)

I'm working up the nerve to cut sheet metal with a recip saw up front. I want it to look really clean since I'm going to run flareless for a while. I may wait and find a buddy with a better tool. (edit, also looks like I'll have to remove the water sprayer bottle, looks like a PITA to get it out)

Then I have to go to the rear, and want to understand the answer to the question above. You know there are great write ups on the net, but sometimes they gloss over points "for dummies" (like me)

Wes. If you don't want to Re-weld then DONOT cut past the Pinch welds. The small pinch welds in large number are what gives the unibody is structural integrity. The Rear hold a LOT of wait and the rear fender is an integral part of that system. If you don't want to have the rear sagging in four days don't cut paste the pinch.

Theorectically you could do relief cutting up to the pinch and then folding over will gain you some space (1 to 1 /12") but it will get you some if you need some.

THe relief cutting that most of us will talking about is after you cut the outer above the pinch welds

What I did was to grind out the pinch welds to separate the outer and inner fenders and then cut the outer way above the pinches; leaving the inner fully intact to have metal available to reattach the inner to the new higher outer. After cutting the outer I used relief cuts on the inner to be able to manage the bends needs to reattach the inner.

Hope that helps.

IT does help, even though I'm at work, I went out and looked at my Jeep for a minute and see what yall mean.

I can trim up to a line below those welds, leave it, and just see if I rub in back (have tons of room back there now and may put off rear trim for a while.)

Thanks again.. I will stay away from the welds and be fine.