So...good idea? bad idea?

So I'm thinking of just completely cutting out my wheelwell, I'm sure it'll be a smidge bit noisy, but I imagine it'd make my tires stuff a good bit better.

Either way I have a few concerns...

First of all if that would be illegal in any way since this is my DD.
Second how much it would hurt the strength of my unibody? Would an interior cage offset that if it is an issue?
And third is it worth doing in the first place?

Thanks.

The first thing I thought of when you said cut it out... what about the upper shock mount? Even if you cut around this I'm sure a large part of the rigidness comes from that. Then what about all the mud and crap getting into your engibe bay? Sounds sketchy to me.. but who knows

Maybe I should rephrase, rear wheelwells.

are we talking front or rear?

hmmm. I still think you may take away from the integrity of the body. But i'm sure you could rebrace it, but them loose cargo room... I think it sounds like a uphill battle... And at that point, will the shocks compress enough to make it worthwhile. I think your best bet would be to put into a drawing, take a few meausrements, and sit on it for a bit.. If you do it though, you better have a lot of pic for us!

That's kind of what I was worried about, which is why I was thinking an interior cage might offset it enough, and as for the shocks compressing enough, they do right now, they rub like mad, which is why I was going to order some new bumpstops, but then I got this crazy little idea in my head so I thought I'd toss it out there. Then the unibody strength and legality issues started to hit me, if there's no legal problems and a cage will make up for it though I may just give it a shot.

OK. bad idea if you are not going to rebuild it. The rear quarter area is a fairly important part of the unibodies strength. You can cut a lot out and reweld them up to retain the strength. I did this. I cut slits out how much I needed, then I cut slits in the well and hammered them into place. Then I welded it up and got to work fixing the warped sheetmetal and painting it. It is a lot of work, but I wouldn't just leave it cut on a dd for sure. You will have so much crap getting thrown in it will get annoying and theres always a chance of you being hit or a window geting broken if you drive through some gravel.


Here it is with the flares on the jeep.

Is that ft flare off a wrangler? if so it looks good. any problems mounting it?

Go to page 32 (approx. depending on when you look at this again) on this forum there is a thread called BACK WHEELWELLS check it out. Mine is the red 2d. It took some work but it will now fit 38'' tires with no rubbing. Also, I have twisted and tweeked that unibody in creeks, erosion wash outs, rocks, on top of cars, it doesn't matter, if I think I can climb it, crawl it, I will at least try. This is not a DD driver so I can put it to the test with no concerns other than fixing what I broke and unibody tweek or twist has not been a problem what so ever. I even run it with the doors off 80% of the time. Cut them out, it is worth it. But, do build something to replace what you cut out, if for any reason, safety from debris onroad and offroad.

In my opinion, good idea!