Trimming XJ Rear fenders

[Bigskyxj]

After my first wheeling trip with my new 4.5" Rough Country Lift, wheels, and tires I had some rubbing in the rear that resulted in two things:

1. A chewed up tire
2. Bent rear quarter panels.


Something had to be done. This is what it looked like with the flares removed.





So I decided to cut and fold the area that was bent plus a little more. The idea is to cut the tire shredding metal and still retain the factory fender flares. Be sure not to cu through any of the spot welds or the fender will seperate and allow crap to enter your interior.



Here is a view of the front of the fenderwell cuts.



Here is another view of the front of the fender. After I made the relief cuts in preparation for the folds I also trimmed the edge of the fender to create a shorter piece to fold. I cut the single wall back to the point where it becomes a double ply piece of fender. I hope that makes sense.

[Fred]

the old cut and fold. Works great every time. I cut mine further than that and I am actually welding a piece of 1" conduit around it to make it smooth

[Bigskyxj]

The next step is to hammer the pieces that were cut. Using a deadblow hammer I carefully hammered the cut pieces inwards until they sat flush against the inner fenderwell. The next step was to use a ball peen hammer to get it hammered back even farther and evenly. As a side note, when making your cuts be sure to keep them short. The cuts are only there to provide some relief for the metal being bent so that it doesn't look all crinkled up when you are done. After all the folds were completed I sanded the edge to remove all of the burrs on the cuts and smooth things out a bit.





After the cuts and folds were complete I decided to seal things up a bit so I shot it with some rubberized undercoating.

[Bigskyxj]

The last step is to cut the flares to match the body lines, remount the flares, and then drink a cold beer and admire your new found ability to flex without destroying your tires.







When you are finished you should have a pile of excess metal left over that looks like this.



I did the front fenders as well, however I didn't take a single picture.

[bluedragon436]

Nice writeup... I will be doing this once I get back from playing in the sand, and get my 4.5 lift and 33" tires.... def. don't want to be chewing up any tires!!! Great job, and it looks good!! What size tires were you running anyways??

[Bigskyxj]

Nice writeup... I will be doing this once I get back from playing in the sand, and get my 4.5 lift and 33" tires.... def. don't want to be chewing up any tires!!! Great job, and it looks good!! What size tires were you running anyways??

I am running some Large 31's

[bluedragon436]

I am running some Large 31's

Nice... looks good!!

[boodlebutt]

nice write up. glad i stumbled onto it.
so far i have one rear flare off. i have got some nice rust kickin in there though.
just not too sure if i want to remount the original flairs or not... yet.