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View Full Version : Fender trim... with a stock look



Geo Fry
02-11-2011, 02:12 PM
For those of you who want to gain more clearance while keeping a stock fender look here is my write up on my front fender trimming of a pre '97 cherokee.

I'm sitting at 4" of front lift and have some extremely bald 32" BFG ATs. And let me first say that if I stay at the current lift height with the same size tires, I will probably have to trim more than what I show in this write up. Ideally I want to be at 4.5 in the front, in which case it would work I think. But either way, if you want a stock look, this will give you more clearance and you can prevent rub using bump stoppage or more trimming (obviously :hmmmm2:) So enough with the talking :indifferent0020:

Remove the flairs and cut here first

http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j131/Geo_Fry/1996%20Cherokee/IMG_3683.jpg

http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j131/Geo_Fry/1996%20Cherokee/IMG_3686.jpg

Then cut just below the holes

http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j131/Geo_Fry/1996%20Cherokee/IMG_3688.jpg

http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j131/Geo_Fry/1996%20Cherokee/IMG_3690.jpg

I also cut the lip that goes in towards the center of the jeep on the flairs. After that I just painted them with some Duplicolor spray on bedliner.

http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j131/Geo_Fry/1996%20Cherokee/IMG_3694.jpg

And then, using some simple bolts and nuts, I mounted them to the fender without using the silly retaining strips

http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j131/Geo_Fry/1996%20Cherokee/IMG_3727.jpg

http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j131/Geo_Fry/1996%20Cherokee/IMG_3726.jpg

It kept a decent stock look and in my opinion more aggressive

http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j131/Geo_Fry/1996%20Cherokee/IMG_3728.jpg

However, even at partial stuff, I can already tell that I will either need to go up another .5" or trim some more.

http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j131/Geo_Fry/1996%20Cherokee/IMG_3730.jpg

And please excuse the extremely bald front tires lol

Kyle

Weldmen
02-11-2011, 04:12 PM
Looks good. Nice and clean. Very nice :thumbsup:

rguignard
02-12-2011, 06:15 AM
looks good i did that to mine a long time ago. if you go up to the next line on the finder flares youll be fine and you can do the same thing in the rear and it looks good ck out the way i did mine

http://www.xjtalk.com/showthread.php?t=3862

and i did the rear the same way. the rears are still on mine now with 33'tsl's on 3.5 lift it rubs but there still on

bluedragon436
02-12-2011, 10:04 AM
Looks good... thought about doing a bit of trimming on mine, just to give the extra space for stuffage!! But for now at least until I make it through inspection I'll leave the lip on the flares... that way in case I need to attach some "added flare" material...

03ghosthemi
02-13-2011, 03:28 PM
Im running 33in tires for now ( have 35s waiting to be mounted) so I moved my stock flair up to the bodyline and drilled new holes. Here in NY we cant have the tires sticking out to far past the flairs.

http://i596.photobucket.com/albums/tt41/03ghosthemi/0908001632.jpg
http://i596.photobucket.com/albums/tt41/03ghosthemi/1025091622.jpg

Geo Fry
02-13-2011, 03:47 PM
yea it looks nice. That's probably what I'm going to have to do. We don't need flairs down here in TX but I like the look of our stock flairs. Nice looking rig btw... and great shackle angle! Did you relocate it?

bigjim350
02-13-2011, 05:29 PM
The only thing I don't like about trimming and putting the stock flare on is, most people dont put any edge trim on the metal. So if you stuff the tire up there, there is a very sharp edge to cut into the tire. All though most people are smarter than me and run bumpstops. But with the rubber trim on my fenders, I can rub them all day and not cut anything. So I guess my fenders ARE my bumpstops.

XJ4IV
02-13-2011, 10:13 PM
IF you wanted to gain that 1/2 inch clearance..... take your flares off... measure 1/2 inch abouve every mounting hole and drill out another hole... then just dot it and poke another hole and once you do this just remove another 1/2 inch of metal on the fenders... only issues is you will have a 1/2 gap on your body line at the lower portion of the rear of the fender!

TeXJ
02-14-2011, 09:24 AM
fender flares, what are those?