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Jan 20th, 2007: The Day I took a Saw to My Front Fenders...

12329 Views 47 Replies 25 Participants Last post by  Old Navy
5
I talked a little bit about this in the "Great Trails" Forum after some people made some comments about my Wheels, (American Racing Mojaves on 1" adapters).

I while ago I switched out the stock Bumpstops for some of the Universal Poly Bumpstops from Energy Suspension. They were quite a bit taller, and I thought they would solve my Tire-Hitting-Front-Fender Problem under full compression.

Found out when I was at the Sand Dunes last weekend that they didn't fix it. I caught a little bit of air on the front end and crunched my Fenders again. I spent about 15 minutes out on the Sand with a pair of Pliers, bending back metal that had been caught by the Lugs on my Tires. I wasn't happy, to say the least.

I'm currently running AC Coils with the stock Shocks. I gave some thought to switching over to a Spacer/UCA set-up, (thinking that under full Shock compression I would still have another 2" or so of breathing room), but decided I really didn't want to lay out that much money, especially if it didn't pan out.

So, I decided that the best fix would be to cut out some of my Fenders. I went for about 2.5 inches of extra clearance. I layed out my design on the Driver-side Fender, then attempted to duplicate it as best I could on the Passenger-side, using measurements from various reference points.


That also seemed to be as far as I could really go on the Passenger-side, thanks to the Coolant Reservoir Bottle that's tucked away in that Fender. After I layed my lines out I went at it with the Air Body Saw.


I'm not a "body guy" at all, but I did know the trick about cutting through Tape, so as to minimize any paint chipping along the cut. After I finished cutting I laid some paint down on the cut edge.


I picked up some Vinyl Fender Trim from a local Auto Accessory Joint that sells a lot of body and fender trim, (by the foot). I forget who actually makes the trim, but I can find out. It's made with a 3M Adhesive Strip that holds pretty good. I ran some RTV Silicone along the inside edge where the bottom lip of the Fender Trim met the cut edge.

As of the time of this post, I'll I've got done is the Driver-side. It's a little cold outside, so I had to come in and warm up. This is what it looks like thus far;


The Passenger-side is still up on Jack Stands, so it's not quite sitting level.


I had to cut away quite a bit of the Inner Fender. Most of the Inner Fender on the Frame Rail side of the Wheel well is still there. First thing that comes to mind, at least on the Driver-side, is how exposed the Air Intake Tube is now. I previously avoided getting a CAI, because I thought the factory Airbox would do a better job of keeping Water out. Not any more.

Anyway... I'm going to go brave the cold and get that Passenger-side done. In the morning I still plan to mask it and spray the Trim with some Truck Bed spray, just to give it some texture. I'll try to post some daylight pics, and throw in a few more afterthoughts.
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nice work! first iv seen of the kind...
wow that looks really good, I am impressed. I was actually thinking about doing this to my fronty because some guy's side mirror dented up the lip of my passenger side fender pretty god when he decided to turn into me.
I did not expect it to turn out that well. kudos to you being the first. By the way, what tire size are you running?
Great job, bigger fender wells do wonders for fitting larger tires! I'm waiting for fiberglass fenders to come out...
stevet47 said:
I did not expect it to turn out that well. kudos to you being the first. By the way, what tire size are you running?
285/75R16s. Thanks for the compliment.

I just finished the passenger side. Cold and tired. Will get pics of the finished product (after I get the spray-on coating on) posted some time tomorrow morning...
I like how it looks and you did a great job too.
very cool.
Looking good. I bet that first cut was pretty intimidating.
Dang fine job. :cheers:
From the pictures, it looks totally stock.
Maybe the only thing I would do is run that trim the full length of the wheel well, and do the rear wells for a custom stock look.
And if you can find out more on the trim, I would appreciate it.
Looks really good!
wow, it takes a big set to do that.
dude you have some huge balls cutting into your X like that, especially since you said "Im not a body guy"

It looks pretty good. I cant wait to see what the finished product looks like. Hell if i like it enough i might take a trip up to oregon and let you do it to mine (probably not though :drunken: )
It looks really good. If I ever try that, I'll remove the inner fender well, then cut the fender about 3/4 in over what I want and bend it back with a lip like the factory, Then bring the inner fender to the lip, secure it with the plastic panel zips and then cut that so it comes out past the edge a bit.

It certainly blends in a lot better with the bumper. Nice! Hey! And I could fit chains on!

MC
Magic Rat said:
Dang fine job. :cheers:
From the pictures, it looks totally stock.
Maybe the only thing I would do is run that trim the full length of the wheel well, and do the rear wells for a custom stock look.
And if you can find out more on the trim, I would appreciate it.
Running the trim all the way to the bottom of the fender, behind the tire, would be a little tricky because of the way the inner fender wraps around and screws to the fender in several spots. You could probably do it but I didn't want to mess with it. I do plan to run the truck bed coating the entire length of the fender, so hopefully it looks a little more stock and that trim end line won't stick out as much. Should have pictures posted in a little bit.

I'm with you on running the trim around the rear wells too. I just wanted to wait and see how the fronts turned out. I'll have to pick up a few more feet of trim. When I do I'll get the name of the manufacturer for you.
usmc xterra said:
It looks really good. If I ever try that, I'll remove the inner fender well, then cut the fender about 3/4 in over what I want and bend it back with a lip like the factory, Then bring the inner fender to the lip, secure it with the plastic panel zips and then cut that so it comes out past the edge a bit.

It certainly blends in a lot better with the bumper. Nice! Hey! And I could fit chains on!

MC
That would be cool if you could do it. I think that you might run into problems if you cut up as high as I did. I was originally planning to take a heat gun to the inner fender and re-mold it up and out of the way, but there wasn't enough plastic there to do it (it would need to stretch a lot).

One thing I forgot to mention is that I used a couple of sheet metal screws in various spots to re-secure what was left of the inner fender, since I cut a way a couple of my screwed mounting points. I painted the heads of the screws so they don't stand out.
BioMan said:
Looking good. I bet that first cut was pretty intimidating.
Thanks. It was a little bit. Although, I had already cut into my fenders a long time ago. I had to trim the fender back, just behind the tires, so that I could steer all the way from full-lock left to full-lock right. I like these wheels, but I have had to cut A LOT of sheet metal because of them (the adapters are also to blame).
Great lookin' work Oregon... it's been said but kudos again! Wow, it really looks good.
lifeinthesouth said:
Great lookin' work Oregon... it's been said but kudos again! Wow, it really looks good.
Thanks, I appreciate it.

Spray-on truck bed coating is drying. Pictures within an hour.
Tube fender the edge with a small diameter pipe size to reinforce it...of course you'de need to get both fenders repainted.
Wow.. good job those look nice
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