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

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.