Where to cut fenders

[Chrish_jr]

I'm sure this topic has been asked before, but I havent been able to find the info that I'm lookin for by using the search feature.

To those of you that have cut your fenders on mid 90 models, does anyone have a picture or drawing of how and where you made the cuts? Really dont want to cut all the way up to where the fender flares out but if I have to then I guess I have to. Currently I have a set of 35's from a different trail rig I had in the back yard (its dead and beyond repair) and I would like to use them on the 94 EB that I have. Currently I have 33's on it with no rubbing so I would assume the triming I need to do for the 35s would be minimal. Please feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.

I do intend on putting a 6 inch lift under it, but my tires that I currently have are no longer holding air (drops to 5psi after 2 days). So the idea is to trim where I need to for now til I get the lift kit which wont be long from now. but at least I wont be worried about being away from home and come out to find the rim on the ground.

 

[Bronc76]

This is just a thought but,have you thought about fixing the air leak in current tires until the lift is installed instead of cutting fenders now?

 

[Chrish_jr]

unfortunately theres no way to fix the leak, its due to severe cracks between the tread. Previous owner didnt take care of things at all.

thought about just getting new tires, but cant justify $600 or so for something I have already, and the ones I have are almost new, roughly 80 to 90 pct tread remaining and no cracking at all

 

[Krafty]

you could just get the $499 lift from RC and then you don't have to cut anything, you get the lift, and you can use your tires.

or find a tire or two at a wrecker that holds air.

 

[Chrish_jr]

nevermind. Just has to wait.

the major problem with the tires I have on it now is that all 5 of them (spare included) are so cracked that when dunked in a tank they look like oversized alkaseltzers. So ro go get tires from a local yard around here would be $20 a tire, plus about the same for each to be mounted and balanced. so basically thats an added $150 to $200 that wont be on for any considerable length of time.

I'll just have to make due for the time being.

 

[Chrish_jr]

Which really sucks cause I took the one off the bronco and put the 35 from the jeep on and it looked great, but as soon as I hit any type of a bump, tire will deffinately get sliced by the fenderwell

 

[Justshootme84]

I don't recall more than one or two posts about cutting fenders on the 92-96 models, only one or two on the 80-86 Broncos. I do have a post on cutting my 78 fenders, and will soon be chopping on my 84 Bronco. I can give a few tips that may help you decide how much and where to trim or cut. First point is if you have any rust, especially in the fender lip or flared part, you'll want to cut that out. Second, if you put those bigger tires on and see them rubbing on the corners or bottom of the fenders, you may be able to just trim those areas. From my experience with stock height and 35's. howver, you'll want to cut at least 2 inches and perhaps 3 inches all around the fender opening to keep the tire from rubbing. Folling the flare line is a good tip iused on the 78, and can be done on the 80-96 models as well. I used 3" wide tape to mark an even cut line around the openings, and tp prevent the paint from chipping. It was much easier to use a cut-off wheel instead of a Sawz-All. And finally, wherever the sheetmetal is double-lipped, you'll want to roll it back under or crimp it to keep debris out of the seam. I used some old door moulding weatherstripping glued to the cut fender area. good luck, JSM84

 

[Chrish_jr]

Thank you Just, for your advice. Thats what I was looking for if no one had any pictures or diagrams of how they had already done it so I had some kind of an idea of what to do. I was out there today checking it with the 35's on it and decided to cut it out to look like the fenders on my fathers dodge ram. With the current rims that the 35's are on, I have more than enough clearance inside the wheel so it wont rub against the radius arms/shocks/etc. I also talked to an old highschool teacher I had for metal shop and he will help cut and bend a set of custom flares to cover the new larger opening, that way I can either weld them to the body, rivet them or use self tapping screws to hold them on while gaining a lip for the plastic inner fender to bolt back onto. I'll start working on it tomarrow and put up some pics so others may benefit from this. Yes its just a temporary fix, but essentially kills two birds with one stone. Since the fenders will be cut out much larger, I can start out with putting the suspension lift on it once I have the funding for it. Together with the cut out and lift I could later upgrade to 1 ton stuff and run larger tires yet if I so choose and half the work involve with such a venture would already be out of the way.

 

[Justshootme84]

Oh yeah, the inner fenders need to be modfied or removed altogether. I took them out on both rigs, and fabbed a mount for the battery. You might also need to trim the rear edge of the front bumper, or shim it forward.

 

[Chrish_jr]

yea, was looking at that too. deffinately need to cut the bumper for now til I make the new one. Going to try and save the inner fenders and just mod them as needed to make them work again. Pretty sure I have it figured out so far, just need to get my butt in gear and do it lol.

 

[miesk5]

yo...

Joe has 36 X 14.50 Radial Swampers,Trailready 15X10 Alum. beadlock wheels w/4"Rancho suspension & 3" body

Trimming Fabrication in a 96 Source: by Joe C at SuperMotors.net

Paul has Mastercraft Courser MT 35x12.5 R15 on stock 15x7.5 wheels & just a Superlift 1.5" leveling kit

Trimming Fabrication in a 95 F 150 Source: by MajSuckelton

I have to find the info on where someone used the flexible grass edging to patch the fender liners gap to the fender lip

 

[Chrish_jr]

hasnt been easy so far, but got 2 of the 4 done so far. Going to get almost finished tomarrow and post some pictures. moding and reattaching the inner fender seems to be the worst part of it, the rear, well that only took 10 minutes. Saturday I plan on going to the local self serve salvage yard and get more door strips that I used today to cover the sharp edge, really turned out nice so far. Kind of a good thing I did this, I never would of found the module that was just floating in air that I relocated to the top of the rad support. As for the inner fenders on the front, they look crude right now, but once I move I'll repair with plastic welder or add fiberglass to keep more water out, but over all, deffinately looks like a wining game plan.

 

[Chrish_jr]

finally caught a break in the weather and was able to cut the openings out. Tomarrow I head to the tire shop and have the 35's mounted onto the rims from the bronco. I would use the rims from the jeep if I had another set for it, but, well, same size rim diameter, width is different (jeeps rims are 10 wide), bolt patters are the same, center opening is smaller on the bronco rims, so they wont clear the spindles on the jeep. Heres a pic of the new openings with the 33's still on the bronco and a pic of what I started with.

 

[Justshootme84]

That looks fine, should give you room for the 35's. The tires may still rub on the radius arms in a turn or at full steering lock. you'll just have to figure out how far you can turn the wheel before contact. That will depend on the wheel & tire diameter, and the wheel backspacing. looks awful cold with those icicles hanging down!!! JSM84

 

[Chrish_jr]

lol yea, thank god I'm out of here tomarrow. For the last two days its been in the low teens during the day or low twentys with single didget winds. Moving to florida in the afternoon which is part of the reason I was looking for anyway possible to reuse the tires I have already. gunna check out a couple options, one would be to swap the tires onto the ford rims, the other option is to take a set of steel rims from my uncles farm just to put on the jeep for transport. Other than that even at full turn, with the jeep rims, no rubbing issues at all, but the 10 rims have a 4 inch offset so they stick out away from the suspension alot further than the stock ford rims.

interesting side note, I was looking at the picture of the cutout fenders and if you look close, you can see the white streaks from the snow falling while I took the picture lol