Another Fender Trim

RstBckt · 2026-07-10T20:44:44-0600

Looking at various trims I tried my own method. I finished my lift on my 95 FZJ80 and went for a trial run in Tahuya SF, WA. After shredding my new to me rear tires in a black diamond trail that was basically bomb holes in a dirt trail I needed to do some fender trimming. The rear damaged the tires the front did some burn marks. So starting with the rear for now here's what I did.

Lift specs:
Icon 6" lift shocks. Their basic model.
Dobinson springs C59-614V and C59-615V
A million other accoutrements
38x13.5-17 Falken RT01 tires

I cut off the lip of the fender well to separate the inner and outer fenders. I then determined through suspension movement how much I needed to trim up. Threw that out the window and went with the line that exists between the rear doors and fender and carried along the body. Essentially a 1.4" total clearance increase.

I mapped out the line, added .5" for an new fold of the inner and outer fenders, cut, beat the s#!+ out of the inner fender to stretch and match to the outer. Then starting at the front using hammer and dolly, migrated the two fenders together. As I did I used a countersink bit to drill into them making about a 1/16" hole on the backside and mig spot welding them together.

Here is what I started with. You can see the rear tire catching to the point I had to throttle quite a bit to unstick it. My younger son analyzing the situation.

RstBckt · 2026-07-10T20:47:48-0600

Here is the first lip cut:

Then what I drew for where I wanted to end up:

RstBckt · 2026-07-10T20:55:34-0600

I used a 3lb ball peen, both sides, get the inner fender stretched. Then used the harbor freight body hammer set to final work the inner to the outer. Used the chisel headed hammer and a dolly with some pvc 20mil sprinkler repair tape on it for the gentler movements. Made a .5" fold of the two fenders, drilled the countersinks every 1.5-2" and spot welded together. Seam sealed including inside of the lip. Spray painted for a temporary cover until I can repaint someday.

RstBckt · 2026-07-10T20:57:51-0600

At the rear of the fender there is empty space so I removed a lot. This moved the corners up a few inches.

RstBckt · 2026-07-10T21:00:52-0600

Driver side I had to drill a new hole with a step bit for the sunroof drain to move it up. I folded all the original outer fender over and bent it up in and tacked it either along the bottom or to the inside of the inner fender, if you follow. At the rear corner I made a few pie slices and stitch welded them.