I'm seriously considering pulling the trigger on ditching the fenders and ordering a new set of 35's and rims with 4" of backspacing. I'm already running a stubby bumper up front and I have no rear bumper. So with no fenders to rub on and no bumper to rub on, I hoping to be OK. Has anyone tried this? The only place I'm concerned about is the pinch seam on the body that runs into the rear wheel well.

 

with no bumpers or fenders you will be fine! There is someone on here running 35" with the Xenon fenders and no lift and allot of flex.

 

So, after hearing from multiple people that I would not rub with 35s and no fenders, I finally pulled the trigger. Guess what? I rub! I finally got the jeep flexed a bit and I rub on the pinch seam. See below for pics. I'm gussing I'm at 75% flex and I rub just a bit. At 100% flex it rubs really bad. Enough to eventually cause tire damage for sure. Has anyone trimmed their pinch seam? Any tips?

 

not sure about the rubbing.. but please post some pics of the JK sitting level, id like to see how it looks

 

ewww man, im sorry i didn't see ur thread to tell u that isn't a very good idea at all.

 

I'm sure there are a few that pounded their pinch welds. You might want to check out lostkj's. That's actually one of the popular mods on a Liberty, to fit 31's. The idea is not to cut it off, but to bend it and pound it flat. This way the panels will hopefully not loose any strength.

 

Looks like it might be time for the BFH (Big F***ing Hammer). As far as pics with the Jeep on level ground, I don't have any I went outside to take a pic, but it is dark and the pic didn't come out well. I'll try to take one tomorrow.

If anyone else has comments/suggestions, I'd love to hear them!

Thanks.

 

A 1" BL should help a lot....a 2" BL would nail it.



The fold and bang method was used on the TJ's (And so on...) before the JK's too...it gets the seam out of the way, w/o cutting metal or making a new sharp edge, etc.

BTW - with those tires, with or without the fenders, you'd rub there unless you pound the seams flat as planned. The wider flares/no fenders mods, only work if the tires are BS'd out of range of that seam....or up travel is lost to prevent rub, as in with evil bumpstop extensions, etc.

 

I did a search, and it looks like more people are trimming the pinch seam instead of flattening it with a hammer. I was ready to take out the hammer, but now I'm wondering if I should take the sawzall instead.

 

Another JK with one foot in the grave