TJ Fender Flares on an XJ - More Room For Big Tires

Just like the YJ fender flares that I had on before - these were super easy.

I only had to do some minor trimming to the already enlarged openings from my YJ flares to fit these on. I removed the old YJ flares & used the new ones as templates by holding them up to the fender and tracing inside the edges with a sharpie magic marker.

This time I just used hand shears to do what minor finish trimming was needed but if you're starting from scratch and have a lot of metal to cut, grab some air shears to make quick work of the fender openings. (An air cut-off wheel works great too.)

Be sure to smooth those down the edges and slap a coat of primer on the edge before you put the flares on. Sheet metal screws w/ fender washers will hold everything in place or you can pre-drill the holes and use long-shank rivets with an air rivet-gun to secure them. NOTE: You can use a hardware store rivet-gun but NOT generic rivets for this! Standard hardware store rivets do not have long enough shanks to go through the flare, fender & washers. An auto body supply house, or fastener specialty store (nuts & bolts supplier) will have them but they will need to know what size hole you'll want to drill and how deep of a shank you'll need on the rivet.

Add the thickness of the fender flare, fender & any washers together and that is the space the rivet has to collapse DOWN to. The rivet's shank must be LONGER than that measurement by at least 3/16" and preferably 1/4" plus have a slightly smaller diameter than your drill bit. It is best to get your rivets first and then choose the drill bit based on the supplier's recommendation.

If ya still aren't sure about choppin' the fenders... see theYJ Fender Flare install or Off-Site links to similar articles.

(And yes... I know these were NOT big tires!)