TJ flares on a YJ, trimming required?

[Barney]

want to install extended front TJ flares on my '88 YJ. Is substantial trimming necessary for a good fit? Also, I am looking for a pair of these, where can I get them?

 

[DevinB]

Oh yeah. :greg: There'll be a lot of trimming, both front and rear. Google the mod, there are tons of write-ups on it. As for where to find them... I bought a new set of Omix Ada (something like that) replicates from Mepco (now TeraFlex Plus or something) for a little over $100. Or you can try a dealership, they put extended flares on their new 'modded' TJ's and Rubi's to sell them legally, then leave the stock ones lying around. My buddy bought a set of brand new Rubi flares for like $50 from the jeep dealership in American Fork that way.

 

[Caleb]

the trimming is minimal, only a couple inches in the rear of each wheel well...I have pics of the slices I cut off on my home computer I'll post later to give you an idea. You can either scour the internet for used ones (forums, ebay, etc) or just go to the dealer...back when I priced them from the dealer they weren't too outrageously priced (if I remember correctly about $30-$40 a piece)

 

[DevinB]

the trimming is minimal...

Guess our ideas of 'minimal' differ! Supergper is right, it's only a couple inches, but to me, someone who had never used a jigsaw, let alone to cut up my jeep, it was more than minimal. It was still fun though!

 

[CJJ92yj]

I've seen a write-up or two on the internet that say you can trim the little lip on the back of the flares, as well as the alignment posts, and then slap them on that way without trimming the body. I would shy away from that route because your body will stick down past the flares. At full flex it would then be possible to slice into your tires wiht the body. Hopefully you have bump stops, but it still seems more dangerous.

 

[Caleb]

I've seen a write-up or two on the internet that say you can trim the little lip on the back of the flares, as well as the alignment posts, and then slap them on that way without trimming the body. I would shy away from that route because your body will stick down past the flares. At full flex it would then be possible to slice into your tires wiht the body. Hopefully you have bump stops, but it still seems more dangerous.

by not trimming the body you are loosing the benefit to go with TJ flares in the first place.

Guess our ideas of 'minimal' differ! Supergper is right, it's only a couple inches, but to me, someone who had never used a jigsaw, let alone to cut up my jeep, it was more than minimal. It was still fun though!

I was wondering if this was the case


and here are the pics, as you can see the slice is pretty small...IMO

 

[Caleb]

now this is what I would consider to be pretty substantial fender trimming

 

[Barney]

Mepco wanted $305 for extended flares... yeah right! So I picked up a set of Rubi flares (slightly extended) at Doug Smith for $50. I've already installed the drivers side front and rear and boy, it looks good. Thanks for all the info.

 

[RockMonkey]

I thought the whole point of putting on TJ flares was so that you *could* trim the body to gain more clearance for tires. If you don't want to trim the body, why put on TJ flares?