How to: Bolt on trimmed fenders (alternate method) *pic heavy*

Background:

I had the need to trim my plastic fender trim to fit some 34" Trail Grapplers. Since I've taken off and put on those same plastic fenders time and time again, a few of the plastic support brackets that hold the plastic fender clips have broken and will no longer hold the fender clips. My thought process was that I would like to have a more secure bolt on application using carriage bolts while not having bolt heads exposed like a bushwacker style fender. So I took some inspiration from TW user AaronArf: https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/aaronarfs-2012-dcsb-build.213614/


Finished product:



Disclaimer:

As with all of my DIY's, cutting and modifying your vehicle is done at your own risk. If you feel that you are unable to perform all tasks necessary in this DIY then you should step back and reassess. You have been warned.


Difficulty:

8 out of 10 ass pains


Tools Required:

Angle Grinder / Hand held file
Safety Glasses
Internally ratcheting box head wrench or equivalent
Needle nose vice grips
Bench vice or equivalent
Automotive Goop (found at your local auto store)
Door guard trim (optional)
Something to cut your fender/fender flare (I used a dremmel with a cut-off wheel/saw for precision)
Adjustable pliers
Painters Tape


Hardware:

18 carriage bolts (Note 1)
18 flat washers that fit your carriage bolts (Note 1)
18 self locking nuts that fit your carriage bolts (Note 1)


Step 1:

This step is the one that takes the most time as you will have to turn all of your carriage bolts into 'T'-bolts. I used a home made bench vice with some wood planks and some C-clamps and using my angle grinder I painfully ground each bolt down. Make sure when your grinding the bolts down that your newly beveled bolts have an inward angle on the heads to help them slide into the slots on your plastic fenders.

Shows the before and after:



My bench vice setup:


Special note: Some of the bolts I ground down didn't quite fit in the plastic fender trim so I had to grind them down to look like little rock picks. Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of the modified 'T'-Bolts but here is an image of what a rock pick looks like so use your creativity to get it to fit.



Step 2:

You'll have to remove your fenders from your vehicle. If you have never done so up until now, the easiest method for removal is to remove the bolts securing the underside of the fender to the quarter panel. You'll find these bolts in your wheel wells. I believe they are 12mm. Second, you should remove your fender liner to gain access to the back side of the stock fender clips. There are 9 clips on both the driver and passenger side of the front. I'm under the assumption that there are also 9 on each side for the rear. Use your best judgement. Use some pliers to squeeze in on the little tabs that secure the plastic clips to the front quarter panel to pop them off with ease. If you rush or get impatient like I did, you'll risk damaging your plastic fenders requiring the need of the Automotive goop. I don't have any pictures of this as It should be a fairly straight forward removal. Have a drink and get dirty.


Step 3:

Once you have all of the fenders removed, you'll need to discard all of those plastic orange and blue fender clips as you'll have undoubtedly broken a few. The stock ones are stronger than the after market clips, but this DIY is a bolt on, so toss em, or frame them if you're so attached. I don't care. Carefully using your adjustable pliers you'll need to Carefully force your modified carriage bolts into your fender. If it looks like your plastic fender is starting to turn white, it is a sign that your plastic is about to give way. Head back to the angle grinder and remove some more material from the bolt head. You'll need to force but there shouldn't be excessive force required to seat each bolt. I turned the bolts 90 degrees so that the 'T'-bolt arms are securely behind the plastic of the fenders. Once you have each bolt seated, use some of the Automotive Goop to beef up the area around the bolts. It'll need to sit from anywhere from 24 to 72 hours while the Goop cures. You may or may not need to use multiple applications. The choice is up to you. I went with one application.

Some examples of what I'm talking about:


Notice how I turned the T-bolts 90 degrees so that the arms are secured behind the fender.



EDIT: I should mention that some of the carriage bolts wanted to drop down into the fender flare and not stay nice and tight. How I worked around this was before I Gooped the bolts, some of them I shoved a bit of Cotton Ball between the head of the bolt and the plastic fender. It caused the bolts to lift up while the goop cured.

Step 4:

Now is when the fun part starts. Time to break out the saw and cut your front quarter panels. I taped off my fenders and made a 2" jig to measure exactly 2" of material. I used an old paint stick and a nail. Measured 2 inches and used a drill to feed a pencil. I didn't have a nice mathematical compass so I made due with what I had available. I used two layers of painters tape, because why not. That's why.





Step 5:

I slowly, emphasis on Slowly, used my dremel to cut out the excess metal from my fender. You cannot put metal back on once its been cut off so measure 3 times, walk away, drink some juice, then cut. Once that junk was out of the way, I kept the tape on while I rattle canned the newly exposed metal.





Step 6:

I temp installed the fenders on at this time so that I can tape and measure again. Following the previous step, it is much in the same.




Origionally, I used some Tin-snips like scissors to cut off the excess plastic. But after one fender done and how long it took, I said screw it and decided to use the dremel with the saw/router attachment. However you decide on how to cut your plastic, take your time. Like I said before, you cannot add material. I chose to keep a little extra material on the plastic flare, I can always remove more if I need to. That choice is up to you.



After the fact, I noticed that it wasn't perfectly straight so I need to go back over it with some gritty sand paper. Its fine for me right now, but I will eventually go back over it when the edge trim fails .




Step 7:

Once you get your fender and fender flare trimmed, you can use the edge guard and install it on the quarter panel. (Note 2)





Step 8:

Install your fenders using your hardware. Now here is where I thought I had a moment of brilliance. Carriage bolts having a square neck, the holes in the quarter panel being square. I was about to pat myself on the back for being awesome, but the necks on the carriage bolts aren't long enough to seat in the quarter panel. When I applied torque to the nuts, the T-bolts started rotating. Had to get creative and use some needle nose vice grips to hold the bolts as I torqued the nuts on. Originally I was using a socket to install the bolts then used a box head wrench to tighten it down all the way. Did a few nuts that way until I remembered that I had some internal wrenching box head wrenches in the truck. Success! I had to get creative with the vice grip to ensure that the bolt didn't turn. You'll figure it out once you start wrenching.





Note 1: I only did the front fenders at this time, so I only needed 18 of each hardware and I am too lazy currently to go out to the truck to count how many clips hold the rear fenders on. I'm going under the assumption that there are also 9 clips per side making the total amount of hardware 36. Math!

Note 2: After I finished installing the edge guard on all the sections, I thought like Billy Mays (may he rest in peace) "There's got to be a better way!". So i wandered the isles at the hardware store and stumbled upon some Amazing Goop for plumbing purposes that has a nipple applicator which should fit on the automotive goop. It should allow me to apply said automotive goop precisely in the groove of the edge guard. The adhesive that comes with the trim seems to me like its not that strong to hold up to the rigours of car washes. I have no facts to back up my observation, it is only what I am perceiving. Again, I leave this up to you whether or not you want to attempt this method of applying the goop. I wouldn't leave the automotive goop in that nipple applicator as once it hardens, its permanent. Use a nail to keep the hole open for reuse.

This is the plumbing goop mentioned above.



Happy Modding. Feel free to blow this post up. Ill try to clarify better if need be. Typing up a forum post and having some frosty barley pops doesn't make me a poet.

-J

 

SO AWESOME! I was just searching TW for how to trim the fenders. To my surprise there wasn't really a "write up" just people showing random pics in their build thread of the finish product. This feels very complete. Add this to my To-Do list for the week. Just went up to 285s and had quite a bit of fender rubbing so I had "chopped" some prematurely but always wanted to go back and refine the fenders so they were even. This is perfect. Thanks!!

 

No problem RileySB. I've seen the same ones where people have just shown pics. Now the concept of chopping fenders is fairly straight forward. Tape, Measure,
I just wanted to put my own spin on how I achieved a bolt on application since I didn't trust those plastic fender clips to hold up in the wind. This same method should work substituting the bolts with stock clips but at the risk of your flares flying off when driving down the road since the bolts that secured the inner plastic fender flare have been removed. I drove around for a few weeks sans fenders while I tinkered with this project. Now that its all said and done, if I was to do it again knowing what I know now. I could probably do this project in about 3 days. One day grinding bolts and securing them with goop, then cutting the metal while the goop cures. Paint the exposed metal cause rust sucks. Day two, goop and install edge trim. Temp install flare and cut flare because the bolts should be cured enough to not move at this point. Goop and install edge trim on flare. Day three, torque everything down.

-J

 

nice write up, more pics from further away?

 

Sure thing.




I only did the front at this time. I have to get the back twisted to see how much material I need to remove back there. The front was only trimmed by 2". I rushed the passenger side and it shows. Bottom line, take your time and don't rush.
-J

 

Pics of a little bit closer? Lol jk
The passenger side don't look too bad at that angle.
I really like the look of a thinner flare

 

Yeah, haha. I did that on purpose. It'll have to be tomorrow, since it'll be dark when I get home from work. I'll try to take it in some better lighting. The sun wasn't being very kind.

-J

 

Lol I was Just giving you a hard time. It looks good, you got more balls than me lol idk I can do this mod.

 

Thanks for the write up, hopefully I'll do something similar when I end up cutting mine.

 

Hey what do you use to cover your intake on the driver side? I recently trimmed my fenders and don’t have a snorkel and don’t know if it’s safe to run without covering up the intake in the fender well

 

I’m curious as well. Need to trim my fenders but don’t want to lose my splash guards for factory intake purposes

 

This was the best thing I came up with. I know I have to get a snorkel later on or a after market intake

 

What material is that?

 

Shower/pan liner from Home Depot. They use it for the bathtubs to keep water out. It’s actually really strong

 

The shower pan liner is a great option. I was intending on fabricating up a simple piece of bent aluminum and attaching it below the intake to work as a simple water deflector. I knew that in the future I would need a snorkel but I drove around through the Texas spring and summer with it wide open. However, any time I drove through a puddle I would always come off the gas in fear of ingesting water. I cannot say for certain that you wouldn't ingest water but I drove it through some nasty rain storms and everything was ok. I have since installed that snorkel though for what its worth.

-J