Pics of trimmed/cut fenders

I just cut tabs in my inner fenders and then bent them up at a 90-degree angle. I was able to reattach my inner liners and close most of the gaps. Soon I will go buy some thin rubber or similar material and cut out my own inner liners, attaching to existing attachment points towards the engine and tabs on the outside.

 

Just saw you today after picking up my 35s from being mounted, gave you a thumbs up from the white taco. Love your tip on cutting tabs in the fender to still keep the liner, any other tips on making clean cuts on the flair?

 

Oh shit, that was you? Nice rig.

I used the ruler with holes drilled into it to set a guide and the pen, which worked pretty good. The only other things were meditative breathing before cutting, doing test cuts to get a feel for it below ( in the cut out zone), and having someone to hold the outer flares for you when off your truck and cutting. I used a jigsaw with fine metal blade.

 

Hmm.. I'm having a hard time picturing what you mean lol

Also, are you regeared ? If so, who did the work? Looking for a shop to do my 4.56s

 

Hard time picturing the ruler thing? If not, what?

I'm ordering 3rd members from ECGS with 4.88 and ARB locker in rear. Probably going to Shaffer's Offroad to install them for me. I'm sure I could figure out the removal/reinstallation myself, but I'm crazy busy with two jobs, two four year olds, one wife, etc. I think I'll just pay the shop to do it. For now, I'm babying my truck and barely driving. All my research concluded at 4.88. You decided 4.56? You're probably heavier than me too with that GFC? I do have all the BAMF steel and Bruteforcefab steel though.

 

Saw this post and it just made sense to me


1)
I want to keep the truck highway friendly still. While I do frequently drive up into the mountains, I plan to do some pretty long distance trips in the future as well. Needs to be a balance.
2)
Transmission gear ratios: I had 4.88 axle gears with 35’s on my ‘02 4runner with the A340 4-speed auto transmission and was pretty happy with that balance. Looking at This chart from Marlin Crawler, you can see the difference between the Tacoma’s A750F 5-speed auto and my old 4Runner’s A340, both are towards the bottom of the list.
For example, note how the Tacoma’s 1st gear is much shorter (numerically higher) than the ‘02 4Runner’s and how even with only 4 gears the 4Runner had a taller top gear (numerically lower) than the Tacoma. So given those points it makes sense that a slightly taller axle gear than I had in the 4Runner, like 4.56, would work well in the Tacoma with its A750F transmission.
(note: for similar reasons, mostly having to do with its 2 overdrive gears, the 3rd Gen Tacoma is recommended to have 5.29 gears with 35s)
3)
As a test, the % difference between 4th & 5th on the 5-speed auto transmission is very similar to the % difference between 4.88 and stock 3.73 gears. So with stock gears on the highway in 5th gear, you can downshift to 4th and that will simulate your RPMs at that speed with 4.88s in 5th gear. I deemed that RPM to be unreasonably high for long highway drives. So by going with 4.56 gears I will be at a lower RPM than 4.88s while still being higher than I would be with stock gears.
4)
Compare the stock effective final drive ratio (meaning the overall ratio considering both the tire diameter and the gears) to the effective ratio with the potential new gear ratios on the larger tires. Stock is 3.73 gears on 31" tires, 3.73/31 = 0.1203 is the stock effective ratio.
This same calculation on 4.56 and 35s is 0.1303 (since this number is higher than stock, it is “over geared”) and on 4.88 with 35s it is 0.1394which is even more over geared. Over gearing is not necessarily bad, it can help compensate for added weight, but gearing is a balance between low end power and high speed cruising ability. Too much in one direction hurts the ability to do the other (see point #3).

 

@Taco-Obsessed ya can't picture what you mean with the ruler holes and pen thing, can you elaborate ? lol

 

Meh... your over thinking it.

 

Thanks I'll add this to my consideration.

 

Basically what @Shadowhunter showed.

I took a ruler, cut it down, and drilled holes the exact length apart that I wanted to cut. One for the pen to mark my cut offline on my taped area, and the other for something as a guide to hug the edge of the fender the whole way while marking the cut line above.

 

I made a little jig with a ruler too. I just ran a drywall screw and drilled a little hole for a sharpie. It was just dumb luck I found a ruler when I was in the shop looking for a chunk of wood to make the jig.

 

It worked well for the outer plastic flare. Not so much for the inner metal fender because the bottom where the guide went wasnt even the whole way. Just taped over and drew the line by hand at those locations.

 

How many inches would you say you ended up cutting off the flair(what length did you cut the ruler down to?) I like the look of yours, don't want to cut more than I need to. Did you use a jigsaw for both fender and flair? Same blade for both?

 

I did 2", but I also have a 1" BL too in addition to my coilovers/leaf spring lift. I added the BL to help fit the 35s. So I wasnt worried about clearance up top. I've seen people do 2.5 to 3". For my setup the limiting factor was the section of fender towards the firewall. If I cut 2.5-3 there, the fender would have been back further than the beat back firewall and personally I dont like the look of that. 2" was perfect for my setup, but again i have an ONLY 1" BL and a hybrid tube bumper up front, so clearance up front and above was not a concern.

 

I think I'll follow your lead, I too don't like the look of having too much exposed by cutting that much off especially if it isn't necessary. I have no intentions of ever going larger than 35s, I think they are the the perfect size to compliment the taco proportions.

 

Sounds good. You can always cut more if you need. Recommend you pick up a lot of extra fender (orange and blue) clips, plus the fender line black attachment clips. Their a bitch to get off and you may brake some, I did. Luckily I had some extras waiting just incase.

 

Will do, thank you! Did you follow the same measurements for the rear ?

 

I haven't cut them. Not sure I'm going to yet. Not even close to contact. Looks good to me so far, might change my mind.

 

Might be doing it this week. Might just do the fronts for now

 

Mine came out pretty good. Wish I used a Dremel on the flares but they are out pretty straight. Need to put the new trim on and do the rears this week