CMC/pinch weld, fender/flare cutting, snorkel install

Hey everyone, so I’m attempting to document my work as I gain tire clearance in my front wheel wells. Not a “how to”, just how I did it after countless hours on TW and youtube. However, I hope this helps people during their research.
I am currently running 32x11.5s on pro comp 51s 15x8 with 3.75” B’s. I use 1.5” spacers that I check torque on every tire rotation. The new front bumper solved the rubbing issue in the front of the wells but the cab mount and pinch weld rubbed like crazy. Next year I will be mounting 35s on scs f5s ( the 3.5bs and 20mm offset seems to be the best option for 35s on a gen 2). Correct me if I’m wrong in my research on that. Because of this, I am doing my work for what I think will best clear 35s.
Because I will be losing my outer fender liner attachment points during the fender cutting, I installing my snorkel in conjunction with the wheel well work. Like I needed an excuse to get a snorkel…
You can see the shininess where my tires have been buffing my cab mount.
Started by trimming some fender liner, pushing it out of the way, and hulk smashing the pinch weld. Hammered it outboard so I didn’t add the ½ inch or so of folded metal in my wheel well. Doubt it mattered much. Some of it opened slightly but light hits with the hammer closed it mostly, enough so that the rubberized undercoating should seal it fine.
Next I started on the CMC. I ordered the 2nd gen plates for 20$, but since I did such an aggressive chop, I would’ve been better off making my own. But I made it work with some bending and belt sanding. Had some large gaps at the top but I filled it with weld. This was my first welding project so it ain’t pretty. A lot of welding grinding sanding.. repeat where I wasn’t happy.
Flap disc sanding the welds on the cab mount.
I wanted the bottom smooth where the future 35s might get close, but I had to accept the tops wouldn’t be pretty.
So I put a bend in each plate in line with this smaller secondary bolt highlighted in red. This allowed me to angle the plate rearwards more. I’m certain doing this was HUGE in adding clearance at full steering lock.
View from underneath really shows how much extra clearance you can get by putting a bend in.Finished CMC
Ok, so when installing my bumper I sheared one of the factory bolts that holds the sway bar to the frame. So I cut a “window” to gain access, torqued down the new nuts and bolts, then put some welds on the nuts. Bent the “window” closed and welded it up. PLEASE WEIGH IN ON THE STRUCTURAL INTEGRITY OF THIS. I was hesitant to cut my frame open but didn’t see another way.
So this catches me up to current. Will be pushing forward with the fenders and snorkel either this week before deer season opens Saturday or sometime next week.
As it sits now before I start cutting away

 

looks good but I would have just ran without the way bar and skipped cutting and patching the frame. Doubt the weld you did will cause any long term ill effects, looks good from my house

 

For sheared nutserts I’ve used threaded handles. I got a 3/8 16 holding up a corner of a skid plate. This one is zink plated cast iron. They come in stainless, brass etc.

 

Thank you, I was wondering about the sway bar delete. With lots of extra weight and mostly road use, is the rollover risk big enough to consider?

 

I have had mine off for probably 10 years. It doesn’t make so much of a difference. Where the body roll becomes noticeable is if you do a rear shackle flip.

 

So you fish the handle through an access hole and get it threaded? I can see how that'd work, almost like Mlok gun rails... Genius man

 

Could always weld a plate over the section of the frame. A plate bigger than the area you cut with a full seam around the edges and a rosette or two in the middle—pretty common practice for structural members since butt welds aren't all that strong.

Looks good though!

 

That's what I'm going to do, thank you for your advice. I'm going to wait until I'm certain my welds on the nuts inside the frame will withstand removal and re-torquing. My welding skills are at the crayon eating level right now

 

Installed the Dobinsons snorkel. Template was pretty bad, even following their customer service rep’s instruction, but got it installed. Hated the gaps, so I sealed the whole snorkel body to the fender with black sikaflex, leaving a drip hole at the bottom. Not the prettiest but I’d rather have this than those garbage gaps.




Did the snorkel in conjunction with the fender and flare cutting. Made my jig, cut the fenders at 2.5” and the flares at 2”. Jigsaw with a 24tpi blade, as short as you can find, worked great. Dremel for the ends and curves with a good metal blade worked best for me. Dremel with the same metal blade worked good on the plastic flares.




I hated the plastic clips so I did the DIY bolt on method, and I’m really happy with it. Sturdy with nyloc nuts and the black hardware looks sharp. Went with the gasketed washers, mates up with the plastic well. Had the sikaflex open so I ran a bead as adhesive for the top edge of the flares.



I was initially going to just sand and bedliner coat the flares, but with all the sikaflex I ended up using and all the touch up sanding I did, I just did both entire fenders too. Taped off the snorkel though. I’m going to eventually get the raptor lining kit and do the whole truck at some point so I was fine with the change of plans.








Scooter.

My hood is gross, it's moving up on the priority list. So is cleaning and painting everything inside my front wheel wells.

The snorkel was a pain to install. Cutting and doing to bolt on mod to the fenders was super easy. Not that I did a great job, just went smoother.

 

So I was looking through maintenance records today and I found the window sticker from the dealer. I found out my 07 4wd dbl cab long bed SR5 was equipped with rear limited slip. Been nosediving into the forums like gandalf since..
Doubled checked for the LSD oil sticker on the rear diff and there it was. So it explains why I can cruise down my sand dirt road no problem, but it's useless in 4hi or 4lo. Also, being that I believe it to be the mechanical limited slip, I'm wondering if it's completely worn out at 178k miles. Is that something y'all would delete or rebuild during a regear? F&R air lockers are on the far off wishlist.