Well since my parts will be here soon I decided to save the new tires and fenders from ripping off with the wider offset wheels so I did the pinch weld mod.
PS: The wife would kill me if she new I took a grinder and sledge hammer to her 2 month old Jeep.
This mod is alot harder to do on a KK then the KJ. On the KK the pinch weld is 3 layers thick. So I had to do abit of cutting first to allow the pinch to be beat over. Even with the cuts it was still a pain to flatten it with a 16lb sledge. My hands are still sore from the pounding. LOL
There was only 2.5"s of room with the wheels straight from the tire to the liner/pinch weld.
First I undid the rivits on the flare and moved the inner liner out of the way.
Here is what that nasty pinch weld seam looks like.
These are the cuts I made to help bend the seam over. I used my angle grinder with a zip-disc to cut the seam. You dont want to cut the pinch weld right out because it will weakin the unibody. I did end up cutting off the bottom corner of the seam for added clearance and to try and make it easyer to bend over.
Left side.
Right side.
Then the fun part of beating the brand new Jeep with a 16lb sledge. I recommend hearing protection and gel padded gloves.
PS: The wife was at work well I did this.
Left side.
Right side.
After that fun I siliconed up the seam.
After it was dry I sprayed the area in undercoating spray to further seal and protect it.
Well that was drying my next step was to trim the black plasitic molding/mudflap looking piece.
Before.
Then I masked out the area how I wanted to cut it with masking tape. I had no clue how I wanted to cut it so I played with the tape awhile till I liked how it looked. I did my best to make them match.
I used my angle grinder with a zip-disc to cut the molding. Don't go to slow or it will melt and seal up the cut behind you.
Tape removed and I sanded down the edges.
Next put the liner back in place and put the rivets back in. Then I had to figure out what to do with the excess inner liner bump that is no longer needed since the pich seam is gone. First I tried useing a heat gun to try and meld the hump flat and flush to the wheel well but it didn't work. So I cut a slit in the liner where the hump was and folder it over itself and used self tapping waffer screws to hold the seam together and hold it tight to the wheel well for max clearance.
I then put some silicone on the seam and screws to help seal the water out.
It was not an easy job and took about 6hrs total including doing the HID install and letting the silicone and undercoating dry. I measured after the mod and I gained an 1.25"s of clearance.
PS: I did the drivers side first so it looks better on the passenger side. LOL You learn from your mistakes.
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why didn't you just beat the pinch weld with a BFH?
