Cj-5, 6, 7, Or 8 Flat Fenders

I've been complimented on the fenders I built for my M38a1. It wasn't my idea, but I don't see people doing this at all. I got the idea from David Frieburger and his CJ-8.


You can see that I don't have much up travel with the stock style fenders.

I traded these perfect fenders to a friend that had a set that were all boogered up on the outside, but the inner was fine.

I trimmed away all the fender lips and cut the sides away. If you leave more of a lip along the side, you can put a rubber flap to help keep mud out of the engine bay. I got my rubber from McMaster Carr.

 

Then I traced a CJ2a fender on some plywood and cut out the outer edge. Then I placed it under the hood and traced the hood edgeline.

Then I cut the flat out of 3/16ths steel. A little heavy, but it'll work for now. Then I used a piece of 1 1/4 tall flat bar that was .125 thick and bolted that to the hood. The flat fender got another piece of 1 1/4 around the edge. Then the flat is welded to the edge that was bolted to the hood.

 

Then I cut a little side filler to fill the gap. I left a hole in the side to let hot air out of the engine bay.

I put a piece of perforated metal behind the opening to make it look nice... It's not too much work but I figure it's worth it. I'd rather modify my fenders or trim alittle and keep the center of gravity low.
I've got 37in tires with only 2.5in of lift. You can see the rear fenders are trimmed out to accommodate the large tires... Thanks for checking this out. I hope it helps someone out some day... Laters

 

Great write up, thanks for posting. From your pictures, it looks like your outer fenders are welded to the hood. How are the inner fenders attached? Do they use the mounts from the original fenders? Wouldn't this make the inner fender pretty flimsy? Please post pics, and again great job on your build!

 

The inner fender is a cut down fender. I just cut the outer lip off. The fender is still bolted to the firewall and the grill. The flat fender is bolted to the hood...
I'll take some more detailed pics soon

 

Awesome! Thanks for the write up.

 

The fenders are so heavy it won't go anywhere... Just kidding... I'm planning to put the original latches on upside down under the fenders... I don't want to use hood pins at all.
Thanks guys

 

I really like this idea. It seems like it would be just as easy to weld the new fender to the inner fender and keep them separate from the hood. Was there a specific reason you attached them to the hood?

 

Yes. I want to run large tires without lifting the Jeep really high. I have 37in tires with plenty of wheel travel. Not just droop, but compression as well. By attaching the fenders to the hood they are raised higher of the Jeep. The rear fenders are cut larger with a 37.5in diameter, with the opening moved back and as high as the inner wheel tubs will allow.


This is the result... The rear tire fits up in the wheel well and the front is rubbing the fender. That's plenty of wheel travel for me... Thanks for checking it out

 

Have you measured the travel for Bump and Droop up Front?.........I'm just curious with leafs how much you were able to get........

Looks Good..........Might have drag my old dog up that way when finished and check out where you wheel............Was just up on 97 a few weeks back between Macdoel and Dorris taking care of some ground squirrels.

 

Thank you sir... I have about 6.5 inches of bump to the frame, and at the tire I think it's 8 or 9. I'm gonna bump stop both ends to just before they rub fenders... These springs are pretty dang soft...

 

How about droop?

 

I'm not sure yet... In the pics where I have it fully articulated, I was trying to locate shock mounts. It looks like it will use all of the10in stroke of the shocks. I won't be using all the compression to keep the tires off the fenders...