For Spring Break, my grandson, age 16,
and three of his friends, age 15,
came up to my place.
Acres of space, yet one of the boys
managed to mash my TJ's right front fender
into my grandsons pristine F150 left rear fender.
No one was hurt, thank heavens,
and all the lights worked
and my grandson was able to drive back home.
That TJ was a '98 I bought in 2014.
Twenty-five years old, rust free and still like new.
Completely original, including the carpet and upholstery,
with no dents, dings or scratches.
The crumpled fender, however, was all I needed
to uncork the inner rock crawler,
and sent me scouring the inter-web for ideas.
One possibility was a complete painted fender.
This included the inner fender welded to an outer fender.
The inner fender on the TJ was undamaged,
and would have to be separated from all attachments.
Body color painted fenders were only available
from 2020 on, leaving out my Moss Green 1998 Sahara.
Some tube fenders also had inner fenders,
making installation complex, and they cost more.
Some outer-only tube fenders required trimming
the battery platform and disconnecting other bits.
Being a confirmed COB (Cheap Old Bastard),
eventually fender dysphoria was overcome
and I settled on a pair of inexpensive
EAG front fenders 97-06 Wrangler TJ, on Amazon.
EAG calls them fender flares, they're so skinny.
No inner fender to disassemble,
no tubes for interference
and black goes with everything.
EAG is a trade name used on Amazon
and elsewhere for Jeep parts
distributed by Paramount Automotive,
their 6.5 inch fender is shown here.
Where is that angle grinder...
and three of his friends, age 15,
came up to my place.
Acres of space, yet one of the boys
managed to mash my TJ's right front fender
into my grandsons pristine F150 left rear fender.
No one was hurt, thank heavens,
and all the lights worked
and my grandson was able to drive back home.
That TJ was a '98 I bought in 2014.
Twenty-five years old, rust free and still like new.
Completely original, including the carpet and upholstery,
with no dents, dings or scratches.
The crumpled fender, however, was all I needed
to uncork the inner rock crawler,
and sent me scouring the inter-web for ideas.
One possibility was a complete painted fender.
This included the inner fender welded to an outer fender.
The inner fender on the TJ was undamaged,
and would have to be separated from all attachments.
Body color painted fenders were only available
from 2020 on, leaving out my Moss Green 1998 Sahara.
Some tube fenders also had inner fenders,
making installation complex, and they cost more.
Some outer-only tube fenders required trimming
the battery platform and disconnecting other bits.
Being a confirmed COB (Cheap Old Bastard),
eventually fender dysphoria was overcome
and I settled on a pair of inexpensive
EAG front fenders 97-06 Wrangler TJ, on Amazon.
EAG calls them fender flares, they're so skinny.
No inner fender to disassemble,
no tubes for interference
and black goes with everything.
EAG is a trade name used on Amazon
and elsewhere for Jeep parts
distributed by Paramount Automotive,
their 6.5 inch fender is shown here.
Where is that angle grinder...