Rear fender from a JK on a TJ?

Shawn of the farm

Shawn of the farm

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Question for those out there who have more Wrangler experience than me. I am building an over landing trailer out of a jeep wrangler TJ that my sister twisted up. I want some wide flat metal fenders and am not finding a lot of affordable metal TJ fenders but it seems there are more options for JK's. Because I am doing a lot of fab work I am ok with making adjustments if needed to bolt on JK fender flares but I don't know if they are about the right shape to work out.

The reason I want large metal fenders is for the ability to set stuff on them when we are camping. I had seen a set of 8" flares and although maybe a little wide would double as a table. :) Any thoughts on where to get really wide Metal TJ rear fenders or if JK fenders could maybe work would be appreciated.


It seems like a set of these could work out since I am doing a lot of modifications any way.

https://www.roughcountry.com/jeep-tube-fender-flares-set-10533g.html
These guys make a set of quick removable 8" flares for the TJ but I don't think I would ever remove them and would be afraid of eventually developing a rattle since they are only mounted in 2 points. Even if they are well mounted to their backing plates it is still only 2 points.
https://metalcloak.com/8-rear-flare-pair-tj-lj-yj-cj5-7.html
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Since you're already doing a lot of the fabrication (coming along nicely by the way) I see no reason those shouldn't work with little modification.
 
Thanks Chris, Not having been around any later jeeps I wasn't sure if I was making a bone head move even looking at them. It looks to me that the later jeeps had a little inset and so would be hell to try and fit non specific fenders on but the TJ being flat makes it easy as long as it still looks jeepish. (that is my goal to keep it looking like it might have been an option to buy matching trailer from the factory)

Found these on another build here and they would work also so maybe I just was using google too much and not searching the forums for what folks are doing

https://www.jcroffroad.com/product/SWBRX-C.html
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The wheel arches are undoubtedly larger. However, I can see many ways this could work. You could cut the outer tub so that the wheel arch is bigger, or you could actually cut the metal flare in half, remove a portion of the flat part, and then weld it back together to make it smaller.
 
Since you are building, maybe look at some of the builder kits like from Barnes or Blue Torch Fab. Or why not bend up your own tube and cover them with sheet metal?
 
jjvw said:
Since you are building, maybe look at some of the builder kits like from Barnes or Blue Torch Fab. Or why not bend up your own tube and cover them with sheet metal?
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On my next one maybe some more fab work. For this one I am trying to knock it out with the lest amount of additional fabrication. I am not very efficient for one and I don't have all the tools I would like to have. But every project gets me closer to the next one. :)

I had thought of a trailer fender to cut out the inner fender on the jeep tub and try to drop it down and get a lot more room inside. I don't need as much clearance now that it is lighter. I think it had a 3.5" lift and now with less weight and the same springs I can't imagine I would ever come up on the inner fenders so I thought I could delete a lot of what was there including the mount for the rear roll bar and gain a lot of space but then I decided I needed to get this one done quicker and so am trying to keep the building to a minimum.

I guess I wasn't trying hard enough because tonight I found these from Genright for the TJ they have aluminum and steel so I could avoid trying to fit things that weren't designed to go together.
https://genright.com/products/jeep-tj-lj-yj-cj-6-flare-rear-tube-fenders-steel.html
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Thanks for every ones input.
 
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jjvw said:
Is the JK body flat around the rear wheel like the TJ, YJ, CJ was?
Click to expand...
JK fenders will be very difficult to mount to the flat side of a TJ tub. These are fiberglass rear flat fenders I made for my JKU, you can see the irregular shape of the mounting surface.

HighBuild_zpsrjwwmqil.jpg


How far do you plan to have the tires stick out? Some people, when building a camper out of a TJ tub, lengthen the axle so the tires are completely outside of the tub to provide maximum space inside. If that's what you're doing, ordinary trailer fenders mounted to the tub can work well and provide lots of space to double as a table as you said (the fender in this mockup with a Dinoot fiberglass Jeep-tub trailer is from an M416 trailer):

DinootWide1_zpsf2cd9bcf.jpg


BTW speaking of Dinoot, using a Dinoot tub end panel is a good way to finish off a Jeep tub when turning it into a trailer, a lot less work than welding old tub parts together to close out the tub...

FactoryTubCloseout2.jpg
 
Thanks every one for the help. I decided to just go cheap and fast with a set of 6" plastic fenders.

the trailer was tail heavy so I pulled the spare off and at some point in the future the jeep and trailer will both have the same size tires so one spare should be fine. Technical I could leave the trailer and use it as 2 spares if things really were getting out of hand.

I ordered the new Smittybilt GEN2 Overlander that I hope comes in before the end of summer. I put the order in first of June.

Any way thanks every one for your feed back. Time to go use it and decide what I should upgrade and what to add on. :)

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