Fitting 33s

This is just a short description of what I've done thus far to try to clear 33s. Today, I still want a 1" body lift to clear the 33s. I'm also going to remove the 4" Skyjacker rear leaf springs and the 2" extended shackles in favor of "shot" '73 non-XLC leaf springs in a spring-over setup. I may yet "tub" the rear wheel well for better clearance, too.

This is a stock, uncut, rear fender well.

Notice the horizontal edge on the rear bottom. You might also notice a slight vertical running steel rib right about in the middle on the bottom.

Those are my '77 Scout II's current rear wheel well. You'll notice it's not the same. ;-)

I found the weld that holds the wheel well to the C-channel support that runs just below/behind the bottom rear edge of the wheel well. The two are welded together about the middle. I took my 4" Makita grinder with a cutting wheel and cut at an angle up and towards the outer wheel well skin. With that cut, I then attacked the vertical rib that runs forwards to back. I cut it at a roughly 45 degree angle rearward. This is very important since this is the first thing the tire will hit!

I ground it back, and then helped the clearance by judicious use of a BFH (sometimes better known as a 3lbs sledge hammer). I beat the lip of the wheel well back, and then tried to bend the vertical rib over and flat.

This depicts what I did to the front fender lips. Stock, the lip is an "L" shape. I found I could compress the tires and turn, and put cuts in the sides. I took my Makita and cut the "L" part a few times. I cut slits. One slit was made at the very point where the inner and outer fenders stop bolting together. I then made another slit just above the curve at the front corner, one in the middle of the curve, and one just past the curve. I then used a hammer to beat the "L" shaped fender lip into a "V" shape that is much nicer to my oversize tires when it does rub.

Also, you can check out my clearance checks when I first put my 33s on my '77 Scout II. Testing my 33s