Fender to body fit?

[Hedgehog]

Ever since I purchased my Jeep it has alwayss bothered me that the fenders don't fit the body well and the hood line isn't consistent. The problem is bad enoughto tear the bottom corner flange from the fender bottom where it meets the tub. It's apears that the front/grill is just a bit to high, but then again the body could be to low. I've got several solutions bubbleing around in my head, but it would be nice to hear what you guys have to say on the subject. How do I get the body to line up with the fenders?

 

[Torxhead]

I have aftermarket fenders on my Jeep, and they are a pain to fit. I had to drill, hammer, and cuss to get them right. So, its whatever it takes to get them as close as you can. After time some of the spot welds have even come loose. Mine seem to be attracted to rocks and tree limbs so I did not bother to paint them as were the oem set.

 

[Hedgehog]

Yeah I know what you mean. These old '75 fenders needed some attention with the hammer, welder and a flap wheel grinding/polishing disk. I can force'em to work, but I fear the body has settled and I really need to replace the body mount bushings to bring the tub back up where she belongs. If I don't the bottoms of the new/old fenders will tear out again.

 

[Barry2]

Ya might wanna check to be sure that the mount between the center bottom of the grille section has not been shimmed up too high up off from its mounting hole in the frame.

 

[Hedgehog]

Yes it screams that the center shim would be too high. Unfortunately I recently changed the one I know was to high for another. The replacement is definitely shorter. Not short enough though. I have considered shaving it down. How? Remove the shim, mount the fenders and grill. Center it up and adjust until it looks right. Then measure what the front shim needs to be. Might work.

 

[Jimbos76cj]

How High are we talking? Could your body pucks be sagging enought to cause a problem? I would buy a full set of mounts as a kit and change all the body and rad mount. IF that doesnt work then you may have some other issues.

 

[Hedgehog]

When assembled the bottom wants about a 1/2" gap. Most of it can be drawn up but it puts an awful strain on the fender lip especially on the bottom. It's looking more and more like I'm going to replace all the body mounts. Even if it isn't necessary it is about time to replace them anyways. I've never liked the hood alignment/gap and the left side bottom lip is obviously tearing away. My replacement fenders are good on the bottom edge and I don't want to compromise them.

I've never replaced mounts before. I imagine it would be easy enough to remove all the body mount bolts and carefully jack the body up enough on one side to replace the rubber then do the other side. Is that the right way to do it? Is there a better way? If so feel free to let us all know.

 

[Petescj]

It probably wont be as bad for you since yours is a West Coast Cj but Id start hitting all the body mount bolts with PB blaster a few days before hand religously. Breaking them off is a p.i.t.a. later on.

 

[Hedgehog]

Yep, one of the great things about being in the desert south west. You can crawl under a 40 year old vehicle and crack the bolts on your exhaust system with a simple socket wrench. No muss no fuss. My impact driver should make short work of the body mount bolts. That doesn't mean there isn't 40 years worth of dirt and greasy goo to deal with. All in all there's little to complain about though.

I grew up in the Adarondacks (upstate New York) it was always a nightmare to crawl under a vehicle, dirt, rust, mud and ice were a constant, standard tools consisted of wrenches and a cutting torch.

 

[Petescj]

Other than that I really cant think of much. Be careful not to pinch any wiring when you set it back down. Its not like you have to lift it a bunch. Just try and distibute the wieght over the side your jacking up evenly. Im not sure how it effects the CJ5 but the longer door openings of a CJ7 will fold a little and screw up your door alighnment. That usually happens when floors or other sheetmetal is removed though. Brace it if you have concerns.

 

[Jimbos76cj]

Remove the bolt from the radiator and one side of the body. Put a 4x4 between the jack and the floor to help distribute the weight evenly so you don't dent the floor.. Jack that side up just high enough to swap the pucks. Snug down the bolts on that side then go to the other side and do the same. Once both sides are done replace the radiator mount and bolt then torque em all down.

If you loosen or remove bolts from both sides you run the risk of the body moving and being out of alignment. Also now is a good time to check your body alignment. Measure from the tub to frame on each side. Now style time to straighten it out since you will have every thing loose. Remember that the difference is doubled between sides so if the tub is 1/4" more to the left it will end up being a 1/2" difference over all. Any thing more then 1/8" I'd adjust.

 

[Hedgehog]

Thanks for all the advice and golly I wish it were all that easy. Now that I know what I'm supposed to be seeing, I'm not seeing at all. I've got replacement stock pucks and they aren't as thick as the ones on the jeep. Also there are only 1/2 the number on the replacement kit as there is on the Jeep right now. Apparently the Jeep is NOT supposed to have a puck on top and on bottom as you normally see on newer jeeps. Also the PO replaced the front triangular mount. It was probably rusted out, but there doesn't appear to be much rust under he Jeep. Speculation is useless now, one good thing is he did a good job on fabricating the replacement. The bad thing is I don't thing it is the same height as the stock one is supposed to be. In stock form the front puck is supposed to be thicker than all the others. Now it is the same thickness.

I took the front puck out completely, mounted and adjusted things until they are close. The original thought was to do this and measure the gap up front. The front actually looks good right now, the problem is the front is sitting on the front cross member with no room for a puck.

Now I'm thinking either a 1" body lift or double stacking the pucks which would give a little over 1/2" lift. Hopefully then a puck will fit under the front the way it's supposed to. Good theory anyways.

Hey guys with a transition Jeep (1972-1975) how do your pucks mount? Mine has a bolt coming DOWN from the body. My available resource is for a newer Jeep and the bolts go up easily allowing for longer or shorter fasteners. I do know this, the way mine is the body will need to go higher than it would to be completely comfortable.

 

[Hedgehog]

This has turned into one of those never ending projects.

On the older Jeeps the body mount bolts do come down from the top, mostly from inside the tub. 6 are carriage bolts that needed to be tacked down to stop them from turning. Then there are the 4 in the rear behind the gas tank. The good part of that is I can pull the bolts so the lift won't be near as high as feared. The PO made a rear cross member and rear shackle mount welded to the frame with big ol' steel plates. Ugly from underneath the Jeep. The rear member is a 4"x2"x1/8" tube that isn't quite strong enough for the tire rack, but it's biggest sin is making the 4 rear body mounts almost impossible to get to. EEEERRRRRRRRRRRR!

After stewing a bit on the matter the easiest solution was to get the angle grinder w/cutoff wheel and cut a window underneath the mounts. Works, but the grinder rained hot metal down on my arms, thousands of little burns. The arms are not happy about it either. I won't leave it like that though. The metal pieces will get a nice round hole drilled or cut in them, then welded back in place and smoothed. Nobody will easily know what happened.

All this just to bring the front fender and the fender/hood gap down where it belongs. It's more than likely that nobody other than me will even notice it. But the cool part will be when standing around with other jeepers bragging about their lifts I'll be able to say, "Yeah I've got a 3" suspension lift with a 1/2" body lift." I can just see them looking at me like I'm the biggest jackass they have ever seen.

This whole project has been like this, frustrating. However I would be lying if I said it hasn't been great fun. I'm doing things I've never done, it has been great fun figuring out how to get through problems both expected and unexpected. and enormously gratifying when another Jeeper stands back smiles and says nice job, I like it.