Hey y'all, well I took the Tracker on it's first trail ride since installing my spacers and 30x9.5 m/ts.  I knew it was gonna be more capable but holy crap!!  It performed WAYYYY better than expected.  I hit a couple spots that stopped me when it was stock with the dinky little kumho a/ts,  and made the formerly hard stuff suddenly look easy.  The only problem that I have is my rear tires are rubbing real bad  with rear seat passengers and heavy articulation.   I found a big piece of 1.5" to 2" box tubing at my shop that I was thinking I could chop up and use for a body lift.  I rather not do a B.L. to it though if I don't have to,  I think the center of gravity is perfect.  What I need to know is can I just cut the quarter panel all the way to the rear door and stick flares on to hide it?  The quarter feels like its double skinned and  I don't wanna be cutting into the floor, inner body, or anything important accidentally. If anyone with a 4-door had to trim their rear quarters, let me know how you did it.  Its my DD so it needs to last and not cause alot of  rust in the future. Thats about it for now, thanks in advance for any help, and thanks to any that helped me to get the Tracker this far!! It's badass!!!

Hey y'all, well I took the Tracker on it's first trail ride since installing my spacers and 30x9.5 m/ts.  I knew it was gonna be more capable but holy crap!!  It performed WAYYYY better than expected.  I hit a couple spots that stopped me when it was stock with the dinky little kumho a/ts,  and made the formerly hard stuff suddenly look easy.  The only problem that I have is my rear tires are rubbing real bad  with rear seat passengers and heavy articulation.   I found a big piece of 1.5" to 2" box tubing at my shop that I was thinking I could chop up and use for a body lift.  I rather not do a B.L. to it though if I don't have to,  I think the center of gravity is perfect.  What I need to know is can I just cut the quarter panel all the way to the rear door and stick flares on to hide it?  The quarter feels like its double skinned and  I don't wanna be cutting into the floor, inner body, or anything important accidentally. If anyone with a 4-door had to trim their rear quarters, let me know how you did it.  Its my DD so it needs to last and not cause alot of  rust in the future. Thats about it for now, thanks in advance for any help, and thanks to any that helped me to get the Tracker this far!! It's badass!!!

grab a light sledge, and a sawzaw and go at it, you can go pretty close to the rear doors although i would imagine you are rubbing on the inside... are you running wheel spacers?

Hey zukizuki,  no spacers but 8 inch rims with 3.75 backspacing.  They're pretty deep and stick out about 1.5"  The edge of the grabber lugs catches the metal lip but only under major articulation.  So I can cut that whole lip off? How far from the edge of the wheel well can i cut?

I put 1" spring spacers in the back to fix the lip rubbing issue.

You can cut up as much of the fender as you want, it will just change your looks a bit.    What about just rolling the lip or folding it up along the body?

One problem with getting rid of the lip is you loose a place to mount the generic flares to.

Hey Drone637,  thanks for the input, BTW I got jeff's 2" spacer lift 2"diff spacer with 95 mustang shocks.  I was thinking about makin cuts and folding it all in the way to the door,  what do you think of cutting my generic JCWitney flares in half and mounting the front half to the door? Kind of like the flares and body moldings on a sidekick sport?  Haven't got the flares yet so I don't know if that's even feasible.  Also,  I'm looking at the surface mount flares that screw or stick to the skin from the outside.

From here:
http://www.jcwhitney.com/EASY-TO-TRIM-RUBBER-FENDER-EXTENSIONS-FLARES/GP_2008750_N_111+10201+600013135_10101.jcw

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Hey Beercheck, not that kind of rubbing in the rear The other bad kind!!!

Fender trimming 1-2" is safe. The best way is to lay out a line (masking tape works well). Cut some relief cuts every 1-2", then take a small hammer / pliers and bend the lip up inside the wheel well. It'll look clean if you take a little time (couple hours). It keeps the CG low, and doesn't cost anything if you've got the hand tools already. I think the bigger fender wells look better with big tires too.

Jeremiah,  thanks for the help,  relief cuts and folds sounds like the best bet.  I think I'm gonna cut the inside lip all the way off, then cut and fold the outer quarter skin up into the wheel well  like you described.  I may have to go all the way to the rear door but that sounds like it'll still work. I might have to cut my flares in half and stick half to the door but I think that may be the only option aside from the body lift.  Once I get some flares the sawzall will come out!!

Here is mine I did what you want to do as far as cutting the backside out and folding the front.I wasnt neat about it because mine is rough on the body side of things anyway.

I would think that if you have a cutoff wheel,air grinder and an air compressor that would be the way to go instead of a sawsall .
Just my .o2,
Raz

cutoff wheel,air grinder and an air compressor

Check, check, and check.   Thank for the input!

Matt

No Prob,
I am a tool and diemaker and use one about everyday withe either a cutoff wheel or rollock disc .
Raz

BTW : we call the "YINGERS" , if you have one you know why :-)
 Can you hear it now " Yiiinnggeeer , YYiinngggeeer,YYYYiiiinnnngggggeerrrrr"