I`m busy doing some body work and rust repair to the 87 tin top, that`ll be my off road-capable DD.

I`ve removed the original fender flares, along with drilling the spot welds on the flare retaining pieces, AKA rust traps.

These flares DO add alot of rigidity to the fender openings, and since removing them the fenders seem pretty flexy and will prolly dent easily with a gentle impact........ What are some ideas that one could do, as in  maybe weld in metal? to the fenders to restore this rigidity? I have bushwacker flares to install, but am NOT set on them as of yet.

Anybody else addressed this fender issue yet? Pics?

Being a DD, I`m trying to make it look reasonable.

I haven't done it on the front, I cut those out completely, but on the rear we cut out the dip and welded in a new piece of metal and brought it out flat from further inside the fender well.

So instead of it going like \| where the fender well meets the body it now goes --

It also adds about 2" to your tire clearance.

I haven't done it on the front, I cut those out completely, but on the rear we cut out the dip and welded in a new piece of metal and brought it out flat from further inside the fender well.

So instead of it going like \| where the fender well meets the body it now goes --

It also adds about 2" to your tire clearance.

any pics ??

When you say dip, do you mean the shallow trough in the rear panels that follow the arc of the wheel well openings?

Cut out that part of the panel including the dip?

If so, I think I know what you mean.

Thats about the amount of metal that is rusty on the rear panels, up to the dip, on my sami. The trough itself is sound metal however.

 What guage metal did you use to form the new wheel openings? Did you find the fender more rigid than before?

Not sure on the gauge, BRD HNTR can probably chime in with that info.  Fender is plenty rigid now, it would take a pretty hard hit to bend it.  Instead you would just bend the metal around it, so it's a trade off.  We made the new fender well flush but you could run it out an inch like the stock flares if you wanted.

When we bent it up we started with a flat piece the correct width and just rolled it against a beam to get the angles correct.  Held it in place and welded it up.

Thanks for the pics  Sure helps to clarify things.
What you have done is along the lines of what my tin top needs.

I like how that looks Drone637, I have been trying for a while to think about how to do mine and get rid of the holes that came from cutting off the stock fender "water/rust traps"

It also gives you a lot more room for tires. 

It also gives you a lot more room for tires. 

Never a bad thing I say LOL