01silvapathy

So I finally bit the bullet this past Friday and cut my front fenders to help alleviate the minor rubbing and ugly fender flares. Was a easy project and I got rid of the holes in the fender. Im waiting on all the full pics but here are some teaser shots.

Auto all the way, plus I drive like a maniac.....adamzan can attest to that

I used 18 gallons of gas this past week or so, and I drove 225 miles during that time. That averages me out to around 12.5mpg which is about what I was getting with the last tires. This was combined driving ranging from just driving to and from school to a few 20 or 30 minute runs on the highway at 80mph to towing a 1900lb trailer around at speeds from 30-50mph. All in all for a truck that has stock gears, stock motor and stock trans I think its doing pretty good.

Damn, looks like fun

The only daily driveable locker is the ARB locker which is alot of money down the drain. Any mechanical locker will be a pain to daily drive cause more tire wear and noise. If you only go off road every now and then do the lsd repack....it supposedly takes the stock breakaway from around 80ftlbs to 250ftlbs....thats plenty for what you plan on doing.

Yeah gears are definately on the list, I used a app on my phone that does 1/8th mile times wholeshots ect thats very accurate last night and recorded a 10.3 0-60 time from a DEAD stop in triple digit temps. Sure its not the fastest BUT for a 6in lifted v6 powered stock engine and gearing thats not too terrible. There are lots of slower vehicles out there and its got more get up and go when its rolling. I flexed up last night for the first time with these tires and was surprised at how far I got without any rubbing issues. Need to go back when its more light outside so I can see where I will have issues.

Hey I recommend both you asshats get the hell out of my thread with your general douchebaggery. And dont come back anytime soon

If I wanted good gas mileage id drive a hybrid or ride a bike...........END ARGUMENT

I heart you guys

I am by no means a smart person esp when it comes to mathematics lol. All I know is I filled up my tank today and I rest my trip odometer on both the truck and on my gps which is in the truck and on whenever it is. The gps is 99 percent accurate so we will see how tire size affects both the mpg and distance.

Dang, its already almost 1am. Ill call you tomorrow evening after school. Im talking about the front control arm bushings, not the trailing arm bushings.

So my lower control arm bushings are pretty much toast. I was looking on rock auto and they only have full replacement control arms. Is there a place you can get just the bushings, or is it a one piece deal and I have to replace the whole control arm which will be a real pain.

I get that alot

With my old 1.5in wheel spacers I never had an issue with wheel bearings, in fact the first time I ever took them apart to service was about 6 months ago after the fact I had had my wheel spacers installed for over a year and a half. The bearings looked in great shape and were repacked and reinstalled and still run great today without any issues. I dont think an extra half inch will do it much more harm. And yeah my rpm's dropped for highway crusing, but may be a bit higher for local driving. I filled up today and started my gps odometer, I will report back with my findings on mpg.

Pretty much, I made the mistake of breaking off a few of the mounting tabs on the actual flare.....well atleast that makes it easy for me to not put the flare back on lol. My front fenders will be coming off pretty soon.

The rear is fine now, but as soon as I try to flex thats when I will run into clearance issues.

Sure enough, and we will see what happens once the spacers come in!

Im really debating on it, pretty sure im going to wait until I get the wheel spacers on in the rear to see where it rubs and how bad then trim as nessicary. It is after all a offroading rig and what good is it if I cant flex without rubbing.....if I rub some may say go to a smaller tire...but upgrading to these tires gave me an additional 2in of ground clearance both front and rear...thats alot! So If I have to cut some for it to be functional so be it. I dont tend to be one that half-asses stuff if I do have to cut....it will look good! In terms of re gearing thats all depending on how the next few weeks go. Sure its not the fastest but its got plenty of grunt to push itself around. I guess my main worry is off road torque and power if I feel its really lacking then I might have to gear. In terms of on road it cruises straight down the highway at 70mph at 2k without any issues...minus the loud hummmmmmmmmmmmmmm from the tires, sounds like a helicopter going thru tunnels and under bridges lol!

Thanks for the good words, Fellas. Next on the list is rear wheel spacers to allow clearance for flex and a rear bumper with spare 35x12.5 so I wont be sol if I get a flat

Yeah but I mean you can do it right and do it wrong. The front fender would be easy to do since its just one sheet of metal....the rear is two pieces pinch welded together. What the plan was to trim the fender and plug weld the two pieces of metal together every half inch or so then sand it down and bedline an inch strip all the way around to cover up the welds...or just make vertical cuts every half inch and fold up and in which also means there is less chance of cutting a tire on a sharp edge of a fender.

COOL STORY BRO!

Im having a fender trimming party at my house when my parents are on their 2 week Alaska Cruise.....so they cant complain about me cutting up perfectly good metal lol But for reals I need some opinions. The dont rub on the body anywhere up front, but Im still wanting to take the flares off and trim right above them...basically just take a grinder and chop off the flare from the top. Then in the back cut off right above the little holes in the fenders to get rid of those....then plug weld the sidepanel together and bedline like an inch strip on both front and rear fenders. I dont have photoshop to show what i mean but it looks good in my head lol.

Yeah its something like that, but im not too worried about it again because my gps has a odometer as well lol. Its pretty fancy! Here are some more quick shots I took with my phone just now....front has 2in wheel spacers with stock wheels

No you are right, I use my GPS spedo its alot more accurate. My speedometer is off by about 10mph....so it said 60 and my gps said 70 and it was crusin at 2k. Yeah im running stock gears too...4.363's like I said with the VQ its definately slower than it was, but its still pretty fast considering. I have no issues getting up on it and moving around in traffic. Im working on pics now, been busy all day with school and work....maybe Ill just make a video might be easier

Yeah, the rear is going to need either wheel spacers or offset wheels to flex without rubbing the inner fenderwell.