started widening wheel well project, pics

[rdn2blazer]

took a note from tRustyK5's wheel well widening project and started mine. going well(pun intended )so far. just need to finish up the other side and a few minor details and button it all up. each WW will be 4 in wider then stock. also trimming the wheel well opening on the body up too.

I got another set of wheel wells from the junk yard for 22 bucks that were clean and dent free.

first thing I did was the cut the floor keeping the edge where the wheel well bolts to the bed floor at, length wise with the truck at the bottom of the first bed pleet. then made two cuts from the front and back of the floor at the WW opening inboard to the linear cut.

then I cut out another section of pleet to the next pleet and rewelded the piece with the bolt flange back in place. ofcourse this gave me the factory bolt locations still to use.

then I cut the wheel well right at the radius of the well, bout 8 inches from the mount surface of the WW that attaches to the bed side. then I cut the 2nd well at the same location. from this cut I cut about a 4 1/4 piece off.

then I bolted each half of the WW into its stock lacation the measured the gap til it was as it should be and tack welded a piece of sheet metal across both pieces to hold it in place.

then from underneath I lined up the edge of the inboard half and the edge of the strip I cut out of the 2nd WW. with some clamps clamped the strip in place as good as I could. I made the strip 4 1/4 incase I made a cut that was not perfectly straight.

I then drew a line using the outboard edge onto the strip and cut off the excess and but welded it into place. fairly easy mod, just takes a bit time. will be able to flex a big tire up in there without rubbing now.

 

[CDA 455]

took a note from tRustyK5's wheel wheel widening project and started mine. going well(pun intended )so far. just need to finish up the other side and a few minor details and button it all up. each WW will be 4 in wider then stock. also trimming the wheel well opening on the body up too.

I got another set of wheel wells from the junk yard for 22 bucks that were clean and dent free.

first thing I did was the cut the floor keeping the edge where the wheel well bolts to the bed floor at, length wise with the truck at the bottom of the first bed pleet. then made two cuts from the front and back of the floor at the WW opening inboard to the linear cut.

then I cut out another section of pleet to the next pleet and rewelded the piece with the bolt flange back in place. ofcourse this gave me the factory bolt locations still to use.

then I cut the wheel well right at the radius of the well, bout 8 inches from the mount surface of the WW that attaches to the bed side. then I cut the 2nd well at the same location. from this cut I cut about a 4 1/4 piece off.

then I bolted each half of the WW into its stock lacation the measured the gap til it was as it should be and tack welded a piece of sheet metal across both pieces to hold it in place.

then from underneath I lined up the edge of the inboard half and the edge of the strip I cut out of the 2nd WW. with some clamps clamped the strip in place as good as I could. I made the strip 4 1/4 incase I made a cut that was not perfectly straight.

I then drew a line using the outboard edge onto the strip and cut off the excess and but welded it into place. fairly easy mod, just takes a bit time. will be able to flex a big tire up in there without rubbing now.

Looks awesome !!
Good reference pics too!

 

[cbbr]

Nice job.

 

[dremu]

Hey, that looks familiar!

When I did mine, I cut the two sets of wheel wells only once, with the long part on one and the short part on the other, if that makes sense ... saved me doing TWO welds on sheet metal, which I suck at doing , so I only had to do one seam.

I take it you're putting crazy big tires inside? I did mine to squeeze dual rears onto stock WMS, as I loathe the fat-fender look

-- A

 

[tRustyK5]

Nice job Rob!!

Rene

 

[rdn2blazer]

Hey, that looks familiar!

When I did mine, I cut the two sets of wheel wells only once, with the long part on one and the short part on the other, if that makes sense ... saved me doing TWO welds on sheet metal, which I suck at doing , so I only had to do one seam.

I take it you're putting crazy big tires inside? I did mine to squeeze dual rears onto stock WMS, as I loathe the fat-fender look

-- A

the single weld seam is the easiest way for sure, as long as the 2nd set is the same size as your wheel wells. manufacturing tollerences for production cars vary alot. just setting the wheel well sets next to each other, even thought they are interchangable as far as years go you could see the slight differences in shape. this plays a part in how well thay go together.

my factory 73' wells had just a bit sharper radius's from one flat surface to another, the other set was more for lack of a better term....bulbus or had slightly bigger arc's to the transitions from flat surface to flat surface.

I figured the strip would be easier to deal with as far as shaping it to fit both halfs of the wheel well. and let me tell ya thay were not exactly the same.

the set from the junk yard seemed to be a tad taller too but shorter in length, not by much mind you but enough that it would have made it hell to bring to halfs together with one weld seam. so when both half were bolted up the strip would have tilted at an angle some what. it just looked funny, and lame.

so I felt by cutting a wheel well apart and seperating it and bolting one half to the bed wall and the other half to the bed floor there would be no shape differences to have to align. I actually had to cut the strip in half lenght wise and seperate it and patch in a small window of sheet metal so the radius's of the wheel well would be at the same location point. as I said it was shorter then my original wells.

this worked out good for keeping it flat across the top like it should be. sometimes the easier way doesent allways work. that cool that it worked for you guys though, you had less work to do it then I did.

hope this helps anyone else considering doing this, keep in mind to try and find a set that "matches" you original wells closely to keep from having to do all the extra work I am having to do. I think the year range in my wells is what caused the problem. the 2nd set was out of a mid 80's truck. if you doing 73' wells try to find a set from maybe a 73, 74 or 75 only.

 

[dremu]

the single weld seam is the easiest way for sure, as long as the 2nd set is the same size as your wheel wells. manufacturing tollerences for production cars vary alot. just setting the wheel well sets next to each other, even thought they are interchangable as far as years go you could see the slight differences in shape. this plays a part in how well thay go together.

my factory 73' wells had just a bit sharper radius's from one flat surface to another, the other set was more for lack of a better term....bulbus or had slightly bigger arc's to the transitions from flat surface to flat surface.

I figured the strip would be easier to deal with as far as shaping it to fit both halfs of the wheel well. and let me tell ya thay were not exactly the same.

the set from the junk yard seemed to be a tad taller too but shorter in length, not by much mind you but enough that it would have made it hell to bring to halfs together with one weld seam. so when both half were bolted up the strip would have tilted at an angle some what. it just looked funny, and lame.

so I felt by cutting a wheel well apart and seperating it and bolting one half to the bed wall and the other half to the bed floor there would be no shape differences to have to align. I actually had to cut the strip in half lenght wise and seperate it and patch in a small window of sheet metal so the radius's of the wheel well would be at the same location point. as I said it was shorter then my original wells.

this worked out good for keeping it flat across the top like it should be. sometimes the easier way doesent allways work. that cool that it worked for you guys though, you had less work to do it then I did.

hope this helps anyone else considering doing this, keep in mind to try and find a set that "matches" you original wells closely to keep from having to do all the extra work I am having to do. I think the year range in my wells is what caused the problem. the 2nd set was out of a mid 80's truck. if you doing 73' wells try to find a set from maybe a 73, 74 or 75 only.

Ah yeah... good point. I was lucky that my PU is old and all the ones at the Pick-N-Pull are also old (i.e. mine's a '74, think I got the JY ones from a 76 or 77.) Also, I did a pickup, which is likely different from the Blazers and Burbs.

-- A

 

[muddybuddy]

what size tires are you going to run? looks great

 

[rdn2blazer]

Hey, that looks familiar!


I take it you're putting crazy big tires inside? I did mine to squeeze dual rears onto stock WMS, as I loathe the fat-fender look

-- A

my tires are 38 15.50 16's on some bead locked Weld wheels. and I will have mad flex, so I figured I would need the extra clearence.

 

[tRustyK5]

My method involved keeping the donor well intact. This gave me the factory bent edge to weld to which was easier than a butt joint.

FYI my current set-up is 6" Alcan's (wayyyyy flexy) with the 39.5's. I used the forklift at work under a rear tire to check how everything functioned when all twisted up. Wheelwell clearance was one of the things i was checking for.

I got 49" under the rear tire, and the fronts still were firmly planted on the ground...no contact with the inside of the wheelwell anymore.

I probably had another couple of inches to go before brakelines and shocks were maxxed out up front. I'm running the 14.5" Bilstein 5150's and the longest brakelines i could find.

I need to find a proper ramp and get some good pic's...

Rene

 

[rdn2blazer]

My method involved keeping the donor well intact. This gave me the factory bent edge to weld to which was easier than a butt joint.

FYI my current set-up is 6" Alcan's (wayyyyy flexy) with the 39.5's. I used the forklift at work under a rear tire to check how everything functioned when all twisted up. Wheelwell clearance was one of the things i was checking for.

I got 49" under the rear tire, and the fronts still were firmly planted on the ground...no contact with the inside of the wheelwell anymore.

I probably had another couple of inches to go before brakelines and shocks were maxxed out up front. I'm running the 14.5" Bilstein 5150's and the longest brakelines i could find.

I need to find a proper ramp and get some good pic's...

Rene

very cool, and 49 inches!!

now I know what kind of flex Im looking at having very soon. have some custom break lines made.

thanks Rene.

 

[tRustyK5]

Yeah, that's better than 1325 on a 20 degree ramp...

I need to get it on a proper ramp and take some measurements for where to relocate my bumpstops. Currently they aren't doing anything useful...might as well not be there at all. I definitely need to limit 'stuff' up front as well as add some limit straps to keep droop somewhat sane. Who'd have thunk leafs could have that range of travel? At full stuff up front the tire is very hard against the firewall/floor area even with the diff pushed 1.5" forward.

Also looking at possibly adding a track bar up front. It's hard to put definite numbers to, but it does feel like it needs to have to keep lateral movement under control.

It does ride very nice now, but body roll/lean is not good. The springs are so soft that it seems to be lazy about returning to ride height. I can make the truck lean and stay leaned over just by lifting one side.

I may even swap to a tuff country 6" front to get a bit more on road stability...

Rene

 

[basing110]

yea i went with 2" lift 52's up front and i dont have that much body roll and they are not really lazy ....ill get some pics up in next couple days ... i cut and made all new fenderwells to tuck some 44's and they came out good in my opinion .. i cant wait to remove m limit straps and flex her out all the way ... gotta get even longer brakelines and a longer slip yoke