Cutting a 84 Cherokee

[Jimmyb]

One good thing about having a son who is just as keen on Jeeps is that I sometimes get his hand-me-downs. This is the sort of thing that happens in families and when Lucky Lady Lil got re-shod in 35” Claws, there was a set of 33” Coopers laying around doing nothing. What to do with them? Put them on the ’84 Cherokee! The old truck was till running close to original tyre size so it was down to Action 4 Wheel Drive for some rims and back home to see the result.

One thing stuck out – the tyres were a bit big for the wheel arch at any sort of flex. Not much room underneath here at all.

Not having an instant body lift or suspension lift kit, but being in possession of a sharp sabre saw, the obvious thing to do was remove the offending wheel arch.

Using the great Aussie eye measure e.g.; “Yep, that looks about right” a line was drawn and the saw swung into action. The feeling of trepidation was soon replaced with one of satisfaction when the metal yielded easily and the job looked like it was going to be a success.

Next part was going to be the more difficult. Between the inner and outer panels there appeared some gaps that were quite large. The next step was to carefully measure (read great Aussie eye measure) a fold line and remove the inner panel metal so the outer panel could be folded in on it providing some weatherproofing and some structural integrity.

This meant getting into the wheel well and carefully grinding the inner panel away to suit. The gaps got bigger and bigger. Sorry about no pictures but I was a bit busy - and concerned!

Now it was out with the pliers to fold over the outer panel, a hammer to carefully knock same into line and a welder to tack the inner and outer together in a couple of places to keep them from flapping in the breeze. The gaps got a lot smaller. With a wire brush I cleaned up the join and on the inside of the wheel well I put a large bead of Sicaflex along the join line. It’s now weatherproof.

All finished. It was time to reflect on the position of that exhaust pipe and maybe start on the other side wheel arch.



The tyre has heaps of room and with a fairly standard suspension; there is no contact with the wheel arch at all. The front will need some consideration but seems to clear OK right now.

The grand plan is for a SOA in the front and a shackle flip in the rear for a 7” lift all over. But that’s another story for another time.

OzJeeper