New fender flares on my TJ

[Rich99]

Has anyone had the pleasure of putting new fender flares on a 99' TJ Sport? I hear it is pretty tough for one person to do and I am reluctant to take it on if it is going to be a source of endless frustration for me.

Your thoughts??

Thanks in advance,
Rich

[fony3]

The fender flares are not too bad.  If you look around the inside rim you will find all the nuts/bolts holding them on, 1/4" i believe. The frustration mostly comes when people encounter the 4 or 5 nutserts on each side which tend to just spin in the hole. I think I had a couple on each side that I couldn't get out, but was able to loosen enough that I could pull the fender off the bolt without damage.

A decent hint for the front would be that if you take the main flare off, you only need to loosen the bolts on the small extension and it can slide off (since these are three nutserts I believe).

I guess putting new ones on would just be the opposite. You could maybe drill out the old nutserts for new ones if you encounter any stubborn ones. Dont see why it would take anyone more than an afternoon by themselves.

[SilverTJ]

I found this to be a pretty easy job on an '04.  I'm not sure if anything has changed from '99 to '04.  As fony3 stated everything is accessible on the fronts, and if you have a nutsert that spins there is room for vice grips (just don't totally crush it).  Even if you have a nutsert that spins you can reuse it for the new flares again just hold it with vice grips and spray a little penetrating oil in there before the re-install.   The rears are a pain in the rear .  Only because of the plastic inner fender liner, it's tough to get your hand in there and I don't think you can access the nutserts.  I also found a 14mm wrench fit on the plastic 'nuts' instead of trying to hold them bare handed or with pliers. 
Go for it and enjoy the quality time you get with your Jeep!

[Rich99]

Thanks guys, that makes me feel a bit better. Glad to hear from someone who has done it.

[parabs]

I just did it on my 2000.  what a PITA.

took me about 8 hours, but some of that is bushwackers fault, some of that is my fault, and most of it is the fault of corrosion and "nutserts"

I would really like to pee on the person who invented them, and the person who said that it would be a good idea to put them on a jeep.  Every last one of those "nutserts" spun on my jeep. 

I would recommend doing it on a warmer day.  The rear fender plastic inserts well bend away quite easily if they are warmish, and they will go back in place good too.

I had corrosion problems on the bolts that didnt have nutserts on them, and as I said, nutserts blow-arse.  My Jeep only had about 105kms on it when I did it, so I am surprised there was as much corrosion as there was.

I hope I dont discourage you, however I was quite angry and smashed my knuckles a lot more than I had anticipated....plus bushwacker didnt send me all the hardware needed, and they sent too much of some other stuff.  I contacted them directly, and they sent me a complete installation kit, which just arrived today...at least they tried.

[Rich99]

omg, sounds like a real pita.... anyway my TJ is in the shop over the weekend

As a result I will have to wait to get to this little piece of work until next weekend or perhaps the next warm weekend!

Well now that you are practiced up I bet you could do it twice as fast.

[parabs]

omg, sounds like a real pita.... anyway my TJ is in the shop over the weekend

As a result I will have to wait to get to this little piece of work until next weekend or perhaps the next warm weekend!

Well now that you are practiced up I bet you could do it twice as fast.

It wont be bad, just have some large self tapping screws.  If I have some time, I could give you a hand, but I will say this before you accept my assistance.  I get angry when my knuckles bleed, I get angry when I think something should be easier than it is, and sometimes I talk to myself and swear...

[Rich99]

you sound exactly like me.

[Rich99]

omg, I did the two rear flares tonight... 4 hours... man am I a wuss. My hands are all cut to **** and my knees are shot from kneeling down trying to loosen or tighten those spinning retainers. They turned out fine but my god, Jeep could have come up with an easier way. I now have the two front flares to install and I suppose I will save them for a warm Saturday morning.

BTW, if anyone wants the old ones which are worn but fine they can have them. Some spit and polish might still be able to bring them back.

Just let me know if you are interested.