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PICTURE 11
Words by J.D. Keating; Photos by Brad Morris @Dads_that_wheel
Late in the wheeling season, the 40” Coopers on our Punk’n JL were beginning to rub, and in all the wrong places. After a closer inspection, we realized higher clearance inner-fender liners would be just the trick to help us better clear our big treads in the Rubicon wheel wells. Plus, we were confident that the new liners would eradicate that awful “burrrrap” sound, which was slowly tearing our OEM fender liners off.
We contacted our local four-wheel supply store and discovered that the aftermarket DV8 Offroad JL Fender Inners were the best choice. The appearance and overall quality of these liners are impressive.
The fronts consist of a two-piece system and the rears have a single sheet. The instruction manual was relatively straight forward, and the entire process from beginning to end, including the removal of OEM parts and installation of aftermarket LEDs, took only six hours.
Installing the front liners meant removing all the factory plastic liner pieces. The two-piece system fit together perfectly. However, all the predrilled holes didn’t. So, the entire system had to be forced into place to ‘click.’ The manufacturer provided plastic grommets to attach the bottom of the fender liners, but once we stretched the legs on the Jeep, we realized our 40’s still rubbed, and the plastic grommets snapped out like grasshoppers.
To secure the fronts in place, we tapped the original mounting frame hole then tightly secured the fender. Once set, the black powder coated aluminum liners looked awesome and certainly provided increased tire clearance. Although, our tires still rubbed at full flex, it’s just a slight kiss we can deal with.
The rears were much easier to fit. All the holes lined up, but we still had to do some massaging to create even more space for the 40’s. These are big tires for the JL but the longer wheelbase (compared to a JK) requires some serious ground clearance to help tackle obstacles. So, the extra work to make them properly fit was definitely worth it.
Since our 40’s still rubbed slightly – even after installing aluminum inner fender liners – we decided to remove part of the factory fenders. These are a two-piece system and the black plastic trim inside the fender can be removed. However, the inner fender liner does provide structural stability to the fender itself. American Adventure Labs (AAL) offers a high-clearance replacement bracket, which is also an LED running light and signal replacement, and provides an additional 9 cm (3.5 in) of inner fender clearance for our 40’s.
The install was straight forward. The company recommends removing the fender entirely, but we chose to leave them on for fear of scratching the exterior paint.
The plastic inner fender liner needs to be removed by unclipping five of the interior fasteners. Once this is done, the running light can be unscrewed and the entire plastic interior liner can be pulled apart. There are several colour-matched tabs that remain after removal. Just bend them back to form a cut line, and then cut them clean (taking extra caution to not scratch the paint).
There are two upper brackets that you can either cut off or bend up. We chose to bend them up as they provided the perfect place to run and hide our new light wire. Then the new light/bracket can be installed. The end result was added rigidity to the now naked fender and it provided that extra tire clearance we wanted.
With the addition of the AAL’s fender bracket/daytime running light, this is one of our favourite mods to date. It’s clean, looks factory, and the lights are brighter and perform better than the OEMs.
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The front aluminum inner wheel well replacement. Notice the perforated venting to help dissipate heat.
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The back half of the two piece front system. We paid a little extra for the powder coating to help prevent oxidization.
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Pulling out the OEM liner was a snap, or should we say “unsnap?” Simply pop out the 5 plastic grommets and cut away or yank apart of the plastic spot welds that hold it in place.
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After removing the marker/signal light assembly and plastic trim, these body colour-matched tabs need to be folded back and cut off. Take extra precaution to not scar or mark your paint here.
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The two upper brackets used to hold your factory liner in place can be cut off or bent out of the way.
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The AAL fender bracket/light kit bolts into existing holes with one “optional” drill location on the exterior. This final bolt did not seem “optional” in our opinion, because without it the fender flapped in the wind.
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The factory harness plug and play was a real bonus for ease of installation.
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The overall fit and finish was awesome with this kit. The AAL light kit added a whopping 9 cm (3.5 in) of additional fender stuffing space.
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The rears look super clean – you can barely tell it’s not factory.
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