Rear truck Flair on a Chief ? Will it work?

[cu4whln]

So - getting back on track with the Chief.. the rear flairs need some repair.. and making those parts is going to be a bear.

I have access to a ruined truck bed that has flairs with no rust.. can the lower sections be removed and used to replace/patch the rust on my Chief?

Are the profiles the same? Only need the lower 14" or so.. front and back.

strangely, the rest of the Chief is rock solid...

Experts ?

[rocklaurence]

I think theyre the same. The Truck flares are single layer while the wagon ones are double but I think theyre the same

[cu4whln]

Originally Posted by rocklaurence

I think theyre the same. The Truck flares are single layer while the wagon ones are double but I think theyre the same

Great! That's what I think too...

I can fab some type of inner section to close it out, but that compound outer curve part, UGH!

[Thomas792]

I have a link saved on another computer of mine. Give me some time to find it. It was a blue Cherokee that someone used J10/20 flares on. There was a bit of work to be done as the J10/20 profile is different, especially in the back.

[Thomas792]

I hope cross posting from the rebel site is permissible.

http://www.fsjnetwork.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2737

See the 5th post down.

BTW, if you have any info on how to WT fender a GW, it would be appreciated.

[Thomas792]

And the full build thread from the rebel site.

http://www.fsjnetwork.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2803

Gives me inspiration for my GW.

[8man]

Please post pics of how you get the truck flairs on the Cherokee.

[Heavy_Metal_Thunder_81]

The rear contour is slightly different but modifiable.

[cu4whln]

Originally Posted by Heavy_Metal_Thunder_81

The rear contour is slightly different but modifiable.

This is great news! Thanks for the replies guys..

As I proceed, I will try to get some pics from the body shop.

This is beyond my skillset !

[threepiece]

I did a "full flair" swap on both sides of that red Cherokee under the car port that you had your eye on Jim.

Others have said that there is some slight difference but I did not notice that, mine seemed to fit perfectly. I did notice a slight difference between the right and left sides, perhaps this is where the discrepancy that others have found is.

If you study the configuration of the Cherokee flair you will see that it is trimmed just inboard of the body side. I have come to believe that Jeep used truck flairs the build the Wide Track body, they probably trimmed off the unwanted portion with a power shear. I simply can't believe they spent the money on new tooling.

[cu4whln]

Originally Posted by threepiece

I did a "full flair" swap on both sides of that red Cherokee under the car port that you had your eye on Jim.

Others have said that there is some slight difference but I did not notice that, mine seemed to fit perfectly. I did notice a slight difference between the right and left sides, perhaps this is where the discrepancy that others have found is.

If you study the configuration of the Cherokee flair you will see that it is trimmed just inboard of the body side. I have come to believe that Jeep used truck flairs the build the Wide Track body, they probably trimmed off the unwanted portion with a power shear. I simply can't believe they spent the money on new tooling.

Hi Dan! Long time no see! Hope all is well with you..

I also think AMC would not have retooled a new flair..

Interesting... I will have to hire somebody to do this swap, but will watch intently and try to document what happens.

I am sure I'll need some parts soon.. will be in touch! Jim

[rang-a-stang]

I thought I read a thread here once where someone did this and they said the rear side of the flare on a J truck was longer and had to be shortened to fit the Cherokee panel...

Found it:
http://www.ifsja.org/forums/vb/showp...9&postcount=63

[Thomas792]

He also posted the same build on the FSJNetwork site. See post #5 and #6 of this thread for the pictures there too.

[Heavy_Metal_Thunder_81]

Thanks Rang! I thought it was Strode's build I was thinking about but couldn't find anything. Now I know why lol

[cu4whln]

Thanks so much for the info guys - MUCH appreciated !


OK - getting lined up to acquire a good set of flairs off a rusted bed. Excited!



Now, I made contact with not 1, but 2 retired AMC Jeep engineers .. [ I know them anyway ] and they BOTH confirmed and think the flair for the trucks was indeed used for the wide track bodies. they both worked in Jeep engineering btw....

The minor discrepancy is one guy said it was the same, the other said there was a secondary trim to remove some material.

Either way, I will be using these parts as "patch" pcs to fix my lower flairs. I will leave it up to the body shop, but I think only the lower 15" or so of these need to be sectioned into the repair area. The rest of the body is fine ... mostly. LOL

This will be so much easier than having the complex curves and shapes fabricated from scratch ..

I WISH somebody would tool metal lower wide track repair parts !

Will be some time until I get the parts and update this info ...

[fulsizjeep]

Originally Posted by Thomas792

And the full build thread from the rebel site.

http://www.fsjnetwork.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2803

Gives me inspiration for my GW.

"the rebel site"

That is funny poo-poo right there I tell ya.