Thanks for all the help lately! I have another question...

I just removed all the fender flares/bumper caps last night. If you look at the picture below, you see the rear fender flare bracket. It is riveted into the sheetmetal, no access to any nuts on the other side (I think). So if I drill out the rivets I will have some holes right? And even if I put new rear flares, the holes will still be there right? Thanks in advance!

 

Yes, you will have holes. You can patch them to keep water out.

 

Bondo or something?

 

Take lots of before, during, and after pics! Would love to see 'em
Good luck!

 

This is what I did. I had a little surface rust started behind the bracket, so I hit it with the grinder & bondo.

 

i just did mine... i used jb weld to fill the holesthen a little bondo for touch up. reason being bondo is porous so it can get moisture in it and it likes to crack if you flex your xj out. i learned that on my old bronco. jb weld is as hard as steel when it dries

 

Great idea with the JB weld. So did you re-paint those panels after the patching/sanding?

 

I welded mine up and painted both rear quarters after the trim

 

Okay... Here is a pic of the rears trimmed. I guess drinking beers didn't help preserve the paint around the edges.

Now I think I need flares... Or I might just use Herculiner and paint the rear 1/4 panel around the wheel wells out about 1"

What do you think?

And I know the back corner needs to be folded in, I need to take the wheels off to hammer it in better.

 

yep. use bedliner, it looks great and adds great protection. take a look at mine

 

Here is a picture of the front fenders trimmed. They look better.