DIY Guard Chop for bigger tyres.

The guard chop has begun.

Tis is the first instalment for a guard chop on a GQ to run bigger wheels. These are 37s and now should fit easy. I have already done the back of the front guards years ago the same way but will do the front of the front guards in the coming weeks. Hope it helps.


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Guard cover comes off. I didn't really think about taking this off when I did the respray so the paint won't be finished nicely. Oh well.

Damn the flares have been installed for keeps. 10mm bolt and nut every 50mm!!! Damn it!!! They don't want to come undone.

Guard cover off finally

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Marked up the new line.

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So I marked a second Line a good 25mm in which will be the new tab and fold.

I cut along the inner line and then folded to the finish line. A few years ago I bought 2 pair of these wide nose vice grips. They are the bomb.

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With the clamp set at firm but not full grip the fold and you can use the vice grip to flatten it out. Just increase the vice in stages and keep resetting, works great.

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Using 2 pair for the win

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I have a cheap set of panel hammers and dies ($30) and these really help allot. Use the die behind the panel and hit the panel

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To stop kinks forming I made 3 cuts on the curve at the bottom

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Cheap die.

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Running out of hands to take pics.

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You should be able to get things fairly flat and the foot edge pretty sharp. Don't be shy.

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So the back of the guard was repaired by me using fiberglass which won't like being folded. Oh well.

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Started raining. 1 guard done. Needs a clean up but will work a treat

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Good stuff Darren...... I guess you have to be good for something.... ha ha ha.

I take it from your other post that you need a 100mm flare?
once painted it will look a treat good stuff MR thanks for sharing

Good work Darren. Looks like a lot of fun man. Nice write up as usual.


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How did you determine where the fold lines needed to be? Was it just a case of taking them out as far as possible whilst leaving some metal between the door in front & the fuel filler behind? Whatever, it looks the part.
Your previous comment about needing to make wider flares made me smile ..... I wondered “what for”. I can’t see them disguising your monster truck tyres from an eagle eyed plod! Ha ha. Or did you just want to keep the mud off you paintwork. :)

Oh & I noticed the grass has been cut! :)

Not sure if i am looking at it right but did you actually cut any metal out of the guard or just fold the lip out then fold it all back in to the line you marked? Everyone i know just takes to the guard with the grinder and removes the extra metal. I have never seen it done that way!

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Originally Posted by Softy

Not sure if i am looking at it right but did you actually cut any metal out of the guard or just fold the lip out then fold it all back in to the line you marked? Everyone i know just takes to the guard with the grinder and removes the extra metal. I have never seen it done that way!

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Yeah sorry I didn't get a pic when there were 2 lines drawn. When I go the next one I will take a pic of that..

So once I drew the new line which becomes the fold line a drew a second line about 25mm down from that line. This become the cut line and the new tab to attach flares too.

You can kind of make out what has been cut in these couple of pics. Basically the old tab.

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The problem with just cutting it all off you then need to face fix a flare or weld tabs back on. If your concerned you could add an extra few cross cuts to help accommodate the curve but it folds fairly easily.

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by Cuppa

How did you determine where the fold lines needed to be? Was it just a case of taking them out as far as possible whilst leaving some metal between the door in front & the fuel filler behind? Whatever, it looks the part.
Your previous comment about needing to make wider flares made me smile ..... I wondered “what for”. I can’t see them disguising your monster truck tyres from an eagle eyed plod! Ha ha. Or did you just want to keep the mud off you paintwork. :)

Oh & I noticed the grass has been cut! :)

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Hi cuppa, I drew the line while the wheel was still on and just by eye. At both spots the panel is double thick and once cut separate and are the inner and outer, I treated them together and when i fit the flares will bolt back through both sheets .

Lol yeah I used shears to cut the long grass the mower missed when I took the wheels off.

Yeah the big flares are to convince my inner voice that I don't stand out like dogs balls and won't get pinned if I run flares that cover the wheels. Did I mention I Love Night driving ;)

Ahhh yep.... cheers I can see it now.

Nice job Daz its getting there, should be able to drive it soonish ☺. Need to do the same to my fronts soon so i can get flaps back on and not rub.

I did notice nice job on the lawn too whilst the wheels 's were off. [emoji6]

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Originally Posted by Rossco

Nice job Daz its getting there, should be able to drive it soonish ?. Need to do the same to my fronts soon so i can get flaps back on and not rub. I did notice nice job on the lawn too whilst the wheels 's were off. [emoji6]

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detective Rossco!

Nice one Dazz, I wonder if anyone's cut on the fold line by accident before ;)

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Originally Posted by AB

detective Rossco!

Nice one Dazz, I wonder if anyone's cut on the fold line by accident before ;)

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That's something I'm likely to do i reckon. . . Nekminit - godamit!!

You could weld a new tab on and I know guys that prefer that option but seems like more work to me although they get a sharp fold that way but me and welding panel steel have good and bad days.

@Winnie here is that thread mate.

Been looking over this thread for a while and just done my front guard chop this weekend. Pretty happy with how it came out, I used the same methods Darren has used in this post.
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It is also worth noting that to fit 35s you don't really need to touch the rear guards but for the sake of 20 mins you can trim about 30mm of plastic with a knife of the front edge of the rear guards. Hard to see what I mean but you can see where you would trim in this pic.
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Nice one looks neat as. Are you going to trim back of gear guards or just leave it?

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Originally Posted by Rossco

Nice one looks neat as. Are you going to trim back of gear guards or just leave it?

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I wasn't going to. I spoke to Darren and he said he did not need to with 35s. There's not much meat there to get more out of it. What do you reckon?

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Probably don't need to but does make it look a bit more matched to 35s. Definatly scrubs without quarter chop. What control arms you got, if you go aftermarket can get the diff back a bit further with slightly longer ones more to the middle as lift moves it forward. .

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by Rossco

Probably don't need to but does make it look a bit more matched to 35s. Definatly scrubs without quarter chop. What control arms you got, if you go aftermarket can get the diff back a bit further with slightly longer ones more to the middle as lift moves it forward. .

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Yeah I've got standard length arms so the diff sits a little bit further forward than standard.

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I reckon worth doing while your at it, kinda matches the front bit of rears. .



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Looks really high with no weight in the cab but settles down pretty nice, think they're 10mm longer arms too.

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Yeah fair call, won't take much to do.

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Good information thank you