With a call to a vendor out of a 4x4 magazine, I found a good deal on the Cut-Out flares and had them in 2 days. I washed the Cruiser and used several strips of 2½ inch masking tape to cover the area to be worked on. This is so I could mark the area by placing the flare on it and tracing the outline and also to protect the paint from chipping while I used a saber saw with standard metal cutting blades to do the trimming. After tracing the flares onto the tape, I measured 1 inch down the outline to mark the area to be cut. The Sabersaw did it's job flawlessly and quickly and within 10 minutes and one blade replacement I had changed my Cruiser forever, cutting off about 4 inches of metal. After running a grinding stone along the edges smoothing out the roughness I sprayed some clear enamel along the edges to prevent rust and repeated the procedure on the other side before I change my mind about cutting the body of my baby up.

The flares come with the rivets, a proper size drill bit and a rubber gasket to fit between the flares and the sheetmetal. After marking the holes by punching through the indented marks on the flares and through the gasket I was ready to drill the sheet metal and install the rivets, making sure the gasket is kept in place. It helps if you have a friend to hold the flares in place while you do this. After both flares were in place and secured I ran another coat of paint on the inside lip just for good measure.

Less than two hours after I fired up the saw, I stood back with a look of approval, my 33x12.50 tires will rub no more plus I have the added advantage of having the mud controlled by the new flares. They are designed to accept a coat of paint if you so desire. I left mine black as a nice accent to the maroon color. Now, lets shove some 35x12.50's in!

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