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Everyone knows that when you do the body lift, you now have that unsightly gap between the frame and the body. I purchased the gap guards / lift liners (pricey, I know) from 4x4parts.com about 3 years ago...and just now decided to install them. There is no rocket science to this, but it is not exactly intuitive with the fit and figuring out which goes where (which is why I never bothered for 3 years to fool with it).
First, to install them, you have to drill 1/4" holes in the sheet metal and use the included push clips to hold them in. Check the other side of whatever you end up drilling! The lift liners come with some holes already cut into them, but they don't really line up with any pre-existing holes in the body, and they don't always have a logical place to drill. They don't exactly fit very well. It is easiest to roughly align them how you want, and drill/install the center top clip. You can then adjust and flatten the liner out to either side. You will likely need to remove the tires to get the drill oriented how you want. The liners clip into the sheet metal on body, and I did not put any clips into the frame or on the bottom anywhere. I used some of the holes already in the liner, but I also drilled through the liner and made a few of my own.
Shiny side of the liner goes inwards!
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Front Right: This side has a cut out for the brake line and another appears to line up with the upper shock mount (maybe the stock ABS sensor routing?). The square portion hangs over the idler arm. I put an array of clips across the top. I also tucked the liner behind the metal shield at the back of the tire, and drilled a hole to clip it in place. The cut out for the upper shock mount doesn't really line up very well...but whatever. Look out for anything on the other side of the engine bay (power steering hoses, wire harnesses, etc).
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Rear Right: This piece is identifiable by the contour cut into it to follow the fuel fill cover (upper right of the liner). That contour also helps place the guard. There is a sheet metal lip that hangs down, so I lined up the top edge of the cover with that. There is one hole in the liner that doesn't even line up to sheet metal. Oh well. Careful drilling, but this was pretty easy. I did try to make the corner portions pretty tight bends (90 degree bends on the ends) to give maximum room for articulation.
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Front Left: This one is identifiable by the extra cut out for the weldnut that one of the air box mounts to. I had a tough time with the area behind the wheel well. I trimmed some off the back edge to let it sit a little flatter. On the back half of the front wheel wells, there is a double walled section...I did not drill into that since it seemed like I would be drilling into the floor boards...not just the sheet metal. I drilled my own hole a little lower down so it clipped to a sheet metal flange. This stuff is tough to cut with a razor blade. Be careful.
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Rear Left: This one is pretty straight forward if you matched up the other side to the fuel filler guard first. Just mimic the same placement and drill away. You can see a blank clip a couple inches above the liner. That was my first idea to drill (no real features to locate off of on this piece) until I decided to test fit the others and saw that it should come down some.
All in all...not a super complicated task, but I wanted to document how these worked for me since there isn't a whole lot of information on these. These are a bit pricey, but I thought I was paying the premium price for something a bit more intuitive and with a better fit. That being said, they ended up working pretty well...but you could probably come up with something similar for less money (pond liner, outdoor rubber mat, etc).
First, to install them, you have to drill 1/4" holes in the sheet metal and use the included push clips to hold them in. Check the other side of whatever you end up drilling! The lift liners come with some holes already cut into them, but they don't really line up with any pre-existing holes in the body, and they don't always have a logical place to drill. They don't exactly fit very well. It is easiest to roughly align them how you want, and drill/install the center top clip. You can then adjust and flatten the liner out to either side. You will likely need to remove the tires to get the drill oriented how you want. The liners clip into the sheet metal on body, and I did not put any clips into the frame or on the bottom anywhere. I used some of the holes already in the liner, but I also drilled through the liner and made a few of my own.
Shiny side of the liner goes inwards!
Front Right: This side has a cut out for the brake line and another appears to line up with the upper shock mount (maybe the stock ABS sensor routing?). The square portion hangs over the idler arm. I put an array of clips across the top. I also tucked the liner behind the metal shield at the back of the tire, and drilled a hole to clip it in place. The cut out for the upper shock mount doesn't really line up very well...but whatever. Look out for anything on the other side of the engine bay (power steering hoses, wire harnesses, etc).
Rear Right: This piece is identifiable by the contour cut into it to follow the fuel fill cover (upper right of the liner). That contour also helps place the guard. There is a sheet metal lip that hangs down, so I lined up the top edge of the cover with that. There is one hole in the liner that doesn't even line up to sheet metal. Oh well. Careful drilling, but this was pretty easy. I did try to make the corner portions pretty tight bends (90 degree bends on the ends) to give maximum room for articulation.
Front Left: This one is identifiable by the extra cut out for the weldnut that one of the air box mounts to. I had a tough time with the area behind the wheel well. I trimmed some off the back edge to let it sit a little flatter. On the back half of the front wheel wells, there is a double walled section...I did not drill into that since it seemed like I would be drilling into the floor boards...not just the sheet metal. I drilled my own hole a little lower down so it clipped to a sheet metal flange. This stuff is tough to cut with a razor blade. Be careful.
Rear Left: This one is pretty straight forward if you matched up the other side to the fuel filler guard first. Just mimic the same placement and drill away. You can see a blank clip a couple inches above the liner. That was my first idea to drill (no real features to locate off of on this piece) until I decided to test fit the others and saw that it should come down some.
All in all...not a super complicated task, but I wanted to document how these worked for me since there isn't a whole lot of information on these. These are a bit pricey, but I thought I was paying the premium price for something a bit more intuitive and with a better fit. That being said, they ended up working pretty well...but you could probably come up with something similar for less money (pond liner, outdoor rubber mat, etc).
