i figured out why so many people are running stubbies. I am only running 33's (actually 32.6) x 11 wides on 4.5' backspace wheels and experienced some severe rubbing on my XHD front bumper end caps. It was enough that i thought it might rip some lugs off. My concern is that I am planning on going to 37's with only an addional 2" of lift over what I have now. I wasn't sure if the end caps were going to have to come off but I'm certain of it now. I would imaging that with no lift, stock 32's must rub these end caps at full turn and tuck? is this a poor design? I could not see where the tire was rubbing but my guess it was the outside because my tires were turned to the right and it was my left front that was rubbing in reverse. That would mean that more offset would have made the rubbing worse. Are there any laws that would prevent me from running the bumper as a stubby?

 

Rubi, I have the XHD Bumper with the end caps and I'm running 37's. They only rub when I am in reverse and I have the wheel cut all the way left or right. Other than that I haven't had any problems. Well one problem when I was rock climbing and the front was flexed but for normal day use then its fine. By the way, I have a 4" lift. What size lift do you have? I wouldn't go any lower than a 4" if you wanted to get 37's.

 

Nope, no laws about it. At least that I have heard of I'd be more afraid of a stinger law than a stubby law

 

Well known issue. Here is a RR XHD thread from ... yesterday
https://www.jk-forum.com/forums/show...ires.-Any-pics

Lots of states have bumper 'height' laws, you'll have to check into whether your state has width laws. This is a decent place to start:
//bronco.zenseeker.net/LiftLaws.htm

 

Have you tried adding a couple of washers to the steering stops?
You can't rub at full lock if you never get there.

 

You get the rubbing when flexed, wheel straight or turned. Steer stops won't help this.


This was touched on in the other thread. You can have the bumper moved out far enough to clear the tires, but then you'd have everyone screaming about the loss of the approach angle. (can't climb anything because the bumper gets caught on it...) You can't have it both ways.

And as you said, that is why people go with stubby's...

The same kind of discussion is going on with the mirror relo brackets. Use the passenger side bracket, and you can't see out of it with the doors on. Bad design? No. It is designed for doors-off driving. Extend it, and it gets knocked off by trees or rocks or whatever, move it back and it hits the door when it is opened. Again, can't have it both both ways.

 

No need to run it as a stubby...just trim the end caps. I cut almost 2" off the back side of the end caps as my 33's were rubbing as well. Here they are with 35's ...