Clearancing Aftermarket Front Bumper for Tire Contact

[GATORB8]

Well, I've managed to create a tire cleaner with the Rugged Ridge HD Full Width front bumper, the "high clearance ends" are rubbing even without turn at full stuff on the ramp. So on the ramp, I'm currently bumper limited and it looks like I've got a decent amount to go before lifting a tire. Also gonna have worse clearance issues with the wheel turned.

I was in the Jeep on the ramp, so I couldn't tell how close to the front bump stop I was, but attached are pics of the issue. Was hoping someone's had a similiar issue before and knows how much clearance I really need.

Specs: JLURe - 2" spacer, 2" bumps, 2" sways (disconnected), Mopar LCAs, RC adjustible TB, 3-4.5 Bilstein 5100s (should be at full compression right on the bumpstops), 35x12.50R17 KO2s, +18 mm offset on the wheels.

I MIGHT be able to get away with about a 1/4" spacer between the frame horns and the bumper. The overrider and winch plate reinforcement brackets both mount to the rear face of the frame horns, so I may have to oval out some of the holes to make that happen. A little worried about rigidity, but I could notch the bottom of the bumper ends, not sure that gives me enough clearance.

Could go to all adjustible front control arms and shorten them to move the axle back in the arc of travel ($$$$ obviously).

Thoughts? Am I just SOL, and need to swap the brand new bumper for a stubby?

EDIT: While looking at control arms, it made me think about "geometry correction brackets". Pretty obvious my tires are moving forward in the arc, and lowering the CA mounting points may put me in a position where it's moving rearward at the top of the arc.

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[Jeepney Johnny]

The DV8 Offroad bumper adapters move the front bumper forward 2" and add about 11 pounds to the front:

https://dv8offroad.com/products/abjl-01-jk-to-jl-front-bumper-adapter-bracket

 

[GATORB8]

The DV8 Offroad bumper adapters move the front bumper forward 2" and add about 11 pounds to the front:

https://dv8offroad.com/products/abjl-01-jk-to-jl-front-bumper-adapter-bracket

That looks great, I’ll have to confirm all the frame brackets work, but that may be the ticket. Thanks!

 

[omnitonic]

Man that sucks!

I have the same front bumper, and I seem to be doing fine on 35s. I've never taken it up one of those ramps, and I'm really curious how my Jeep would do. I've had it flexed pretty far in the field. Are you flexed a lot farther than that on your ramp? What do you think? I'm really not sure. Maybe I'm driving a time bomb around too, and I'm going to gouge the hell out of a tire one day. This has me rightly concerned!

Assuming my tires really do clear as well as I think they do, what's different between our two Jeeps?

Tire size, I'm on 315/70R17s, so that's about a 12.40" width. My manufacturer says 34.6" but I think they're really closer to 34.4". My wheels are -6mm offset 17x9s. I have the Sport axles, so they're, what, like 3/4" narrower on each side?

You have a 2" spacer lift on a Rubicon, and I have a 2.5" spring lift on a Sport. It's really hard to say who is taller, so let's compare door sills. Mine are 26" off the ground with the tires aired up to street pressure. I also have 2" bumps.

I guess none of this is helping you much. What can you do about your problem? I think the bumper extension would probably be the way to go. Would your winch still bolt up?

I went out and crawled under the Jeep. No. It won't bolt up without additional surgery and/or fabrication. If you do go with the bumper extensions and need help with the surgery, hit me up. I don't have the machinery to do a lot of complex metal bending stuff, but I have a hobby machine shop and a forge. I could surely rig something up that would get you out of this bind. I'd be happy to help. I'm not fishing for money.

 

[omnitonic]

Otherwise, the other way to go is to remove metal everywhere it rubs. You could just whittle the bumper extensions to increase the clearance. There isn't any easy way to do this, and it would be hard to make the finish match.

If you find yourself in the I Wish I Had Bought the Stubby club, you are not in there alone. I think the full width HD looks cool, but the part that could contact your tire is extremely pointy and sharp. It's virtually guaranteed to take out one or more steer tires if you do hit something with the bumper, which kind of renders the bumper extension useless.

If only I had a DeLorean and a flux capacitor.

Well, best of luck man! I'm going to watch this thread with interest, because I could be staring at my own future. If you need any help that I can offer, I got your back amigo.

 

[GATORB8]

Man that sucks!

I have the same front bumper, and I seem to be doing fine on 35s. I've never taken it up one of those ramps, and I'm really curious how my Jeep would do. I've had it flexed pretty far in the field. Are you flexed a lot farther than that on your ramp? What do you think? I'm really not sure. Maybe I'm driving a time bomb around too, and I'm going to gouge the hell out of a tire one day. This has me rightly concerned!

Assuming my tires really do clear as well as I think they do, what's different between our two Jeeps?

Tire size, I'm on 315/70R17s, so that's about a 12.40" width. My manufacturer says 34.6" but I think they're really closer to 34.4". My wheels are -6mm offset 17x9s. I have the Sport axles, so they're, what, like 3/4" narrower on each side?

You have a 2" spacer lift on a Rubicon, and I have a 2.5" spring lift on a Sport. It's really hard to say who is taller, so let's compare door sills. Mine are 26" off the ground with the tires aired up to street pressure. I also have 2" bumps.

I guess none of this is helping you much. What can you do about your problem? I think the bumper extension would probably be the way to go. Would your winch still bolt up?

I went out and crawled under the Jeep. No. It won't bolt up without additional surgery and/or fabrication. If you do go with the bumper extensions and need help with the surgery, hit me up. I don't have the machinery to do a lot of complex metal bending stuff, but I have a hobby machine shop and a forge. I could surely rig something up that would get you out of this bind. I'd be happy to help. I'm not fishing for money.

I'll have to measure, but we're probably pretty close, stock I was about 1" taller than the standard Rubi because of the 4xe springs. Our track width should be pretty close. I have +18mm offset, so we should be within a 1/4" per side when you take axle width into account.

It definitely looks like you have more clearance than I do in the pictures, almost like the axle is further back in the arc. Did you do Geo Brackets?

Off road, the only time I've seen rubbing is disconnected on the side "turned in" when it was stuffed. If I reconnect the sway bar, it seems to stop it.

I intentionally maxed out my shock travel, and the Bilsteins have an extended length of 28.4". Rubbing seems to have gotten worse off road compared to my original rubi/2" extension set up that had an extended length of 25.63. This results in a theoretical increase in max axle angle of 10* (33.2* vs 23.5*). If my math is correct, this increase in angle puts me about 2.5" closer "in" at full articulation. Do you know the extended length of your shocks?

I went ahead and ordered the DV8 extensions (found a "like new" open box on Amazon that will be here Friday). I'm thinking I may have to notch the overrider bar brackets, but I'm wondering if I can swap to the JK winch plate brackets that came with the bumper (I THINK I saved them). We'll see how I can finagle the mounting bolt clearance inside of the new extensions.

Appreciate the offer to help, I'll let you know if I need to take you up on it.

 

[omnitonic]

It definitely looks like you have more clearance than I do in the pictures, almost like the axle is further back in the arc. Did you do Geo Brackets?

No, I didn't. Mopar longer LCAs and RK adjustable track bars.

Do you know the extended length of your shocks?

I have no idea, and I can't find that information online. I had to save money somewhere, so I went cheap on the shocks. Mine are the TeraFlex 9550 VSS shocks, and I can't find a published listing of their specs.

It's a good bet yours are longer.

I'm wondering if I can swap to the JK winch plate brackets that came with the bumper (I THINK I saved them).

I think I saved mine, but I can't find them.

Well good luck sorting all this out. It's going to be a headache, but you should have plenty of clearance to the bumper when you're done.

 

[GATORB8]

No, I didn't. Mopar longer LCAs and RK adjustable track bars.

I have no idea, and I can't find that information online. I had to save money somewhere, so I went cheap on the shocks. Mine are the TeraFlex 9550 VSS shocks, and I can't find a published listing of their specs.

It's a good bet yours are longer.

I think I saved mine, but I can't find them.

Well good luck sorting all this out. It's going to be a headache, but you should have plenty of clearance to the bumper when you're done.

Damn, they definitely hide the specs on those 9550s. Finally found them by finding the front and rear part numbers on rebel, then finding those on Summit Racing.

Never would have found the Bilsteins if I hadn't been geeking out over AnnDee's shock spreadsheet. Seemed like a killer deal for Monotubes at $380 shipped for the set.

Front:

Extended Length (in.):
27.260 in.
Collapsed Length (in.):
18.110 in.
https://www.summitracing.com/parts/tmi-1556300
Rear:

Extended Length (in.):
29.960 in.
Collapsed Length (in.):
18.210 in.
https://www.summitracing.com/parts/tmi-1556400

 

[omnitonic]

Damn, they definitely hide the specs on those 9550s. Finally found them by finding the front and rear part numbers on rebel, then finding those on Summit Racing.

It was a good effort, but since all four shocks in the box were apparently identical, I took a trip down the same rabbit hole. I looked up the actual SKU I ordered, and then went to Summit Racing. They didn't have any data for 1545250. It seems like nobody does. They're mystery shocks.

Never would have found the Bilsteins if I hadn't been geeking out over AnnDee's shock spreadsheet. Seemed like a killer deal for Monotubes at $380 shipped for the set.

I wish I had run into that information about a month ago. I would have gone with the Bilsteins for sure.

 

[GATORB8]

It was a good effort, but since all four shocks in the box were apparently identical, I took a trip down the same rabbit hole. I looked up the actual SKU I ordered, and then went to Summit Racing. They didn't have any data for 1545250. It seems like nobody does. They're mystery shocks.

Those numbers I posted were yours.

Rebel lists the components of 1545250 as 1556300 Front, and 1556400 Rear. Here's the site: https://rebeloffroad.com/jl-9550-vss-twin-tube-shocks-2-5-3-lift-all-4-1545250/

Then enter those numbers at Summit and it brings up:

Front:

Extended Length (in.):
27.260 in.
Collapsed Length (in.):
18.110 in.
https://www.summitracing.com/parts/tmi-1556300
Rear:

Extended Length (in.):
29.960 in.
Collapsed Length (in.):
18.210 in.
https://www.summitracing.com/parts/tmi-1556400

 

[SoCal]

I had same issues when installing mine....luckily we test fit it before fully installing it, but still wasted a bunch of time

could barely to 3/4 turn without it rubbing on tires....was thinking a 2.5" lift would solve issue, but then again at flex it would still likely have issues....seems like just a bad design...I emailed and called Rugged Ridge, but they really had no answers

2021 JLUR with 35" no lift

was gonna try to do my own spacers, but looks like that Dv8 spacer kit is the answer...

 

[omnitonic]

Those numbers I posted were yours.

I get it now. That's really interesting. I studied the shocks and the packaging looking for clues which ones went where, and concluded they were all the same. Yet they actually weren't. Two of them were 0.100" longer, or a little less than 1/8".

I installed them all compressed, and cut the bands after I bolted each one on, so I never saw them together in a pile, extended.

I'm curious where they ended up, but I drove 600 miles in pouring rain last night, and this mystery will have to wait until I get some sleep.

 

[omnitonic]

I'm curious where they ended up, but I drove 600 miles in pouring rain last night, and this mystery will have to wait until I get some sleep.

So I ended up flipping the shocks, and I have the ~30" travel up front. That's what happens when you install a lift kit racing the clock in your driveway on a rainy day.

I don't think I actually wheeled it until I got the Apex autoLynx installed, and those are probably the limiting factor up front. Otherwise I probably would have dumped my front springs in the woods by now.

Well, while you take your bumper off and fool with extensions, I guess I need to go swap some shocks.

 

[GATORB8]

I had same issues when installing mine....luckily we test fit it before fully installing it, but still wasted a bunch of time

could barely to 3/4 turn without it rubbing on tires....was thinking a 2.5" lift would solve issue, but then again at flex it would still likely have issues....seems like just a bad design...I emailed and called Rugged Ridge, but they really had no answers

2021 JLUR with 35" no lift

was gonna try to do my own spacers, but looks like that Dv8 spacer kit is the answer...

What's your wheel offset? I had no issues driving with 35s with the bumper on before the lift (18mm offset, and the 4xe's about an inch higher stock).

 

[GATORB8]

So I ended up flipping the shocks, and I have the ~30" travel up front. That's what happens when you install a lift kit racing the clock in your driveway on a rainy day.

I don't think I actually wheeled it until I got the Apex autoLynx installed, and those are probably the limiting factor up front. Otherwise I probably would have dumped my front springs in the woods by now.

Well, while you take your bumper off and fool with extensions, I guess I need to go swap some shocks.

If it makes you feel better, when I put the Bilstien's on I installed the fronts in the rear first, didn't realize it until I installed and unbundled the front and saw I only had a couple inches of shaft showing. The confusing part was that the Bilstein rears are installed shaft down instead of body down like the stock ones.

It is a bit of a PITA to compress the shocks and mount them at the same time, I would hang the top first, then basically bench press it up into place. Was WAY easier when they were still strapped.

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