JL JOURNAL : Does 2.5" Lift + 37" Tires = Rubbing?

wayoflife

wayoflife

Administrator
Staff member
One of the questions that Cindy and I get asked all the time since installing a brand new EVO 2.5" Stage 4 Boost Lift and 37" Cooper STT Pros on our Jeep JL Wrangler Rubicon Unlimited is, do you have any rubbing? Being that we got our Coopers in a 13.50 width and have them mounted on KMC XD231 beadlock wheels that have 4.75" of back spacing, people have been wanting to know if they rub at a full turn, at a full stuff or at a full turn and stuff. In this episode of the JL JOURNAL, you'll get to see JET Li being taken out to do some flex testing, to find out where all his problem spots will be and what we did to help address them. We hope you find this video to be helpful in your JL build.


:cool:
 

RMC2

RMC2

Member
Rubbing is racing. Oops, wrong video

Funny thing is you did such a great job with the photos and writeup, I thought I had already seen this video.

Another 1/2” and no rubbing at all with FULL stock fenders and big ol tires. Impressive
 

wayoflife

wayoflife

Administrator
Staff member
RMC2 said:
Rubbing is racing. Oops, wrong video

Funny thing is you did such a great job with the photos and writeup, I thought I had already seen this video.

Another 1/2” and no rubbing at all with FULL stock fenders and big ol tires. Impressive
Click to expand...

:cheesy:

Glad to hear you actually read my write-ups :D
 

wayoflife

wayoflife

Administrator
Staff member
JLU_RUBI said:
The lower piece in the rear that you removed....do you think with some time and the heat gun you could reshape that piece and retain it?
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If you're determined to keep it, sure, I'll bet you could shape it with a heat gun until it worked. Might look funky when done but you will have it.
 

BillArnett

BillArnett

New member
Finally got my Rubicon Express 2.5" lift and 37x13.5 Cooper STT Pros installed today. On the way home it rubbed on a big bump exactly as Eddie described. So I did Eddie's fix and mirabile dictu it didn't rub on the same bump the next time.

Thanks Eddie!!
 

BillArnett

BillArnett

New member
So after doing Eddie’s heat gun thing my rubbing issues were improved. But my first trip off-road revealed that more is needed. At full steering lock the slightest bump would cause the front tires to rub the inner fender liners. And a big bump would still cause the rear tires to rub, too. (Maybe Eddie didn’t see this because he was doing a static test which didn’t compress the bump stop as much as a good bump does? Maybe my bump stop extensions aren’t quite as tall as EVO’s?)

My solution was to drill a hole in each fender liner and use a cable tie to pull the liner back as far as it will go toward the frame. Here’s the passenger front:
789EB01F-6238-4D17-86E8-0EEF19FDEEB7.jpg
The rear is similar.

After this I was unable to provoke any rubbing with the two cases I was able to test near home. But I’m pretty confident that this will be sufficient. For now anyway. I plan to ditch the stock fenders in favor of some flat steel ones at some point in the future.
 

wayoflife

wayoflife

Administrator
Staff member
BillArnett said:
So after doing Eddie’s heat gun thing my rubbing issues were improved. But my first trip off-road revealed that more is needed. At full steering lock the slightest bump would cause the front tires to rub the inner fender liners. And a big bump would still cause the rear tires to rub, too. (Maybe Eddie didn’t see this because he was doing a static test which didn’t compress the bump stop as much as a good bump does? Maybe my bump stop extensions aren’t quite as tall as EVO’s?)

After this I was unable to provoke any rubbing with the two cases I was able to test near home. But I’m pretty confident that this will be sufficient. For now anyway. I plan to ditch the stock fenders in favor of some flat steel ones at some point in the future.
Click to expand...

My "static test" was at full opposing flex. As in, my axles were completely crisscrossed - you simply cannot get a better reading on what you can get at a full stuff and droop. As you can see in the photo below, my jounce stops were mashed to the point of be deformed and with maybe a 1/4" gap remaining between the jounce cup and bump stop extension.

20180314195554-8694db0f-me.jpg


With that said, your bump stop extensions may not be as tall and of course, I am running adjustable upper and lower control arms front and rear and have them set as needed. If I recall, the RE kit only comes with fixed lower arms up front.
 

BillArnett

BillArnett

New member
wayoflife said:
.. If I recall, the RE kit only comes with fixed lower arms up front.
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That is correct.

My kit was installed by 4WheelParts in San Jose. Interestingly, the 2.5” kit that I got is not listed on RE’s website nor on 4WheelParts’ website, either. I guess since they’re all part of the same conglomerate they access to stuff a bit before it goes totally public.

With just a couple hundred miles on the highway and a half-day of easy stuff at Hollister Hills, my preliminary opinion of my setup (see my sig) is very positive. Amazingly, highway handling seems unchanged from stock. Light-years better than my old JK. The RE springs are probably a little stiffer than stock but that’s good IMHO; I’m willing to trade a little ride quality for more stable cornering. (BTW, this is with 25 psi in the tires. I drove around a bit today with 30 psi and it seems much rougher and no better at the corners.) The 3.6L engine and the 8-speed auto are sweet. With the 37s I don’t see 8th gear very often but that’s OK. I couldn’t be happier. And 1st gear in 4LO is still way low enough, I’ll probably use 2nd and 3rd more often when crawling. And it climbed up a couple of slippery hills very easily that my JK struggled with. I’ve yet to try anything where the break over angle is an issue; maybe I’ll be pleasantly surprised again :)
 

WiscoHR

WiscoHR

Member
So, I melted back the rear fender liners like the video but my passenger side rear tire still caught the edge of the liner. With no heat gun with me, I guess I’ll just cut that spot out. I’ll post a pic of it later when my reception is better.


Sent from my iPhone using JL Wrangler Jeep Forum mobile app
 

wayoflife

wayoflife

Administrator
Staff member
WiscoHR said:
So, I melted back the rear fender liners like the video but my passenger side rear tire still caught the edge of the liner. With no heat gun with me, I guess I’ll just cut that spot out. I’ll post a pic of it later when my reception is better.
Click to expand...

For now, you should be able to just fold the edge of the liner back by hand. If the liner has pulled the plastic push pin out, you'll need to zip tie that back in place.
 

WiscoHR

WiscoHR

Member
wayoflife said:
For now, you should be able to just fold the edge of the liner back by hand. If the liner has pulled the plastic push pin out, you'll need to zip tie that back in place.
Click to expand...

I’ll see if I can get it to bend back, I just took a quick look at it last night as it was getting dark. It is curled forward quite a bit from being hard on the throttle in mud every time it caught.


Sent from my iPhone using JL Wrangler Jeep Forum mobile app
 

wayoflife

wayoflife

Administrator
Staff member
WiscoHR said:
I’ll see if I can get it to bend back, I just took a quick look at it last night as it was getting dark. It is curled forward quite a bit from being hard on the throttle in mud every time it caught.
Click to expand...

Yup, I've seen that happen before. Now that it's curled forward, it'll just keep on catching. If fold the plastic backward by hand and it may take some effort depending on how warm or cold out it is, that alone should help the tread to just rub on it rather than pull it up and out. Again, make sure the plastic push pin securing the liner to the body hasn't pulled out or is broken. This is VERY COMMON after your tire has been making contact with the liner like this. If it is missing or broken, you will need to secure this point with a small bolt, washer and nut or zip tie it in place.
 

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