After doing some initial testing of Rubicat with her new 40x13.50R17 Cooper Discoverer STT Pros, Cindy and I realized that a considerable amount of trimming would be needed if we wanted to keep her stance as low as we had it. To see pics of what we did, click on the link below:
HEMMED the SEAMS - RUBICAT Trimmed to Fit 40's
Knowing that we may not have hemmed her seams up high enough, we decided to take her down the street to do some flex tests and see if her tires would now clear or if she still need some more trimming. Here are a few shots we took from the laboratory.
Twisted Up Test #1
Front driver side up and rear passenger side up - view from the front.
So far, the fenders clear and I see no signs of rubbing up front.
Time to take a look at the rear.
Good stuff and so far, the fenders appear to clear.
The forward half of the rear fender well seems to have been adequately hemmed.
But wait - it appears we still have a bit of contact in on the rear half. It always cracks me up whenever I hear guys go on and on about how they want to push their axle back because of how it "looks" at ride height. They assume that it needs to be centered but fail to understand that the axle travels in an arc and as it does, it'll move toward the back. Anyway, guess I need to do a bit more trimming here.
Taking a quick look underneath the rear. Here you can see just how much our sway bar is limiting our flex - pay no attention to how taught the limiting strap is.
Now this was a bit interesting to see. On Moby, I've installed shaft collars to prevent the factory rear sway bar from traveling side to side but I haven't installed any on Rubicat. During our flex testing, her sway bar shifted over enough to cause the passenger side arm to get caught on the limiting strap frame mount bolt. This is something I will need to address.
Giving the rear end another look prior to moving on.
Twisted Up Test #2
Front passenger side up and rear driver side up - view from the front.
Just when it looked like all was good, I noticed we had a bit of contact on the passenger side pinch seam next to the grill.
Moving to the back.
With the exception of the rear half of the fender well needing a bit of trimming just like the passenger side, all checked out here.
And those are the lab results from our clearance check of Rubicat with her new 40" Cooper STT Pros. As you have seen, a bit more trimming is needed here and there but for the most part, I think we're almost there.
HEMMED the SEAMS - RUBICAT Trimmed to Fit 40's
Knowing that we may not have hemmed her seams up high enough, we decided to take her down the street to do some flex tests and see if her tires would now clear or if she still need some more trimming. Here are a few shots we took from the laboratory.
Twisted Up Test #1
Front driver side up and rear passenger side up - view from the front.
So far, the fenders clear and I see no signs of rubbing up front.
Time to take a look at the rear.
Good stuff and so far, the fenders appear to clear.
The forward half of the rear fender well seems to have been adequately hemmed.
But wait - it appears we still have a bit of contact in on the rear half. It always cracks me up whenever I hear guys go on and on about how they want to push their axle back because of how it "looks" at ride height. They assume that it needs to be centered but fail to understand that the axle travels in an arc and as it does, it'll move toward the back. Anyway, guess I need to do a bit more trimming here.
Taking a quick look underneath the rear. Here you can see just how much our sway bar is limiting our flex - pay no attention to how taught the limiting strap is.
Now this was a bit interesting to see. On Moby, I've installed shaft collars to prevent the factory rear sway bar from traveling side to side but I haven't installed any on Rubicat. During our flex testing, her sway bar shifted over enough to cause the passenger side arm to get caught on the limiting strap frame mount bolt. This is something I will need to address.
Giving the rear end another look prior to moving on.
Twisted Up Test #2
Front passenger side up and rear driver side up - view from the front.
Just when it looked like all was good, I noticed we had a bit of contact on the passenger side pinch seam next to the grill.
Moving to the back.
With the exception of the rear half of the fender well needing a bit of trimming just like the passenger side, all checked out here.
And those are the lab results from our clearance check of Rubicat with her new 40" Cooper STT Pros. As you have seen, a bit more trimming is needed here and there but for the most part, I think we're almost there.
