Help Identifying My Lift (Used Jeep Rubicon)

Hirschmann said:
Okay, So I spent some time looking things over. While some buddies believe I an rubbing on the control arms. I don't think I am. I believe the bushwhacker flat fenders are the contact point. It is the front of the rear tire at the 3 o clock mark. I have adj lower rear control arms but non-adjustable upper rear control arms. maybe the rear sway bar? Ill have to look tomorrow.

Here I have a floor jack pushing rear passenger side up, only about 4 or so inches off ground, definitely not maxed out. but you can see the room upto the bump stop and I am no where near the upper or lower control arms. But I am quite close to the front of the Wheel well. I have wheels with 4.5 BS according to the old manufacturers wheels specs. "Dirty Life Roadkills"

Can I use adj rear control arms to move the rear axel back say 1/2 inch and then I can look into cutting some of this damn plastic away. I need to ensure the structure of the plastic isnt to compromised and janky. But obviously I want to hit bumpstop before rubbing.
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from that slight clean rub mark in front of the tire, it looks like the axle is too forward.

have you pulled a shock to manually compress it, how fast does it rebound?
 
pulled a shock. Its firm and rebounds. no leaking. When standing on the rear bumper and hopping up and down. The jeep quickly settles back down. I can video this tomorrow. feeling pretty confident shocks are not shot. Really leaning towards that plastic rubbing. Is 4.5inch backspacing a normal setup for a lifted jeep?

I agree, I think the rear axel is about 1-1.5 inches to far forward. err- let me rephrase, maybe the lift isn't putting the axel back to stock location. PLUS those fenders are protruding back into wheel well.
I would expect the new upper and lower Control arms to be the correct length. The uppers are non-adjustable but were made for that size lift. I could source some adjustable ones but I have to imagine there is the need for a huge number of changes if I move that axel to much to the rear. But maybe I can set it back .5 to 1 inch? and get a slightly longer bumps top and be good? I can get more images tomorrow when I video the bounce.IMG_6405.jpgIMG_6406.jpgIMG_6097.jpgIMG_6098.jpg
 
Adding lift causes your wheels to move forward in the wheel well due to the arc of the CAs. You could move your rear axle back slightly but would need to install the adjustable upper and lower CAs, but remember the axle assembly moves rearward when the suspension is compressed due to the arc of the CAs. If you center the wheels, you will likely hit the back of the wheel wells at full compression if your bump stops are not sized right. Even then you may still rub. I had to trim my front pinch seams and rock rails so that my tires don’t rub at full stuff.

I’m running Cooper STT pro 37x12.50 on KMC Tank beadlocks with 4.4” backspacing and no rubs. I’ve got 4” Evo plush ride springs and core4x4 CAs. At full lock and full articulation, the front tires would slightly rub the lower front CAs so it added a washer to the steering stop bolts and no more issue. Less backspace would also solve but remember the more backspace the more stress is on your ball joints.
 
You might trim some of that plastic from the rear where it's rubbing before moving the axle back and affecting the drive shaft, angle etc since you still have the stock driveshaft.

I'm running Cooper STT pro 37x13.5 on KMC Machete and had to trim some of the metal off where the tire was rubbing.

This image shows the initial cut I made with the BFG KO2 37x12.5, the green line is where I made the final cut to allow the wider Cooper STT; it exposed the foam under the trim but I coated it with some Rustoleum truck bed coating

cutLIne.jpg
 
That is the plan, just want to be strategic and not ruin these flat fenders. It appears alot of the stability of front of that fender from from that corner. I dont want the plastic flapping around too much. curved line is rough idea of planned cut. Well after reviewing your, I probably will not go as high.
Fender Cut.jpg

maybe lower like this. I just dont want it to look crappy and flap to much at hw speeds.
Fender Cut2.jpg
 
Is the tire tread going to be damaged by the pinch seam, or is it just an annoying noise? Maybe some off-roading in an area with abrasive sand or mud would result in automatic trimming? 😄
 
Hirschmann said:
pulled a shock. Its firm and rebounds. no leaking. When standing on the rear bumper and hopping up and down. The jeep quickly settles back down. I can video this tomorrow. feeling pretty confident shocks are not shot. Really leaning towards that plastic rubbing. Is 4.5inch backspacing a normal setup for a lifted jeep?

I agree, I think the rear axel is about 1-1.5 inches to far forward. err- let me rephrase, maybe the lift isn't putting the axel back to stock location. PLUS those fenders are protruding back into wheel well.
I would expect the new upper and lower Control arms to be the correct length. The uppers are non-adjustable but were made for that size lift. I could source some adjustable ones but I have to imagine there is the need for a huge number of changes if I move that axel to much to the rear. But maybe I can set it back .5 to 1 inch? and get a slightly longer bumps top and be good? I can get more images tomorrow when I video the bounce.View attachment 403983View attachment 403984View attachment 403985View attachment 403986
Click to expand...

Nice jeep👍
 
I have different fenders but this is how much I trimmed. I clear 37" with Evo short arms. Those are 35" tires in the photo.20230102_135439.jpg
20230115_193034.jpg
 
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