cascadeclimbn

I just bought a 94 xj and the fenders on it are trimmed off. The tires jut out past where the fenders have been cut. Does anyone now whether this setup is legal or illegal? If it is illegal can anyone tell me whether or not cops really pay attention to this or even care? I'd rather throw on some fender flares than get pulled over for something as silly as my tires sticking out past my frame.

beej

I believe that the tire must be covered down past the center point of the axle..............dont drive through fife or bonney lake or you'll probably get a ticket if a cop see's you

cascadeclimbn

I try to stay away from those two places anyways. The cops are goddamn terrible there!! My brother got pulled over once in Bonney Lake for going 2mph over the speed limit...and got a ticket too!! He ended up appealing it stating that radar guns have been shown to be off + or - 3 mph and the judge threw the ticket out but still! It's ridiculous in those towns.

98CherokeeSport

I live in bonney lake and drove around for almost two years without any flares and my tires stuck out about five inches on both sides and never got any crap for it. And it was my daily driver

slk88cherokee

Ive gotten 2 different tickets in Tri Cities, one for no mudflaps, fenderflares and headlight height. Went to court after installing flares and flaps and they made me pay way less because I complied (except headlights). Then a week or two later I got pulled over and cited for putting on flares that went 2 inches beyond the factory body lines...WTF!! I did exactly what the judge said was right and I get screwed again. They basically told me that its up to the officers discretion that they were "guidelines" not laws. That was 4 or 5 years ago so it may have changed, and i live in oregon now and so far no issues except mudflaps.

billulsund

I live in Bonney Lake and my roomate drives a cherokee with no flares and his tires stick out like 4 inches past the fenders. He has never been pulled over in town. I believe the law says your flare must go out as far as the tire. Only problem is I have also heard that it cannot stick out more than 3" from the body of the vehicle. I have a friend with bushwacker fender flares on his XJ and he got pulled over and was told that his fender flares are not legal because they stick out too far. That's BS if you ask me.

Dusty

Buddy just got pulled over because he had no fender flares. His tires stuck out 7 inches past the body of his jeep. The cop said you can get away with 3 inches without fender flares

cascadeclimbn

Mine stick about 3 inches out so hopefully I'll be good.

billulsund

I think it depends on what cop you talk to. I spent a while looking for a specific RCW about fender flares and all I could find was a Washington State Patrol site http://www.wsp.wa.gov/traveler/passequip.htm. It says that fenders must stick out at far as the tires. I was told once when pulled over that they will usually give you an inch or two. I have also had a cop tell me that your fender flares can only stick out 3 inches, but have yet to see any law stating that. I have heard many stories online about what cops have told different people and to me it seems like the police are not 100% sure on the law so you may hear something different depending on which officer you talk to.

cascadeclimbn

Sounds like if you did end up getting a ticket you could easily appeal it and get it thrown out. Especially if there is no definitive RCW code on the issue!

wheeling2000xj

Since i am a cop i am hoping I can help with this post. Technically any vehicle that is lifted or lowered is illegal. But there are so many driving around that no one cares any more. I have a 2000 xj with 6 1/2 inches of lift, 5 inch pocket style bushwackers and im running 33x12.50 tires. I also have no front license plate and no mudflaps. I have never been pulled over. And no it isnt because i have a bear on the back of my car. I dont, i dont believe in them. A good rule of thumb.......dont do anything wrong! Most cops will not pull you over period if you are following the law and doing nothing wrong. I have NEVER written a ticket for equipment. Of any kind. Im sure there are those cops out there though. Anyways back to the main question. Yes your tire is required to be covered. And yes mud flaps are supposed to come down to the center of the axle. I have never heard about the flares only being able to come out so far though. I hope this helps.

billulsund

Thanks for chiming in to help out. Based on what I read that is what I thought. I figured I was missing an RCW somewhere because from what I read you can't even lift a vehicle, but there are so many out there. It is good to know the position that you and presumably most other law enforcement officers have. That at least explains why I have heard different things from different officers.

cascadeclimbn

Thanks a lot for the info man! It's good to have a pov from a cop on the matter. Well, hopefully I don't get pulled over for equipment...I know you said you don't pull people over for stuff like that but there are some ******* cops out there. In my 4 years of being a driver Ive never recieved a traffic ticket but I have been pulled over several times...once I was pulled over for having "too many" stickers on the back window of my Subaru. That same cop made me get out of my car and take a breathilizer test and also accused me of smoking weed because my pupils were dilated...might I add that I was under the influence of neither and that I also have glaucoma and research has proven that marijuana has no affect on pupil size. Apparently the cop hadnt been briefed on this fact so he proceeded to ask me if he could search my car. It was midnight, 2 miles from home, I had just gotten off work and was trying to go home so I was PISSED by this point. I basically told him hell no he wouldnt be going anywhere near the inside of my vehicle without a warrant. He finally left me alone citing me for nothing. So Ive encountered first hand, ******* cops who will try their hardest to write you a ticket or give you a hard time thats why Im so concerned about the fender law. Not all cops are ********, most of them arent, but just like with any other profession, there are a few.

wheeling2000xj

And I agree.There are those bad apples with every career. Like I was saying i haven't had an issue with it. That dosen't mean that people don't. I work for a larger department so mudflaps and flares are the least of our worries. But like i said. Technically any modification to a vehicles suspension, body, etc is illegal. But that is something MOST cops don't worry about anymore. Look at all the new Dodges, Fords, and Chevy's cruising around now that have 12 inches of lift! (And 99 percent of them will never see dirt i must add!)

TrollHammer

As I'm starting from scratch and want to make sure I'm both road AND trail legal, I've been searching around for all this info (part of the reason I hit this thread, and have been watching it the last few days). I'd spit out what I've found so far, and would like to point out that you did answer your question in your link, billulsund:

"Safety Appliances - Such as clearance lights, flexible fender extensions, mud flaps, splash and spray inhibiting devices, and others may not extend more than 3" beyond the extreme limits of the body. RCW 46.44.010"

I take it to mean that the stock fender flares on a cherokee are considered "flexible fender extensions" as they are flexible and extend from the fenders. Please correct me if I'm wrong about this!

BTW, this is the ONLY thing I can find on fender flares specifically, other than that it goes on to state that the 3" flexible fender does does not count toward the 8.5' max vehicle width (which doesn't matter as much since we're talking cherokees!)

That listing and the RCW that it referances is quite comprehensive, and lists legal vehicle modifications (3" body lift for one), but it does not referance current TRAIL regs, which is what I'm looking for. My cousin (who wheels from the west side) was saying that there is a new max width for trails of something like 72" or 74". The only thing I've found is for trail excavating equipment can be a maximum of 72", but it didn't sound like it had anything to do with off road trails.

What I'm looing for are the following:

(for both street and trail legal)
If an exo-cage or rocker sliders are used does it fall under the "safety appliances" in that it can be no farther than 3" from the body?

Can aftermarket/reworked fenders legally change the vehicle's overall width (say if you're trying to get the tires covered and the 3" fender flare won't quite reach?)

Does the bumper have to be the same shape in the corners as stock? If I were to sweep the sides back but not exceed the origional bumper width, am I still ok? the RCW only states that the bumper width cannot exceed the origional width, be present, and at least 4.5" wide within a particular vertical distance dependant on GVW (This would require moving the lights to be mounted a small amount back, which isn't denied by RCW 46, just that the light be there and as far from the center line as possible)

(for trail legal
What is the maximum width allowed on trail as of NOW and the near future? Who regulates this? If we are to only go by RCW, the trail 4WD only has to have curent ORV tags or licence plate, which I take to mean that it has to be street legal or qualify as an ORV... which means what?

I've been round and round about this for nearly a year now and this thread has been the most comprehensive so far. There are other RCWs refering to off road recreation, as well as NOVA, but most of the regs they have posted discuss where the money for trails comes from, where it goes, and how trails are selected, and other than that bigger vehicles cannot go on smaller trails (no ATVs on motorcycle trails, and no 4x4 on ATV or motorcycle trails, as posted at the trail head) there is nothing regarding max/min vehicle width, height, weight, wheel base, tire size, tire width, track width, etc. Is this information regulated as so many "have heard", or is it as wheeling2000xj says, that other than what is notated in RCW, no modifications are legal, so whatever is legal on the road is legal on the trail?

Sorry this is so long, I'm tired of not finding specifics....

(on a more humorous note, minimum wheelbase for street is 3.5 ft, but the max width is 8.5 ft.... what a funny lookin car that would be! Oh, and another reason I'm wondering about the differences is that little naches can be sticklers for technicality and there's a HUGE difference between 102" and 74", so what other differences are there if that's true?)