No one said put it in the wheel opening? They said put it before it. My jeep has 35s and the short exhaust on it is no lower than a factory one. I dont see why you think shortening means lowering..

If its not in the wheel opening, its run below the rocker panel and frame rail. That is a very vunerable area, and its very low.

Hahaha!!

This. I have my exhaust dumped right in front of my rear tire and I've smashed it 3 times while I was wheeling.

It is run in the factory location at factory height. The only diference is in stead of going over the axle it turns out the side prob 6 inches in front of the tire. My jeep has 8 inches of lift on 35s. With that combo it will be just as rare for it to get hit as it would be if it were run out the back

Got a picture? With a 35 inch tire i cant picture it being 6 inches in front of the tire and coming out the side and not being under the leaf spring/unirail.

I have a few pics but cant figure out how to upload them. I took a few today and its prob 3 or 4 inches in front of the tire and its below the rocker maybe 3 or 4 inches too. It could be moved up another 2 inches easy. As for the muffler its tucked up where the factory pipe would run.

OP is there any way you could post the pics i sent you?

Also from looking i noticed that if i came into an obsticle that high, it would also be higher than the center of the wheel in my case so unless im locked its not likely i would get over it. The pics are of a project jeep i have. I didnt set the exhaust up on this one but i really dont think it would get messed with much if any, but it is possible.

Ahh, my rockers in that area gets pounded on the trails we run. Guess itll work for some though.

True and like i say this is a project so its untested but if i can ever get these pics up hopefully you will see what i mean.

What about those who don't run a rear hatch. I've been working on my exhaust today trying to keep the fumes for getting sucked into the cabin.

Mine is cut off right above the axle just pointing down at the rear wheel. No fumes at all and completely out of the way.

If you have no rear hatch i would bring it out the back and go straight up to the roof and turn it out haha!

Actually on a more serious note id try doin a pre axle turndown or maybe even turn it out the side. That brings us back to out previous debate but you could also start the pipe towards the side and turn it down too instead of running it all the way out. Idk these are just thoughts im throwing out

Smoke stacks 4.0 style ha ha

Thanks for the thoughts. I've been routing my exhaust different ways trying to find a way to work with no fumes entering the cabin. Right my from my muffler I have to 45s and a straight to the back with a 90 pointed down and the fumes still get in. I also tried it to the side. Ended up being about the same fine wise.

I have a turn down on the back of the muffler. It's angled down and to the side. So far no issues with hitting it or getting fumes in the jeep. On cold mornings you can see that the majority of the exhaust at idle in front of the tire. At speed there is enough air flow to clear out the exhaust fumes.

Basically the same thing as me, haha. But mine is a 90 pointed out and slightly downward. It also has a fancy square tip cuz it fell off and got run over in the road. Got it back and it was squared, haha. Luckily just on the tip I didn't need to fit anything on.