feedback related to rear bumper and California Lift Laws and Vehicle Equipment Laws

rampagejk

Member
Need some your feedback related to rear bumper and California Lift Laws and Vehicle Equipment Laws

First of all my jeep (rampage) had been upgrading to EVO Double D Long Arm and EVO Front/Rear Coilover Kit recently. Now need some your insight and feedback about rear bumper.

Right now I have PureJeep Rear Bumper with swing away tire carrier and I already ordered EVO Rear Tire Carrier Armor Mounted and Rear RockSkins 4 doors.

I am debating if I should modify my exist PureJeep Rear Bumper or get EVO Rear Bumper Fascia however still have to get mud flaps which I do not want one. Or I shall get EVO PRO Series JK Rear Bumper and wonder if it still required to have mud flaps on the road?

http://liftlaws.com/california_lift_laws.htm

Thanks,
Mark

See picture as right now. Sorry for poor quality of picture.
 

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You'll need flaps if your bumper/fender doesn't cover your tire width.

So any EVO options would still have to be done with flaps. A lot of us CA folks don't run flaps 24/7, but I do always put mine on when traveling certain highways up north or out to Vegas/Barstow.
 
I can tell you that I ran the fascia for about 9 months before I got a ticket and before that a year with no bumper. I feel like it's just the luck of the draw. So I'm not sure about your existing bumper on whether it will fly with our good ol' chp and other California law enforcement. But it does seem to give more coverage. Mostly it was based on how big my tires were and not the bumper or lack there of.
 
I can tell you that I ran the fascia for about 9 months before I got a ticket and before that a year with no bumper. I feel like it's just the luck of the draw. So I'm not sure about your existing bumper on whether it will fly with our good ol' chp and other California law enforcement. But it does seem to give more coverage. Mostly it was based on how big my tires were and not the bumper or lack there of.

Been over a year as my daily. Only use flaps when caravanning outside the metropolitan areas.

I was under the impression he was asking more about the EVO bumper and/or rear fascia then about his existing???
 
Installed EVO Rear Rockskin, REAR BUMPER FASCIA and Extreme heavy duty tire carrier

Hope that I do not need mud flaps on the road for my jeep.

EVO IMG_0425.jpgEVO IMG_0424.jpg
 
You'll need flaps if your bumper/fender doesn't cover your tire width.

So any EVO options would still have to be done with flaps. A lot of us CA folks don't run flaps 24/7, but I do always put mine on when traveling certain highways up north or out to Vegas/Barstow.

Thank you for tipping. Do you have picture of your rear of jeep?
 
I live in Cali and was informed by a ticket holder (Bummer for him) that your fender must cover at least 50% of tire width.
 
So I have an appt. next Monday at ORE to have coil overs for 37's, rock sliders, and 1/4pounder installed. As for the bumper/facia install I chose the facia. Now I'm worried. Am I pushing it with the facia or should I go with the EVO rear bumper?

Last week I was pulled over in my truck, CHP cited issues with my registration but after calling it in and everything checking out OK. He then focused on my tires. Needles to say I didn't receive a ticket but he was itching to write a ticket for something.

So...EVO facia or EVO bumper?
 
Overlander, great, what does the law say? Maybe the cop just said what he thought was to law. Please advise. Thanks.
 
So I have an appt. next Monday at ORE to have coil overs for 37's, rock sliders, and 1/4pounder installed. As for the bumper/facia install I chose the facia. Now I'm worried. Am I pushing it with the facia or should I go with the EVO rear bumper?

Last week I was pulled over in my truck, CHP cited issues with my registration but after calling it in and everything checking out OK. He then focused on my tires. Needles to say I didn't receive a ticket but he was itching to write a ticket for something.

So...EVO facia or EVO bumper?

Good question! You can talk to ORE and see what they have to say? Look like anyone who have the Evo tire carrier without bumper or fascia - half of them have mud flap. However I am not sure. Please let me know what you find out. Thanks
 
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Rampagejk...the officer cited the VC by the tire sticking out past the wheel well. My response to his comment, I was under the understanding that width had nothing to do with needing mud flaps. I proceeded to advise him that a CHP officer out of the same Westminister office told me it only had to do with the top rim to the bottom of the tailgate/bed measurement. In other words the back of the bed cannot be taller than the top of the rim. He then proceeded to advise me he would need clarification on the Vehicular Code. He Walked back to his bike for a few minutes then approached my truck and said have a nice day. After that I wasn't about to hang around.

WTF.....
 
come to think of it, semi trucks have tires tucked in nicely and they don't protrude past the trailer, but a lot of the tire is exposed under the trailer. maybe your right, its exposed wheel and tire.
 
Mudflaps and OHV's in California
What's Legal, and What's Not
First, it should be made clear that I am not a lawyer and don't work in the legal profession. I am just a guy who got tired of ambiguity in the way that mudflap laws have been enforced in my area, so I decided to do some research and find out what is really true and what is not.

There are two documents in the state of California that determine use of mudflaps and fenders: California Vehicle Code (CVC) section 27600 and the Highway Patrol Manual (HPM) section 82.6.

This is CVC section 27600 in its entirety:

27600. No person shall operate any motor vehicle having three or more wheels, any trailer, or semitrailer unless equipped with fenders, covers, or devices, including flaps or splash aprons, or unless the body of the vehicle or attachments thereto afford adequate protection to effectively minimize the spray or splash of water or mud to the rear of the vehicle and all such equipment or such body or attachments thereto shall be at least as wide as the tire tread. This section does not apply to those vehicles exempt from registration, trailers and semitrailers having an unladen weight of under 1,500 pounds, or any vehicles manufactured and first registered prior to January 1, 1971, having an unladen weight of under 1,500 pounds.

Now, this is a pretty vague law. Here are some observations:

- It calls for “fenders, covers, or devices, including flaps or splash aprons, or unless the body of the vehicle or attachments thereto”. The word “or” in this context indicates that you don’t have to have all of these things as long as what you do have extends to the edge of the tire and will “afford adequate protection to effectively minimize the spray or splash of water or mud to the rear of the vehicle”. According to the law, you don’t need all of them as long as they keep mud and water from splashing to the rear of the vehicle!

- If you have a vehicle (trailer) that is less than 1500 lbs unladen weight (most jeep trailers), no splash protection whatsoever is required, period.

So now on to the second document, HPM 82.6, a two page document used by the CHP as an enforcement guideline for CVC 27600 (see citations below for a copy). The Watch Commander at the Placerville, California CHP office told me directly that when in court, CHP officers will refer directly to HPM 82.6 and judges will use it as an accepted interpretation of CVC 26700. So where does that leave us with the National Forests, local agencies, and BLM? The answer to that is that I am not sure, so everyone should take the information presented here and go talk to the enforcement agency in your area.

Here's what I found out locally: The Patrol Captain of the Eldorado National Forest told me directly that their Law Enforcement Officers (LEO’s) use HPM 82.6 in exactly the same way as the CHP, are trained to use it, and rely on the CHP as the authority in enforcing vehicle code violations. The document says an awful lot about commercial vehicles and not much about passenger vehicles, but I think I have distilled it out and will address only what it says that affects us.

Alright, on to what HPM 82.6 says:

- Fenders and/or flaps are required on trailers with an unladen weight of 1500 lbs or more, but does not require either on smaller trailers.

- All 4 wheeled motor vehicles weighing 1500 lbs or more are subject to flap and fender laws.

- All wheels in contact with the road must be adequately shielded to minimize the spray or splash of mud or water (doesn’t say anything about rocks) to the rear of the vehicle.

- Vehicles in combination (meaning towing a trailer) that are not at the rear of the combination are s.ubject to enforcement only if there is evidence that splash or spray extends to the rear of the combination of vehicles (you don’t need flaps or fenders if you are towing a trailer that prevents splash behind your vehicle).

- There is a “Guide for Determining Adequacy of Flaps” that has measurements and angles and distances listed in it, but these guidelines do not apply to passenger vehicles!

- Fenders and flaps must cover the width of your tread.

- Flaps should be placed “as far to the rear of the (rear) wheel as practical for greatest effectiveness”.

- The only vehicles that are required to have BOTH fenders and splash flaps are those hauling aggregate.

In my opinion, based on these two documents, the bottom line is that if you have a set of flaps that reasonably prevent splash or spray of mud or water to the rear of your vehicle, and cover the width of your tire tread, any citation issued to you can be fought and won in court. In order to be double sure you won’t get a citation (for those of you who don’t like to go to court, even if you are going to win), put fenders on it as well that extend to the edge of the tire tread and come forward to at least the centerline of the axle (the requirement for vehicles hauling aggregate).

That's it?
 
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