Making the TJ Rubicon skinny

billiebob

TJ Addict
Supporting Member
Joined
Oct 31, 2015
Messages
5,604
Location
Kootenays, BC, Canada
So after miling out my 33s and wanting new rims and tires. My tire guys told me about a 16 x 6.5 rim and 7.50R16 tires, Actual measure is 31" tall. I love pizza cutters and tall, skinny, tires or women so we ordered them. They are incredibly skinny. And the stock Rubi flares look like pantaloons so today was lose 3" of width.

First, mark the cut with 1.5" tape..... then cut.

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Tuck the cut piece under the lip and screw together...... done.

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so why.....
for 5mpg, a 95mile range increase. plus I love the retro look.

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Not something new, heres my YJ 20 years ago.

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There will likely be a 2" spring lift coming, mostly to better match the trailer hitch height.
I really miss that YJ.
 
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I can't believe you ruined the rare, stock Rubi flares and then I saw the billiebob part.😬
p.s. Stock TJ flares are 1" narrower. 🤫
I know tried finding some to buy, I really wanted SE Flares and I thought there must be thousands out the but 6 months later I gave up and 3 hours later had what I wanted.

PS, since you know me.... you know I did this with AEV HighLine Flares 4 years ago..... Still have them and the TJR. I actually met Chris in Salem driving it. Loved the handling change, going from 8" rims with 4.25" backspace to 7" rims with stock 5.5" ???? backspace. ..... I know, i'm an outlier and proud of it...... ps there are a lot of other guys like me but the mainstream here is always in the attack mode if we have different goals..... hence your retarded ..... "then I saw billiebob".

You guys are a real limited market, I've been here forever, even when Chris was facing trademark infringement. But yeah you guys stick to the mantra, I'm used to it.

Heres the cut AEV Flare..... go cry.

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Stock TJ is thin enough. I can take it anywhere sxs's go...and grizzly 660's and...and...

That said if you really want skinny and you "miss your YJ"...
Get a narrow track axle Cj-5 in good shape with dual pipes and racing stripes. 😎🚬
I know, I look often at all the CJ2s thru CJ6s.... but hard to find a better buy than a TJR,,,, likely impossible to find a better buy.... plus, I put 24K miles a year on mine, retired my '05 with 240K miles, and in 8 months have put 20K miles on the"new" '06 TJR.

But yes I would love a CJ2.

Speaking of racing stripes, heres my sons JK....
Dual pipes only make sence on the CJ5 with a 304 V8 and a 3 speed.



micahs stubby 01.jpg



And here his Subaru.... yes we are a family who love racing stripes

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Wish I had pics of my cars from the 1970s. I had a Trans Am with stripes plus a Cortina I rallied with stripes but digital tech was 25 years away back then.
 
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I dig it. I was a little unsure about going from 33x12.5s to 33x10.5s a few years ago, but now I love it. Those are some next level pizza cutters, but I like the retro look as well.
 
My old XJ got just over 25 mpg day in, day out. 4.0 auto. Until the old lady seized the engine 3 times in 1 afternoon. Mileage really suffered after that. Tho oil consumption sure went up through the roof!
Never had any CJ or Wrangler come even close to that. 4 cyl or 6.
 
I 100% was getting better mileage with my 2.5 vs my ljr, same tire size both manual.

On the width note cj2a is 50.5” tj 60.5 most atv’s sitting around 48” and the new rzrs are up at 60-64” with some hitting 72”.

Only 10” narrower on paper but it feels significantly smaller when driving, that’s also wms, not overall width.
 
I can’t believe this derailed into a mpg thread, again.

Cutting the Rubi flares is just ugly

The major reason those AEV’s cracked is because you cut them all up and put them back together with some self tapping screws. Just trashy
 
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3M has some pretty good adhesives for plastic that would look a lot better then frankenstein bolts and accomplish your goal. I had to add some bolts to my cutting the console because adhesives weren't sticking to the rubber i was trying to glue but I'd start with glue and only add screws as required.
 
3M has some pretty good adhesives for plastic that would look a lot better then frankenstein bolts and accomplish your goal. I had to add some bolts to my cutting the console because adhesives weren't sticking to the rubber i was trying to glue but I'd start with glue and only add screws as required.
Why not throw them away and start over? It’s that bad. I’ve got two sets of stock flares here at the house. If he wants one he can have for shipping.
 
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yer wrong, lord knows I've broken enough Wrangler flares to prove that.

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I've never had a set of TJ flares with 50 visible screws in them. If Jeep designed them that way, I would have kept my 1988' Suzuki Samurai. Your flare "downgrade" and an angry grille are two mods I wouldn't do before buying a nice gun considering the "eat it" option.
 
dangit, I would have happily boxed up my Sport flares and traded you. Been wanting to go Rubi width with my non-R LJ.

Though I guess shipping between Colorado and BC might have been prohibitive given their bulk.