PEAK PUTTERS

I managed to get pulled over by a Richland cop tonight coming home from work. I got lucky in that it was only a verbal warning for two things and no ticket. I still drive this thing daily (although I'm beginning to rethink it) and want to stay legal (enough) for the street.

1) No third brake light. Well duh, I removed it to fit the spare. I have the stock assembly with light and I might throw something together for that. Any ideas? I'm going to look this one up as I think it may be BS as back home in IL it was 2 working tail lights to be legal.


2) Guess this state really requires mud flaps at a certain height. Never mind that I've been illegal since the Jeep was on 31's 4 years ago. Guess the 35s finally did it. Not sure what to do and I've seen some fugly setups.

Any advice on what I can do here for the mudflaps and brake light?

I had to lookup the 3rd brake light law, sure enough it's required on SUV's made after '93. But check out the fender law.. "collector" vehicles over 40 years old don't even need fenders driven on hard surfaces, I only thought that applied to hot rods.


RCW 46.37.070
Stop lamps and electric turn signals required.

(1) After January 1, 1964, every motor vehicle, trailer, semitrailer, and pole trailer shall be equipped with two or more stop lamps meeting the requirements of RCW 46.37.200, except that passenger cars manufactured or assembled prior to January 1, 1964, shall be equipped with at least one such stop lamp. On a combination of vehicles, only the stop lamps on the rearmost vehicle need actually be seen from the distance specified in RCW 46.37.200(1).

(2) After January 1, 1960, every motor vehicle, trailer, semitrailer and pole trailer shall be equipped with electric turn signal lamps meeting the requirements of RCW 46.37.200(2), except that passenger cars, trailers, semitrailers, pole trailers, and trucks less than eighty inches in width, manufactured or assembled prior to January 1, 1953, need not be equipped with electric turn signal lamps.

(3) Every passenger car manufactured or assembled after September 1, 1985; and every passenger truck, passenger van, or passenger sports [sport] utility vehicle manufactured or assembled after September 1, 1993, must be equipped with a rear center high-mounted stop lamp meeting the requirements of RCW 46.37.200(3).



RCW 46.37.500
Fenders or splash aprons.

(1) Except as authorized under subsection (2) of this section, no person may operate any motor vehicle, trailer, or semitrailer that is not equipped with fenders, covers, flaps, or splash aprons adequate for minimizing the spray or splash of water or mud from the roadway to the rear of the vehicle. All such devices shall be as wide as the tires behind which they are mounted and extend downward at least to the center of the axle.

(2) A motor vehicle that is not less than forty years old or a street rod vehicle that is owned and operated primarily as a collector's item need not be equipped with fenders when the vehicle is used and driven during fair weather on well-maintained, hard-surfaced roads.

Thanks for the lookup of the laws. Guess I need a third brake light which is easy to hook up. I can use the existing wiring and put one in the center of my spare tire's wheel.

The mud flap thing may be more difficult though to figure out.

He said my new flares were fine which I thought they would be.

Mud flaps are the easy part. Weld a piece of 1x.120" square tube and mount the flap to a piece of 3/4x.095". Slide it in the 1" and drill a hole through the whole deal from the top and put a pin in there to hold them in place.

Another mud flap way is to mount mud flaps on a long bar the width of your vehicle tire track, and weld that bar to another bar to fit in your Class III trailer hitch. then when you go wheeling just pull the mud flap bar out of the class III hitch. that's what I do on one of my Cherokee's. May not be super beautiful, but it stops the spray and keeps the troopers happy.

I've been looking a bit, and seems most full size, stock pickups are, in fact, in violation to some extent. Pretty nice rule anyway

That looks to be the case Grumpy, in fact my truck violates the law too and its not even lifted from the description of that law.

Thanks for the ideas for far.
Actually found Teraflex makes mud flap kits specifically for TJ's that look easy to remove.

http://www.teraflex.biz/products/mud-flaps.html

Seems a little steep for the price but it gives me more ideas.

What a PITA. Now that the Richland Nazis know your Jeep, they will not leave you alone.

I've seen Sams88's flapper It's pretty cool. I think Jafo also has a removeable set up on his TJ.

Folks that spend much time in Columbia County (Dayton) know the mud flap law very well. I see many new/stock pickups that do not meet the legal requirements for the law. Having replaced many windshelds smacked by rocks, I think the mud flap law is a good idea. Glad to hear that you did not get pintched hard Lud.

Rich has a good setup on his YJ; goes into the receiver I believe. But, not sure I'd want to run on a DD.

I agree with the mudflap law too in principle, but I think more of those broken windshields come from people following too closely.

The more things I run into in the challenge of keeping the Jeep street legal while being able to have fun wheeling it the more I realize it may be time to make it offroad only and pull out all the stops. I think I'd get a lot more enjoyment out of it. Then I can go get a newer diesel for a DD when the camper gets paid for.

Lud wrote:That looks to be the case Grumpy, in fact my truck violates the law too and its not even lifted from the description of that law.

Thanks for the ideas for far.
Actually found Teraflex makes mud flap kits specifically for TJ's that look easy to remove.

http://www.teraflex.biz/products/mud-flaps.html

Seems a little steep for the price but it gives me more ideas.

Hey look a $100+ way to build what I described... Wallet wheelers are full on retarded.

Lud come by the house and I'll build you a set of those. Go to Bigg truck out at king city and pick up some decent sized flaps to cut down so they are exactly right for your needs.

When i put the rear bumper and spare tire mount on my jeep it covered the liscence plate so i looked online and found a kit that relocates the license plate to the spare provideing a brake light and a light to illuminate the license plate works really good and looks good too.. just run the wires to the break lights and your set to go on that. as far as the mud flaps go ive been pulled over for those too and the law is that you have to be covered down to half of the axle...but i havent found anything that looks good enough so im just taking my chances haha

Trash I think I'll be taking you up on some help on getting this stuff mounted up. I'll go get some flaps soon and let you know.

It's funny I've had no tickets yet (knock on wood) but this is the third time I've been pulled over for something in Richland, all since the 35's were put on in Sept. lol.

First time it was the flares which he realized were wide enough to cover the tire (Thank god I went wide on those).

Then a supposed turn signal which he said wasn't working...it was when I showed it to him.

Now I guess they got something to stick like the flaps and lights.

Cody, I like the tire carrier setup for the brake light, where'd you find that?

[quote="Lud"]I agree with the mudflap law too in principle, but I think more of those broken windshields come from people following too closely.

Every windsheld that I have had to replace due to rock impacts resulted from oncoming vehicles flinging them at me. Mud flaps may not have prevented those rocks. Fender flares and more luck may have helped.

Gen Right carres the whole set up for relocating the plate and third break lights. I just had to order it myself rescently

Lud wrote:Trash I think I'll be taking you up on some help on getting this stuff mounted up. I'll go get some flaps soon and let you know.

The very same material that is used to make mud flaps can be used to make a small receiver style setup to mount the license plate with light and a 3rd brake light. Check out superbrightleds.com for some ideas on what to use for the brake light and get some lighted bolts from schmuks for the plate. Simple stuff, no need to over complicate it right?

I only bought the lights from the place on the internet and them made the mounts

What's the legal definition of "street rod"

tenikiwon2 wrote:What's the legal definition of "street rod"

I'm almost positive it is not going to be a Suzuki Samurai.

JK

Nope, not a Zuki. Think if the GMC was 4x4, it'd count