We have had some warm weather here the past week or so and i decided it was time to do a full out inspection of the patriot. The day i brought her home we had 17 inches of snow so i didnt get to do the full once over like i wanted to.

I was looking at the front suspension trying to see were larger tires would hit and i noticed something.

The Struts in the front have the usual spring seat but then they also have a guard that pertrudes out towards the tire and attaches at just 2 small points on the spring seat. Couldnt this guard be simply cut off to give you more room to fit larger tires. Its obviously there for safety reasons having to so with the spring failing and punctoring the tire but im guessing larger tires are more at risk anyways since they are so close to this guard as it is.

If you could cut this off it would prolly give almost 2 more inches of clearence between the strut and tire. If you get the right offset you could fit a larger tire right up were the guard was removed.

Thoughts?

I will try to get a picture of this later. Im at work with nothing to do and was thinking about this.

p.s sorry for the title i didnt proof read. Mods help!

You would still want to have some sort of spring retainer I would think. I too need to inspect it a little more. The biggest problem, though, is that you are eventually just going to run out of room in the wheelwell for a larger tire. Time to get out the sawzall. :D

You would still want to have some sort of spring retainer I would think. I too need to inspect it a little more. The biggest problem, though, is that you are eventually just going to run out of room in the wheelwell for a larger tire. Time to get out the sawzall. :D

If you look tho this isnt even part of the spring retainer. It is just like an extra piece on the edge of the strut. Im pretty sure its just a guard for if the coil spring was ever to fail so it doesnt shoot into the tire.

And yeah your right the wheel wells really do limit the tire size for the most part, but removing this piece may be just enough to fit those tires that are just over 30" on the stock 17's. :smiley_thumbs_up:

You can see a clear view of the piece im talking about in this pic hijacked from the RRO install thread



http://lh6.google.com/hvac59/R6TNVBCtndI/AAAAAAAAAss/SprWMQTE5q8/s288/08%20MK%

Hmm...this may answer my concerns about what tire chains to use...we have several mountain passes that "require chains to be carried" thoughout the year. I'll be watching this thread to see if any of you remove this scrap of metal and how things work!

I carry the chains from my Jimmy to get past any possible roadblocks, but they'll never fit the Jeep tightly enough to drive more than 5 kph.

Look I do not want to participate here too much but I also do not want any of you getting hurt... but cutting that spring catch could be very dangerous as it actively catches the spring nearly every time the suspension is compressed. This was verified by lifting the front using a jack on the front suspension...

If you were to cut that "scrap piece of metal" the coil spring will compress to the point where it rubs the tire. The perch is the part where the spring always rests compressed or not. The part that larger tires would rub on is the spring catch.

The spring catch has been discussed multiple times on this forum and other forums. (hint, hint)

For more information you may want to read this thread from page 4 on...

http://www.jeeppatriot.com/forum/showthread.php?t=4450&highlight=spring+catch&page=4

Look I do not want to participate here too much but I also do not want any of you getting hurt... but cutting that spring catch could be very dangerous as it actively catches the spring nearly every time the suspension is compressed. This was verified by lifting the front using a jack on the front suspension...

If you were to cut that "scrap piece of metal" the coil spring will compress to the point where it rubs the tire. The perch is the part where the spring always rests compressed or not. The part that larger tires would rub on is the spring catch.

The spring catch has been discussed multiple times on this forum and other forums. (hint, hint)

For more information you may want to read this thread from page 4 on...

http://www.jeeppatriot.com/forum/showthread.php?t=4450&highlight=spring+catch&page=4

I took a closer look at this yesterday and saw that the coil spring actually gets larger in diameter as it moves up into the wheel well. Its hard to tell with the vehicle sitting flat so i didnt notice that. Sorry for the missinformation. but hey at least im trying to contribute usefull information to the site unlike some of the other people on here that only come to complain about them selves, lives, patriot, other cars :icon_rolleyes:

Closed at thread starters request... as it turns out this may not work as well as originally thought. It's always nice to see people trying to push the envelope though so remember that everyone is welcome to share their ideas and expereinces whether they work or not! The worst that can happen is that you get a few other member's opinions!

Thanks!