Question: More or less tire rub with long-travel?

Just curious. Self-explanatory title.

You can just answer by saying, "more" or "less".

 

Less, because you're moving the pivot point out away from the truck.

 

Huh. Interesting . . . usually when you move the wheel farther away from the wheel well (-offset) you would get more rubbing but I see your point
Thanks for your response

 

That's true but when you decrease offset or install wheel spacers, you're moving the wheel centerline further away from the pivot point(ball joint) creating a wider swing arc which leads to more rubbing. In the case of long travel, you're moving both the wheel and pivot point outwards keeping the swing arc the same. The key factor in this is the distance between the pivot point and the centerline of the wheel.

 

More. Analogy of swingin' a door wider in a crowded room.

 

So more AND less rubbing?

 

Really it depends on how much travel you are utilizing. Steer to the right while compressing the suspension, I'm visualizing increased odds of rub.

 

wonder how many truck builders vaguely generalize this point.

 

I see. Wait, so does it rub more when steering right vs. left? Or did you just pick a random direction?

 

Most LT guys run glass and aftermarket bumpers to eliminate any rubbing you would get on fenders or bumpers from widening the stance

 

Yeah, that's pretty true--I think, with LT + fiberglass + bumper, you'd generally get less rubbing :\

 

I did my best to draw it to scale. On both, the firewall and frame are the same size, as well as the tire. Both control arms “mount” in the same spot on the frame.

Hopefully this helps visualize it better.

This is if you had a birds eye view.

 

Random. You basically (should) have two different motions. The tire is swinging up and down while keeping it's x axis orientation but ever so slightly sliding back and forth across the z axis, and steering causes the tire to rotate around the y axis. Remember that it is a cylinder inside of a cylinder, (tire inside of fender), not a sphere. Cylinders have corners, and with the complicated motions of suspension, corners can rub in spots.

Which makes the answer complicated. Depending on how much you kick it out, where its lifted, how its aligned, how much up-travel it has, and how large your tire is, it could rub more, or it could rub less.