Truck Plates for XJ

I was wondering if anyone knows if you can get truck plates for an XJ in PA. I got pulled over and my rear bumper measures 28" high and my front measures 27", The cop said the legal limit for a vehicle with standard plates is 22". If anyone has any input that would help.

Google yourself the PA license plate department and find out.

Now that sucks. I have tried to get mine registered as a truck but the local Pendot service center said I could not do it. Of course the 20 yr old behind the counter may be worng. I have to go to Harrisburg here in a week or 2 and I thought about stopping by DOT when I am down there.

XJ's are SW's (station wagons) so we are limited to 22". Hell I think stock I was above that. Now that I am sitting at almost 30". By the way what town cop pulled you over so I can stay out of it.

Yeah, I'm kinda pissed about this! I lost my 34's for now and went back to 31's for winter, but I would stay out of Pittsburgh.

gotta love the south. we have f-250's rolling around on 46's with 12 inch lifts and no one says a thing.

XgeekstarX said:

gotta love the south. we have f-250's rolling around on 46's with 12 inch lifts and no one says a thing.

Click to expand...

I was in Indiana in a 15pax van and looked out the rear window (5 feet up in the air) and saw the grill of a big F-250. I could even see a skid plate as we pulled away from the traffic light.

back to topic, though... PA has been getting annoying with their anti-lift & anti-big tires laws. My club (Delaware) has a couple members who live on both sides of the DE/PA border. In addition to the low height requirements, it's illegal to run YJ or TJs without doors (CJs should be exempt since doors were optional from the factory) and wheels can't peek outside the flares. Some areas enforce it more than others. We're doing a ride at Rausch Creek this weekend, we'll see if anybody gets pulled over.

Yeah, my tires stick out of the flares about 3 inches so I always make sure to have my small tires on during inspection time.

A friend of mine had the same problem with getting pulled over for lift(I just found out). He the same thing, that he can't get truck plates because it's considered a station waggon.

XgeekstarX said:

gotta love the south. we have f-250's rolling around on 46's with 12 inch lifts and no one says a thing.

Click to expand...

Having seen the results of an accident between one of these and a Rabbit many moons ago, I gotta say that I'm in favor of draconian bumper-height laws.

If you want a trail rig, build a trail rig. But please keep it off the highways!

Den

did you get cited and fined? or just warned? i wouldn't worry about it if it was just a warning and it has never happened before...he's prolly just a prick and he happened to be bored that night. i got pulled over and a written warning for no doors on my cherokee out in wyomissing PA (near Reading) and it certainly wont and hasnt been the last time i drive without them. i'v never heard of a bumper height law though...that sucks. i can't imagine drop bumpers on a cherokee, that would just be wrong

muddygp said:

did you get cited and fined? or just warned? i wouldn't worry about it if it was just a warning and it has never happened before...he's prolly just a prick and he happened to be bored that night. i got pulled over and a written warning for no doors on my cherokee out in wyomissing PA (near Reading) and it certainly wont and hasnt been the last time i drive without them. i'v never heard of a bumper height law though...that sucks. i can't imagine drop bumpers on a cherokee, that would just be wrong

Click to expand...

In Virginia....

Jeeps, Samurais, Broncos and Internationals etc without a DETATCHED BED or considered a PANEL TRUCK are NOT included in this range. They consider these PASENGER vehicles and do NOT list a GVWR rating on the vehicles registration. Passenger vehicles have a max. bumper height of 22"

LIFT LAWS
http://www.truckworld.com/How-To-Tech/97-lift-laws/lift-laws.html

I have not been pulled over.. "yet"....

Ok I did some searching and found some more info on the law. This excerpt came from the pa bulletin for inspection mechanics. Here is the link to the bulletin. http://www.pabulletin.com/secure/data/vol28/28-46/28-46.pdf

(iii) Some part of the main horizontal bumper bar, exclusive of bumper guards, on passenger [vehicles] cars, multipurpose passenger vehicles and light trucks does not fall within 16[--20] inches above ground level or exceeds the following limits:

Maximum Height
Front Rear
Bumper Bumper
Vehicle Class or Frame or Frame
Passenger cars 22 inches 22 inches
Trucks and multipurpose passenger vehicles 5,000 lbs. or less 24 inches 26 inches
5,001 lbs.--7,000 lbs. 27 inches 29 inches
7,001 lbs.--9,000 lbs. 28 inches 30 inches
9,001 lbs.--11,000 lbs. 30 inches 30 inches

(iv) [Some part of the horizontal bumper bar on multipurpose passenger vehicles and light trucks does not fall within 16--30 inches above ground level.] The height measurement shall be made to the bottom of the foremost portion of the frame rail, or to the original mounting brackets, whichever is lower, if one of the following apply:

(A) The bumper height, relative to the frame rail, has been altered.

(B) The vehicle was not originally equipped with a front or rear bumper.

(C) A supplemental bumper has been added.

(D) The manufacturer's specified bumper has been replaced with a bumper not identical to the manufacturer's specified bumper.

I just got a warning, but I took my 34's off for 31's for now. The height isn't as noticable now. Thanks for the help

ok,,the problem is that there's 2 code's book's. one is used for inspection and one is what the police use for enforcing traffic law's.
A) you may run a jeep with no door's in Pa. and with only 1 mirror.

f) Doors. A vehicle specified under this subchapter shall be equipped with doors of a type used as original equipment. The doors shall open and close securely unless the vehicle has been manufactured or modified to the extent that there is no roof or side

Click to expand...

sorry guy's,,this definately leave's XJ's off this list till you chop it....

as far as bumper height you'll hafta fight for that one,, some say they are multi-purpose vehicles and they can have 30" bumper height and other's say no. if you bring enough contradictory paperwork to court the judge may just dismiss it

oh and you will never be able to get a truck tag for an XJ, it's considered a station wagon or passenger car, just like the fullsize K-5 chevy blazer's of old.

I run truck plates here in Missouri. If you have an SUV, the Dept. of Revenue gives you a choice. Truck plates cost more though....

Anybody notice a common theme to most of these threads? "In my state, we..." doesn't mean a stinkin' thing to the original poster, who wanted to know about the laws in a particular state. The only source for reliable info on that would be that state's statutes - not third-hand guesstimates from people who have never been there.

Yucca-Man said:

Anybody notice a common theme to most of these threads? "In my state, we..." doesn't mean a stinkin' thing to the original poster, who wanted to know about the laws in a particular state. The only source for reliable info on that would be that state's statutes - not third-hand guesstimates from people who have never been there.

Click to expand...

covering my own post here.... the reason I posted the info on Va. is that they are cracking down more on lifted vehicles here and alot of people are trying to find out what exactly is legal.. and I did also put the link to all states lift laws

:cheers:

Gotta love PA. I haven't yet been pulled over for bumper height in my YJ (and hopefully never will), but realize that sometimes they'll get you for differences between model years, even if the two vehicles are registered exactly the same.

Example: I put rectangular fog lights on the bumper of my '98 XJ, similar to the ones that came on pre-'97 XJs from the factory. The mechanic (and friend ) who inspected the Cherokee told me that a cop has the right to fine me for "vehicle code infringement" for these lights... not because they're large (they are), not because they're uncovered (they are), and not because they make my vehicle exceed the 150,000 candlepower limit in PA's vehicle code (which they probably do). The lights are illegal because of their location. It doesn't matter if older Cherokees used them... that's legal because the factory did it. I don't even have factory fog lights on my '98, so it's not like I'm trying to blind the world. It's a little ridiculous that what's legal for one thing isn't legal for another, even if it's an identical situation.

I looked into getting truck plates for my YJ after I got fined for tire size. My zealousness died off after I sucked it up, bought wider flares, and forgot about it. I never did find a concrete answer, but my research was leading into the direction of "sorry, try again."

Living at the edge of the law can be such a headache with lifted vehicles.

iroc86,

so are you saying that it is illegal to mount fog lights in anywhere but the area where the factory would mount them? what about other things, such as say, i highlift jack mounted in this area? is it illegal to mount tow hooks in areas where the factory wouldnt mount them? as you can see im a PA resident and your post has simply made me currious. hopefully you can clarify a little..thanks

muddygp said:

iroc86,

so are you saying that it is illegal to mount fog lights in anywhere but the area where the factory would mount them? what about other things, such as say, i highlift jack mounted in this area? is it illegal to mount tow hooks in areas where the factory wouldnt mount them? as you can see im a PA resident and your post has simply made me currious. hopefully you can clarify a little..thanks

Click to expand...

The law in PA is so patchy that it's ridiculous. I own three vehicles, an XJ with two inches and factory tires; a YJ with five inches and 33s; and a Camaro IROC-Z. I've ran into legal nuances with each one.

I don't think there's a set law regarding fog light placement. As I mentioned above, what's legal on a 1996 XJ is illegal on my '98, even if functionality is identical. The YJ, on the other hand, has set of fog lights and driving lights, plus the factory headlights. I've even added lights to the bumper because the factory headlights piss other drivers off (I only use the bumper lights and fogs at night; kinda looks like '65-'68 Cadillac ).



To be legal, I have to cover the fog lights on the XJ because they're not in a "factory" location. The YJ, on the other hand, is completely legal with the "illumination overkill" that I have going on. I even called the police department just to be sure, and they said that my extra lights only needed covered if they were above the factory headlights. But, they mentioned, that law isn't even enforced in my county. :huh:

It gets better. I used to run a Hi-Lift jack on my front bumper. When I added the bumper headlights, I moved it to my tire carrier. Never once was I stopped for that. It didn't matter that I had a bright-red hunk of metal attached to the front bumper, with the mounting bolts acting as spikes against anything that I ran into.

I'm not sure about tow hooks. As you can see, the YJ's are mounted on the front crusher, serving as little claws. I'm not sure that this matters.

The cop that pulled me over for tire width never bothered to check my front bumper against his little tape measure. Why pickup trucks aren't hassled is beyond me.

Now, my Camaro is insured as a classic vehicle. This means that I get insane insurance discounts as long as I don't put more than 5,000 miles on it annually. It also exempts me from emissions testing. I can remove the catalytic converter, pass inspection, and be totally legal. This is because my county (Westmoreland) does not require a visual inspection of classic vehicles. Now, if I lived a few miles away in another county, I would need a cat to pass inspection -- even if emissions weren't actually tested. The laws are incredibly convoluted.

I'm not even sure if you can get a straight answer regarding a lot of these things. What's required for inspection may not be the same as what's legal to a cop, and it may be different depending on where you live.