Measure frame vs bumpers / VA law

[James Morse]

Code of Virginia Code - Article 8. Steering and Suspension Systems
As noted in another thread it says "in cases where bumper heights have been lowered, height measurements under the foregoing provisions of this section shall be made to the bottom of the frame rail."
Rule for me is front, no lower than 14" and no higher than 29", rear, no lower than 14" and no higher than 30".
Let's say bottom of frame rail is at 22" to 28" just for an example in a lifted truck. As I read it, then it's legal based on the frame rail no matter where the bumper is, which makes no sense.
I think I have to ask my inspection guys how that law is applied - not a concern today, but could be in the future.
Typical confusing legalese.

 

[don4331]

If you lift your truck, you can't just lower the bumper back down and call it legal.

Should you lift your truck, they have the option of measuring the frame rails rather than just the bumper. So, you can't just get cagey with your bumper mounts.

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

Like a lot of laws, it’s about as clear as mud. I’ve also found that the average police officer doesn’t know inspection laws at all.

I had a couple officers once insist that my choptop needs mud flaps, yet my states inspection law says that if a vehicle didn’t come factory with mud flaps, you don’t have to add them, but if it did, then the mud flaps must cover a specific amount of the tire (there’s a whole formula for it based on an angle from the base of the tire where it contacts the road), yet most vehicles from the factory with mud flaps on a totally stock vehicle fail to meet those requirements. So as is typical, the people who wrote the law have no idea what they are talking about and the people enforcing the law don’t often understand what they are enforcing. Makes it confusing to the rest of us. Generally speaking though, if you’re not doing something blatant to draw attention to yourself, you’ll likely be left alone.

My understanding of how the frame/bumper height law goes is that the frame height got put in there to keep Joe Six-pack from putting a 12” suspension lift and 6” body lift on his full size truck with 44” tires and just making a pair of gigantic plate bumpers that extend down far enough to meet the bumper height limits.

It’s also there to restrict people who want to lower their vehicle so it scrapes the pavement if it’s not pool table flat. The idea is to keep everyone on the road on as level of a playing field as possible in a wreck. Thus if Joe Blow in his frame dragger ends up in a wreck with Joe Six-pack and his nosebleed lifted truck, the low vehicle can go under the lifted and cause significantly more damage than if their bumpers met. It’s more of a safety thing.

If you don’t have an obviously oversized bumper to get around the height law, that’s what will likely be checked. But there is no arguing over frame height, so that’s your ideal limits.

 

[fastpakr]

It’s also there to restrict people who want to lower their vehicle so it scrapes the pavement if it’s not pool table flat. The idea is to keep everyone on the road on as level of a playing field as possible in a wreck. Thus if Joe Blow in his frame dragger ends up in a wreck with Joe Six-pack and his nosebleed lifted truck, the low vehicle can go under the lifted and cause significantly more damage than if their bumpers met. It’s more of a safety thing.

If you don’t have an obviously oversized bumper to get around the height law, that’s what will likely be checked. But there is no arguing over frame height, so that’s your ideal limits.

Exactly - it's mostly to avoid turning any more people into Jane Mansfield.

 

[James Morse]

Well - then it sounds like what you all are saying is, if you lower the bumper, the frame rail at the bottom cannot be less than 14" and it cannot be higher than 29/30 f/r.
If you lowered the bumper because it was too high after lift, your frame rails will never be less than 14" (because of the lift) and if the bumper is even to the frame rail because of the mounts (assumption) then it also will never be less than 14" but if it is (unlikely) it's still legal (this makes no sense).
If the bottom of the frame rail is at, say, 28", that's ok since it's under the limit, but think about where the bumper would be then! really high!!! way over the normal limit for its top unless it's like 1" high which is I suppose possible.
I think what they meant to say is if you lowered the bumper to meet regs, then, it ALSO has to meet the same limits measured at the frame rail's bottom.
Too low is certainly an issue, just, not for me in this vehicle.

 

[Curious Hound]

If you lift the truck and the frame is too high, but then lower the bumper to be in spec, in many cases the bumper would fold under the frame and the higher frame, carrying the momentum for your truck, would just crash through the other vehicle above it’s crash protection. So, the lower bumper would not be effective in most cases because people would be too cheap and lazy to engineer it properly.

When you look at the rear of a semi trailer. That bumper frame assembly has very strong triangular bracing leading back up to the frame so that the lower par can’t fold when a little car hits it.