tire rubbing

I have a 98 XLT 4X4 that rubs on the drivers side at the top of the wheel well there is a piece about an 8th" wide, and maybe 8" long that drops down in the center of the wheel well, and now the tires seem to have worn a small hole down the spine of the plastic. I am running 31X10.5, 15's on my X, and have looked inside the wheel well, and never noticed anythinng until my last off road trip and I did not notice any rubbing but felt as if I had bottomed out a few times. Now this has me a little worried because I can't do any type of lift for at least a few months, and I am wondering if there are any sensitive components under or near the area where the tire is rubbing the long thin hole through the plastic, or is it really something that can be cut off and not to worry about, and btw is it possible that new shocks would fix the problem? This is the only place I've found any evidence of the tires rubbing, the other 3 wheels wells show no signs of rubbing anywhere( except on spot that was caused from extreme flex).

Again thanks in advance and I hope someone can give me a hand with this one.

 

[spiper]

Do you have a broken spring?

 

[Robert]

See my reply to your other post. Basically it is not uncommon for oversized tires to rub somewhere especially when the suspension bottoms out. If this is the only time it is rubbing I wouldn't be concerned about it. My 32" tires did the same thing for a year before I put on my body lift. It never hurt anything nor got any worse.

 

[Alec]

This is similar to ok89's problem with his stock tires. Just cut that "spline" from the wheel well.

 

[Big Bear Bob]

Thanks for the response, I just wasn't sure if there might be something vital aligned behind the spine, or if it just a void. It seems odd that Ford would put a spine there for no apparent reason and I kind of thought it might give me an excuse to get a new set shocks too.. Sears has the free installation on Monroes until the 27th.

BTW the last four-wheel drive I owned was a 1986 two door Montero with a 2.8L four cylinder and 5 speed manual trans. It was a very simple machine, no auto four-wheel drive, in fact no four wheel drive on the fly above 35 mph. There were no spines in any of the Wheel wells, it was kind of like working on an old late 60's or early 70's truck, very easy to work on but had none of the cool features the X has. I just wanted to be sure there would not be any problems like breaking some sensor vital electric wiring or whatever that might be hidden behind the spine.

Again thanks for the responses and patience with the newbie.

 

[Robert]

There is probably something slightly heavy mounted to the plastic liner inside the engine compartment or above it. The spline is there for strengthening. There isn't anything in the void though. I wouldn't cut it off. As long as the tire only contacts it under full compression, you aren't going to hurt the tire. If you cut the spline off, you risk weakening it or opening up a large hole for rain to shower everything inside your engine compartment on that side.

 

[Alec]

Well, when I suggested to ok89 that he cut it, I also suggested putting in a little filler strip of plastic to keep stuff out. You could screw a thin strip of aluminum to the gap with short self-tapping screws. This would add some strength back and provide cover.

 

[Robert]

Sorry Alec, I didn't see it "This is similar to ok89's problem with his stock tires. Just cut that "spline" from the wheel well." I still wouldn't recommend cutting it off since it won't cause a problem to just leave it on and let the tire hit it every once and a while.

 

[Big Bear Bob]

Thanks again guys. I've run the truck off road in some pretty rough terrain in the past with no rubbing on the spline, but last time out the front end caught a little air and bottomed out. The damage looks about the same as the other guys (slightly worn through the top middle of the spline that is). By the way I have never had a problem with it rubbing while it is being driven on road.

After reading your posts I think I'll fill the open area with some sort of filler and repeat as needed until I need to cut it down and have a piece of metal or whatever over the hole.

But I still wonder if changing shocks might take care of the rubbing. I'm running the original shocks with 78,000 miles on them, and have to wonder if putting a set of Monroe's Sensatracks or Gabriel's VST's keep the front end from bottoming out and put an end to the rubbing.

If not I think I will just take your advice and leave it alone and reinforce the spline area as suggested and do a 1.5" lift when I can convince my wife we need it.