That is the exact thing I pictured

 

That's pretty freaking cool

 

Hyakkimaru,

What is the distance from the bottom of your mudflaps to the ground, as installed in the photo in Post # 1?

 

9 inches. And some more text scince just "9 inches" is to short (that's what she said) to let me post.

 

Might try raising the bottoms of the mudflaps up 3 inches, to leave 12" between the bottom of the mudfap and the gound.

 

Will the mud flap been be blocking anything anymore at that height? Really considering just ripping them off

 

Sounds like a test question...

 

Look into Husky brand molded flaps.
They are nice and molded to fit your truck and are not 1 size fits all.
I have them on my Dually and no problems so far.

 

This physics/math problem is oddly lacking in numbers.

 

Yet is is rich with clues.

The wheel is rolling (rotational motion) without slipping (has traction as it moves, which rules out spinning in place) along a horizontal road, from left to right (linear motion).

The question, like any test question, is a trick question (and like any trick question, conceals or omits substance in the attempt to trick)... that seems to ask what forces (centripetal, tangential, gravitational, et al) would exert the most influence on the initial direction of the path followed by the particle at the moment and point of separation from a body that is moving rotationally and linearly in an established direction... and not the magnitude of the vector. I'm just guessing that is why no numerical values were incorporated into the question.

The answer, like anything else, can be found on YouTube.


In the bedless Chevy squarebody video above, the far (passenger side) drive tire nearly always exhibits "E" (indicating the prevailing centripetal force).

The slipping (driver's side) tire, while spinning in place, appears to indicate tangential forces at first, however recognize that the water debris being thrust aft is released at Point P, not Point M, as defined in the test question.

Once the driver's side tire hooks up at the bottom of the mud pit and moves linearly as well as rotationally, the lugs on the tire carry the debris higher to release point M, where the driver's side tire mimics the rooster tail forward throw of the passenger side tire as the truck crawls out of the pit.

In other words, as long as Tristan's truck has traction on the highway, a mud flap that is 12" from the ground will be sufficient to prevent rocks released from his meaty tires from being hurled at a high enough trajectory to hit a windshield of a following motorist, at any speed, before being stopped by said mudflap.

If Tristan is doing burnouts, spinning in place, on a gravel field, where debris is jettisoned backwards at Point P, the contact patch, instead of Point M, that would be different. However, the tangential direction in that case would be clocked low enough that the rocks would hit the ground before hitting the windshield, and any motorist who tailgates Tristan doing burnouts in gravel field probably deserves a few rock chips for being in Tristan's way of a good time.

Stiffening the rear mudflaps (to prevent them swinging forward towards the tires, or being pushed forward when backing into piles of dirt) might also help. But reducing the length of the mudflap (cutting them off to raise the bottoms to 12" from the ground") will simultaneously reduce the swing arc radius, so stiffening might not be necessary if shortening.

 

I'll have to go back through the thread but in your OP I was looking specifically for if you backed up...ding ding ding, backing up is what always rips off mud flaps. You have to be extremely careful, not sure of a good solution. that's how big truck mudflaps get ripped off too. You have to have an eye on them. one little bump of dirt, curb or whatever will ****** them right up

 

I've seen a lot of mudflaps on 3/4 and one ton flatbeds, and 1 1/2 ton trucks get destroyed by the tail pipe too. The mud flap is usually just behind where the tail pipe exits behind one of the rear tires. The mud flap contacts the hot tail pipe when it swings, eventually melting a hole through the mud flap. This is especially bad on post-emissions diesels where the exhaust is extremely hot after a DPF regeneration. I would recommend having an exhaust that dumps beneath the truck body behind the cab like a two-ton truck's exhaust does on a vehicle with mud flaps, this is what I have on my flatbed and it works well.