West Virginia Number Plate

&

Inspection Sticker

!

1/12/05

4X4 ICON 2000 - 2008 The DVD!

Finally I had enough time to shoot over to the WV DMV and get my state registration.  It was fairly easy - I gave them my title and lots of money (for the tax they levy when you move into the state with vehicles...) and they gave me this tag to use until I get my personalized West Virginia tag sent to me...

2/3/05  It finally came!  It's "OK".  I think I should have gotten "4X4ICON" instead (no space) since the "4" bleeds into the background and does not stand off as nicely...  Oh well...

Front Number Plate
Holder with the old winch and Maryland Plate (Now destroyed...)
Now that I didn't have to put a front number plate on the Jeep, I had this front plate holder with no official purpose in life.  I decided that I wanted to keep it on there to protect the front of the winch from flying debris, water and whatever might blow up from the road.  Here is some info about how it is constructed. I had heard people use Mag Lite flash light clips to snap the plate onto the roller fairlead so that's what I did.  The clips are pretty beefy plastic so it looked like a good solution.
	The only problem is that when I assembled it, I tightened the nuts and bolts too much and cracked the plastic, ruining the clips.  I bought another set of clips and used some washers to spread the pressure out some, and used lock washers and thread locker to allow me to just barely tighten the bolts to the clips and to a spare number plate that I used as a backing plate.   I will also have to remember to remove the license plate from the roller fairlead by releasing the ears of the clip rather than just grabbing the plate and yanking it off...
I reattached the license plate frame, cover and license plate to the "backing plate" and clips using four stainless nut/bolts.  It came out looking very clean.  I may add a short length of chain or cable to tether the plate to prevent loss or theft.
My temporary solution to this new "no front plate required" situation was to put a trail leader magnet in the frame as a place holder.
About a week later, the tag I ordered for the front arrived:

I have ordered a special tag to put on the rear... More when my personalized tag arrives!

I finally got my drivers license and registration done. So it was time to go to the inspection place. I was going to the Jeep dealer because I figured they'd know the vehicle better and it would go well. But they were closed so I drove up the street aways and found a garage that was open and would take me.

They drove the Jeep in and got it lined up for the lift. They did the walk-around and one of the guys says "You're going to have a 'modified' vehicle sticker." So I asked why?

"You have tires two sizes oversized and they don't come with Jeeps." Huh? I'm running 31's, a stock size on the Rubicon. I even have Rubicon flares to get them under cover. "Yeah that's nice but your sticker in your door says it came with 205's so it's modified..."

OK, fine whatever. I'd like to know if this is the kiss of death or something but moving right along they found that one of my front hubs has a little play in it. I don't mind about that because I do try to keep the hardware in check but I was a little surprised they'd get so sticky as to say that the vehicle is modified just because I have a different (and stock) tire size on board.

So now I have this big vertical sticker on my windshield. I feel like Hester Pryne and the damn thing keeps distracting my line of sight.

Welcome to WV, right?

To be fair, the other guy that was doing the inspection kept noticing things about the Heep and was very interested. We got to talking wheeling and it turns out he's into it as well. So it went pretty well except for that one "technicality".

I don't mind them doing their job but it seemed strange that I can order the size tires on my vehicle factory but they're considered a modification if I buy them later. I guess if there is no stigma attached to the modified sticker it, then I don't care. I heard a few people saying "try not to get one" so I thought it was a problem.

Back in Maryland we got it inspected once and that was it.  I'm just having trouble adjusting I guess!

---