Space Monkey

Hey guys,

I just installed a Rock Krawler 2.5 X-Factor with Bilstein 5100's on my 2012 2Dr Sport. I went and got it aligned by a mechanic that does all the local Jeep build alignments as he was well respected in the local area and was experienced with fully adjustable suspension links.

My problem was that he basically zero'd out everything with a small amount of Toe In. Now i know the Toe In should be .125 or 1/8" for the jeep to steer correctly, but i though it was normal to have 4-5 degrees of caster also?

I asked him directly about it and he stated that the caster angle causes death wobble and used a shopping cart wheel as an example. Since he is the professional I took his word for it, but after researching, i cant find anything to back it up. Anyone wanna let me know if its right?

Now the truck drives great until about 60MPH where i can start to feel it shake, but im not sure if the wheels need balancing. Thats next on the list.


Thanks,

mpkelley20

Caster should be in the 4 to 4.5 range. Definitley not zero. Steering will suck as you will be floating all over the place. It's true that too much caster can cause vibrations (not sure on DW). The more caster, the better your steering will feel....to a point where virbrations come into play and you could grenade your driveshaft. I know JKF writeups in the past have said 5 to 6 degrees caster but I tried that and the vibrations was too much. I spoke to RK and they said 4.5 so I reset it to as close as I could get (4.25) and it feels good.


If you are feeling solid straight steering, I highly doubt you are running much less than 4 degrees in caster but I could be wrong. If anything, with the vibrations you get, you could be as high as 6-7 unless the vibration is coming from your wheels.

Do you have a printout of the alingment you can post?

kjeeper10

Yea sure he meant 0 or nominal or middle of stock specs? I sent you a PM

DunnyBunny

Can you shoot me a pic of your rear control arms installed. Specifically of the axle side joints. Thanks.

kjeeper10

What's up bunny ?

D_engel

This guy is a dummy. You want ideally 4-6* of caster, if not more, but 4-5 will suit you just fine. Zero is just crazy talk. You wont be able to keep the Jeep in its lane.

SpicedCrusher

Post your spec print out or at least the measurements. It can be hard to decipher posts sometimes and what someone actually means. But you definitely don't want a zero caster although I am sure any decent alignment tech would know that, especially if this is the local jeep build guy.

DunnyBunny

Nothing much finally got my xfactor installed. But it was originally a flex turned into an xfactor and I have a bit of thread after the jam nut on the rear lowers. Just want to see what his looks like.

WARLOCK

with RK x factor 2.5 you can easily adjust your caster to 4.2 degree without having any excessive pignon angle and driveline issues. I tought the controls arms was already pre ajusted for a correct caster by RK. I know metalcloak controls arms comes pre ajusted correctly for 2.5 to 3.5" lift.

Invest2m4

MC comes adjusted for 3.5"-4" of lift. Regardless, it's meant to be in the ball park so you can drive to get an alignment. And by pre-adjusted, it should mean they give you lengths in the instructions. Things move around and the arms will need adjusting regardless.

MC recommends 5* of caster. Stock is 4.2*. Some recommend outside of those specs. Really depends on your setup and what works for you.