Blue Mesa

Wow,

1 degree is pretty severe! Must be wandering all over the place.

Be sure you set the angle finder on the ground first or ensure you're on level ground, otherwise it will miss lead you. But if you've raised things, it's gonna go down from factory setting (4.2 I believe).

BTW I have mine in the 7 - 8 range.

Blue Mesa

RevyJKU08

Believe it....my 35x12.5R18 Toyo M/T's on my diesel with MKW alloy rims ZERO weight on the tires...no shimmy, shake or vibration and still after 50,000 Kilometers on them....still no shake or vibration. It shocked the crap out of me!!!!

Smoke6

Thanks for the info. Is yours pretty close to stock handleing at 7-8 degrees?

Blue Mesa

Yes. I put in adjustable top arms first and it got me to 5 - 6 degrees. I still didn't like it. Others (Wayolife - administrater), suggested it needed to be closer to 7 - 8 to get back to stock feel, so I put in adjustable bottoms too.

It is great now. Very comfortable to drive. One hand on the wheel. No longer the feeling of being on ice etc...

Hope that helps.

Blue Mesa

Rubicon Rando

it was pretty windy up here today, and it was a bit of a white knuckle drive on the highway. i thought it was because of my undersized steering stabilizer (i got sick of paying 70-80 bux a pop for new ones and stole one from a TJ axle, so that probably doesnt help) but i guess should check my caster... i figured it would be out, but after seeing 1 degree of caster, it just jumped to the top of my to do list.

thanks for bringing this to my attention

Zylfrax791

Flighty steering? Thats because when you install longer springs or spacers you are effectively shortening the wheel base and also changing the caster. Short and Long Arm kits, if they are made properly compensate for this by adding some additional length which brings back the correct geometry. Some arms even have adjustment so you can fine tune it as well. If a vechicle has excessive toe-in which is typical with a lift the steering will be overly sensitive and with excessive toe-out it will transversly cause the vehicle to wander and feel unstable. It will also follow the grooves in the road and make you feel like you don't have control.

2 people and a tape measure before and after a lift can detect the difference quite readily. Measure the distance from the midpoint on the outer edge on the back of the front tires and then the midpoint on the outer edge of the front tires and you can see real quick what happened. Also measure the wheelbase before and after.

A good example of the effects of even a very small increment of change in caster can be found in motocross bikes. In the mid to late 90's Honda and Suzuki had quite a steep rake and as a result would turn on a dime but their high speed stabilty was awful resulting in whats called "head shake" which is basically a terrible oscillation that you felt transmitted through the handlebars and caused you to let off the power because on the intense shaking felt in your arms and shoulders. On the other hand, Kawasaki and Yamaha increased the rake of their forks which made them handle like a dream at high speed over rough terrain but when you came into a corner it was quite difficult to turn. It doesn't matter anymore as a little stabilizer has been added to tame this problem. Anyway, so much for Suspension 101...

Smoke6

Alright, so when I install my new adjustable CAs do I have to disconnect BOTH uppers and lowers from the front axle to get the axle to proper caster? Or can I get enough movement by installing uppers while having the lowers in-tact and vice versa? Does that make any sense? HAHA

bly109

I followed WOL's full traction write-up when I did mine. I did the lowers first and then the uppers. It did take some wrestling with the axle to get the bolts to realign. An extra hand (or foot lol) wouldve made things much easier.

Edit: Or were you asking if you can get enough caster adj by only replacing the lowers or uppers? Im not 100% sure, but I think you can. The alxe just wont be as centered under the springs.

Smoke6

You got with your first answer. Ideally, I'll replace both LCAs & UCAs. It had crossed my mind to just do uppers 1st since my LCAs are FT (not adjustable).

Thanks, 6

bly109

lol, ok I thought so, but then I reread your post and wasnt sure. I only had one set disconnected at a time. And even with the frame on jackstands, it was a pain in the ass to get the bolts back in. The axle did not want cooperate! If I wouldve had someone there to just hold the axle while I put the bolts in, it wouldve been alot easier.

I would check the length on your lowers compared to the stock ones. You might be ok with just uppers. Or at least closer to an acceptable caster until you decide to replace lowers too. I think I set the lowers to 3/8 longer then stock and the uppers an 1/8" longer I ended up with 5 degrees, It handles ok, but I think it will be even better at 6-7. When I have another free day (preferably a warm one), I plan on readjusting them.