jameswharton

After my 2.5" lift on my Unlimited, I noticed some dartyness due to the caster change. Not so much to be dangerous or not driveable, but a slight annoyance. I don't want to use cam bolts, just don't like them. I could buy adjustable lowers, I think Rusty's is the least expensive I've found, but I have all the fab equipment to just extend the factory lowers...if I knew how much I needed to lengthen them to put me at about 5-6 degrees on caster. For those who have used the cam bolts or adjustables for a 2.5"-3" lift...how much did you have to extend it? It seems that with cam bolts the most you could lengthen would be about 1/2", is that too many degrees forward? Any experienced info would help.
Thanks,
Jim

AMMoyer

There shouldn't be too much caster loss with the 4 link arrangement of the front suspension on a 2.5" lift. But I won't argue what you're noticing with the dartiness. What is offered to adjust the caster (and camber) in this case is an adjustable upper ball joint or a fixed offset upper ball joint. The fixed ones come in 1/2* increments up to 2*, while the adjustable ones allow up to 2.5*. I haven't seen ones listed for the JK's but they are listed for the TJ's. They may work since the axle choices haven't changed. You'd may want to get your JK on an alignment rack to see what your caster actually is and to make sure your toe is set correctly. Excessive toe out (neg. toe) will also give a darty wandering feeling.

Ooops. Just noticed that those offset ball joints have an MSRP of over $100 each. That makes the adjustable lower arms look more attractive.

Adam

adaycj

I have a different opinion about the caster as well. I won't go into details, but try a test. In an empty parking lot, at a crawl turn a 90 degree corner like you are at an intersection. The accelerate lightly as you let the wheel unwind. Will the steering wheel return very close to to center on its own? If not, check your tire contact patch (tire pressure), then check caster.

You could try cam bolts if you can find them cheap enough. Once you find the happy place, you can remove them and weld up your solution.