Hear is the deal...

OME HD Front
OME MD Rear
front and rear adjustable track bars
Currie lower control arms

Stock 17 rims with 35 mtr kevlars @28 psi

Really like the lift and the ride is pretty good. Axles are centered, steering wheel centered.

Adding the control arms really helped the flighty/wandering steering.... but it's still not the same as stock... I know it's a lifted jeep with 35 tires but I think it could be better.

took it into alignment shop and the caster is at 4.5

so after talking with David at northridge4x4 he gave me the to increase the caster a little.

I have the currie adjustable lower arms.. David and I (mostly David) came to the conclusion that I could adjust curries one more full turn out... and then see what happens. One full turn on the curries does not seem like it would add that much..

So just wanted to see if there were any opinions out there and if there is anyone running the same lift as me with same size tires... I would be interested in knowing what your caster is....

I don't think alignment shop did anything to the toe in... was in hurry and didn't double check.

Let me know your thoughts...

 

Here is the DIY Alignment write-up.
http://project-jk.com/jeep-jk-write-...-end-alignment

Get an angle indicator and see where you're at, (so that 'you' can see the before and after numbers), then follow the write-up in the Setting Your Caster section. Here is a small excerpt...

The numbers on the angle indicator don't necessarily correspond to what a professional alignment will show, but they are a good enough indicator for getting the caster on both sides where you want it.

(with the same lift you have, I'm running about 6.0 per the angle indicator, and the handling is 100% better than when the shop 'experts' set it to 4.2)

 

I too have to set my caster to +6 or 7 degrees.

I recentered my axles steering wheel today and checked the caster. It is also about 4.5 right now and I believe it would be better at +6~7.
My toe in is @ 1/8.

It drives significantly better than what it was before the changes I made today.

 

Had the time to adjust currie lower control arms today... per david's input from northridge I increased the curries 1 full turn... before I did I measured with the angle finder and it was 4.5 degrees... hmmm odd when I had it aligned it was 4.5 degrees of caster as well... maybe dumb luck... I have read all the posts that say an angle finder is not accurate for caster... dunno

adjusted the curries one full turn and got everything all buttoned up.. quick trip around block... back home fully tightened and torqued everything... tweaked steering wheel as perfect as possible.... checked again with angle finder and it was 6.5 to 7 degrees....

took it for drive and it's better... it was a small tweak but i would say anyone who drove it before and drove it now would say that the steering is less flighty... pretty happy.

Need to save some $$$ to blow and take it back in for another alignment sometime and see what the caster is at now... I know I should not blow the bucks... but I'm just to dam curious to see what it actually is...

 

Does anyone know if ~6 to 7 degrees of caster will give the front stock drive shaft any vibes or problems down the line? I have the same suspension with the Currie upper control arms though and am only running ~5 to 5.5 degrees for fear of too much of a pinion angle. I would love to go to 6 or 7 to make the steering tighter.

 

mpboxer.... great question.... I was mindful of checking for vibrations today while I was out testing... put it in 4 hi on the interstate at well not so smart speeds and no vibs at all..

very interested in what other have to say

 

We just installed a 3" lift and when my wife took it for the first test drive I was dreading that she would say it handled horribly. But she said it handled "just fine". After some more driving and talking about the fine points of how steering "shold feel" we came to a realization....It's a jeep, it's never going to handle great, just lower your expectaions and everything will be just fine.

 

Professional aligment results: 5.3° DS / 5.7° PS, .125" toe. Dives great. No vibes at 85mph.

 

anybody have an opinion on one of the high steer or draglink flip kits? Wondering if something like that may help the flighty steering

 

those don't help with the flighty-ness... they just tame the bumpsteer that is usually generated by lifting a jeep. Like if you lift your JK and use just an adjustable trackbar in the front it and the drag link have a much steeper angle. Those steeper angles cause jarring and transfer bumps in the road directly into your steering box. When you do the flip (or even a trackbar drop with a drop pitman arm) it makes the trackbar and draglink closer to parallel to the jeep and axle. So when you hit a bump the arms move upward without jarring you or jerking the steering.