RubiJK

Caster plain and simple... no doubt about it. With the axle so upright, it exaggerates anything in the road. Most roads taper off to the right, so it will have more of a tendency to follow that grade. I have been fine tuning my caster myself, and saw these same results. I put on my lift with stock arms and it was horrible. I put on upper CA's and shortened them, and it helped. I later added lower CA's and lengthened them and it was night and day.

I just went up from a TF 2.5" coil to their 3" coil and didnt adjust my CA's... sure enough, right back to flighty steering, jarring bumps, and following any grades in the road. I pulled my upper CA's back 3 turns, and it again helped dramatically. I have proven exactly this twice now. I still have to take it to the alignment shop to see what I dialed it to. I can tell you that even running 4.5-5* makes this happen. I personally have seen that 6.5* is the MINIMUM and 7* is prob ideal.

I would suggest getting some lower CA's and lengthen them 1/2" over stock length to start with. Then hit an alignment shop to see where that gets you. Mind you, their computer will tell them the STOCK caster degree, so dont let them tell you otherwise. I got the TeraFlex Flexarm adj CA's and love them. Not only will this help you dial in your axle, it will improve your ride and give you considerably more flex on the trail. Drop $250 on these and it will be WELL worth it...

mdkim

Thanks Rubi for the detailed information and advice.