Buckeye76SC

So as most of us experience after a lift, the shop calls during the Alignment to recommend work they can do to improve our alignments. Mine called and said a .5 degree concentric spacer was needed on the front right wheel, as well as Cam bolts. What do most of yall do on this situation? Current Alignment configuration below. This is a 2016 JK with 3.5in of lift on 35s. Also installed is a set of Forward LCA Drop Brackets in the middle hole as instructed by RE. I also have a RE High Steer Kit I havent installed yet. Im trying to understand the High Steer kit install a little better before I drill out my knuckles. Im an Aircraft Mechanic by trade, so Im pretty OCD when wrenching on anything. GO. Tried to attach pic... no go, at least on my phone. Lol

Front:
Camber: -.5 / .3 / -.8
Caster: 2.9 / -.2 / 3.1
Toe: .15 / .21

Rear:
Camber: -.3 / .3 / -.6
Toe: .43 / .54 / -.11

Total Toe: .32
Thrust Angle: .27

austin160

Everything I have read and shops I have talked with say stay away from ectric spacers and cam bolts if you plan on off-roading. They have a tendency to loosen and rotate or break.

austin160

With 3.5 you should have adjustable control arms. Uppers will set your pinion angle and caster. Camber on a solid axle is only adjusted by the knuckles, as in buy new ones (from what I understand). Stay away from cam bolts if you are going offroad.

nthinuf

Ask them what the purpose is for those brackets having multiple holes. Or, just tell them to move the arms to another hole, and tada, let them be surprised that the caster is magically raised...


I just reread that. You are doing the install, and you took it to a shop that isn't familiar with lifts for the alignment? A shop that might not want to move the arms on the brackets?

shawnphi1

Caster is low. Try adjusting to different hole in the drop brackets to gain more caster as stated by previous post.

resharp001

You’ve gotten good responses on the caster issue. What are your concerns with the high steer kit? As you lift the jeep, both the drag link and track bar take on a steeper angle. The high steer kit will help get those closer to the factory angle they previously were at. This is done by adding a raised track bar bracket on the axle side, and by “flipping” the drag link from mounting below the knuckle to above. In order to do so, you will have to….as you already know….drill the knuckle to accommodate the tapered DL. If you do not install the high steer kit, at that lift height, you will most likely experience some bump steer. I can tell you it’s not the end of the world having driven with no high steer on 3.5 RK springs, but after flipping the ride/steering is noticeably better. You do lose some uptravel when flipping because the DL is now in a position to contact the frame rail during uptravel, which will require you to run 3” bump stops up front.

Buckeye76SC

So still driving with the Alignment issue but plan on having them fix the Toe. Im taking the advice of other jeepers and staying away from the Spacer ad Cam Bolts. Future buy is Adjustable Upper and Lower Control Arms. I also plan on going ahead and installing the HS Kit prior to the Alignment. The alignment shop said to drop the front UCAs to the lower holes on the Control Arm Drop Brackets to correct the castor; RE states to install it in the middle hole for the 3.5" kit [which I have and did as the instructions said]; and the local 4x4 shop said to stay with RE advice and get it aligned as best as they can with current config... lol Good times.

resharp001

You have geo brackets with a couple different holes for mounting options. The instructions for your kit told you to mount in the middle hole for a 3.5" lift. This has left your caster too low per your specs posted originally. The alignment shop is telling you to drop the arms to the lower hole, but your 4x4 shop is telling you to stick with RE's recommendation of the middle hole. Um, that is all it is ..... a recommendation. A starting point. Every jeep is going to sit a bit different. Even with adjustable arms manufacturers will provide measurements for the arms, but that is not the end all be all. You still tweak the lengths if necessary on your particular jeep. You need to move the arms to the next hole like the alignment shop is suggesting, which should raise your caster......as already highlighted a couple times in previous posts above. There's nothing really crazy about this....you just want to lower the pinion angle a little (which will raise the caster angle).

I would suggest you not worry about what hole the instructions said to use, move your arms to the hole that offers the best caster for your specific jeep.

austin160

^^^what he said.

Every Jeep is different. I just installed my lift with all adjustable control arms, set to Metalcloak specs. I shortend the rear upper almost an inch, and the front about 3/4. There is some trial and error involved when setting up a suspension.

austin160

Also, Firestone offers lifetime alignments for less than 200$. A good option if you are like me and mess with suspension settings to get them just right, or just to get it checked after a hard weekend of wheeling.