NE Wrangling

Ok I brought my jeep to a specialist for alingments and a local jeep guy. My caster angle is 2.5 and I know stock it should be 4. First question is what does this effect for drivability. Does this cause flighty steering?

Second I'm debating now getting an adjustible arm kit as I plan to build up to a to 3.5" lift shortly combining several top line components into the lift. Currie has a complete upper and lower set for 898 with free shipping. Now the concern is if I bring caster to let's say 5 with my current 2.5" lift will this change the pinion angle enough to cause some problems with the driveshaft?

I'm still learning but everything I've been told and read says I could be looking at more problems by adjusting the caster and going higher. The jeep is a endless money pit as it is and I'm comparing it to be worse than a boat at this point.

OH almost forgot, My 35" tires are on the way!!! WAHOOOOOOO

WOL or TEEJ any good articles on the effects would be great as I trust this guy but need a second opinion.

Also my toe was out by 1/4" which is why I had horrible wear on the front tires.

LinkSync

I have a 3" lift and run 35" tires.
Your concerns about castor and pinion angles are indeed real.
Also when sway bar is disconnected and you articulate fully the clamp around rubber boot on rear drive shaft will rub and break and then no more rubber boot for you...

There are lots of things that changing the suspension does.
If you get the articulation you need now and can run the 35s (I think they will be fine) I would not go to a 4" lift at all.
The lower you can do the better for center of gravity and tweeking wear and tear.

If I had it to do again I would be on a 2" suspension lift rather than 3" as the 35s don't require 3".
But I got a very good deal on it so went that way.
I don't regret it I am just saying that the closer you can stay to the ground and still get hte functional clearence you need the better.

From what you have stated I would get adjustable lowers and see if that doesnt fix you right up.
Castor does effect dartiness or wobble and otherwise the Wrangler has no real need for alignment.

A car tends to bring the sterring back to center when the wheel is let go in a turn.
Thats what you want.
You don;t want it to SNAP back and then over shoot though.
A nice smooth tendancy to return to straight, like it had stock is all.

Good Luck! and have fun.

Renegade

1. Yes
2. With stock CV driveshafts you should not have vibrations even with the increase in castor. The increase in operating angle will accellerate CV wear but not enough to cause a major concern with only a 2.5" lift, in my opinion. With an aftermarket double cardan type driveshaft you may experience a slight vibration, but it should not be very bad at all at 5 degrees. I am running 5 degrees on mine with 5.5" of lift in the front and OEM replacement 1310 double cardan front shaft. There is a very slight vibration, but the 5 degrees is a good compromise between handling and a smooth driveline. Good luck.

wrnglrguy

I have a 3" lift and don't have any of these issues. Although my lift kit did come with the cam bolts, which helps set the caster in the front. With lifts of 3" or less, the pinion angle is not a problem, because of the type of joints on the ends of the stock driveshafts. You only need to worry about setting the pinoin angle when you replce the driveshafts with aftermarket ones that come with the u-joint ends.

The higher you go on your lift, the more of a chance you have of destroying the rubber boot on the end of the driveshafts (as previously posted). The angle becomes too great, and when you flex, it tears the boot up. If you are not doing any hard off roading, and you stay below 3.5" of lift, then you should be alright. If you do go with a 4" lift, then you will need to strongly consider replacing the driveshafts, and for that, you should get new control arms. Most lifts 3.5" or more come with control arms. Usually they have lower fixed and upper adjustable. The lower fixed are fine, because they are designed for that specific lift and height. The upper adj will then help set the pinion angle that you need. If you simply go with lower adjustables only, that will work, BUT, you run the risk of moving your wheels inward, more toward the center of the Jeep, instead of keeping them in the center (front to back) of the wheel well.

I am getting ready to swap out my 3" for a 4", simply because I want a little more room in my wheel wells when I flex. When I do this, I will be adding front/rear lower fixed arms and rear upper adj arms (upper rear only because the d/s is so short). I shouldn't need the front upper arms replaced, but if I do, I can through them on. This will all be done in conjunction with new driveshafts. I will say though, that if I was going to leave my Jeep the way it is now, I would not change my driveshafts or control arms.

NE Wrangling

good stuff guys and allot to consider. After this I might need to rethink the plan to get upper and lower adj arms. I'll more than likely bring it to the same place scottcarp is bringing his so I just need to figure out what I plan to do and slowly accumulate the components for when I plan to install in August.

wife is throwing wrench into things because she wants a rubicon now. Since she loves mine so much. I told her as long as she doesn't get an automatic.

wayoflife

yes, anything less than stock will cause flighty steering.

i would recommend that you keep your factory upper control arms and just get adjustable lowers. set them to about 23" in lenght eye to eye and you will have about +6° of caster. if you are still running a factory driveshaft, you will not have any issues with driveline vibes. if you are running an aftermarket u-joint style shaft, you may feel some vibes with 5.13 gears but it is just a "may". if you do, just let out the caster some - maybe +5° or back to stock if necessary.

how the heck did that happen? was it like that from the factory because i have seen that once or twice before.

NE Wrangling

I really don't know how that happened except for the fire road that I live on being so bad. The potholes measured at 12" deep this past winter so it get's about 2 miles of abuse each time I leave the house.

What's really odd is that I've paid no one to fix until now and the guy was laughing that at it being out of wack. I only went from 32" to 33" tires so it shouldn't have changed. I'm wondering if that crack dealer of a 4x4 installer might of thought to adjust and went the wrong way.

Never crossed my mind that it could of been the factory but I wouldn't be surprised.

I'm thinking of bringing it to +5 so I don't start getting to close to bad angles on the pinion. I'm gonna give Dave a call or one of the other vendors but I'm also going to get a speedo calibration device like hypertech so I'll look to what people have first. Any suggestions on the arms? I see Currie, Clayton and FT have some beefy looking ones.