Caster and Pinion

[Rickyd]

so what do you use to make sure your axle is centered in the wheel well? Hole on the frame vs something on axle? Just want to make sure that it's centered.

I guess I could measure 96.6 from rear axle center to front. Just thought I'd ask and see how you guys doing vs what I'm going to conclude to use.

The tires relationship to the wheel well changes through the suspension travel. It isn't a relevant measurement. In fact,trying to center it can compromise important things like bump stop alignment and steering/trackbar clearance.

The only measurements you need to do are when adjusting the trackbar to center the axle at ride height. And adjusting the arms so the axles are perpendicular to the frames centerline.the rest is done by trial and error so nothing but the bumpstops hit

If you need somewhere to start with a tape measure,set the arms to stock length. Then forget about that number and make the axles fit the jeep

 

[catbones2010]

The tires relationship to the wheel well changes through the suspension travel. It isn't a relevant measurement. In fact,trying to center it can compromise important things like bump stop alignment and steering/trackbar clearance.

The only measurements you need to do are when adjusting the trackbar to center the axle at ride height. And adjusting the arms so the axles are perpendicular to the frames centerline.the rest is done by trial and error so nothing but the bumpstops hit

If you need somewhere to start with a tape measure,set the arms to stock length. Then forget about that number and make the axles fit the jeep

Well i found an article that described how I can square my axle off back to front in certain way. Gone through that and everything is lining up. Both axles in the rear are squared and front are squared to the rear.

That said, I've gone and installed the lowers since the position of the axle and centering it was good, unbolted the upper control arms and raised/lowered the pumpkin to get the passenger to have 6.0 caster and per suggestion I'm not worried about the drivers caster. We will see if I get vibrations and how my return to center is after this.

 

[catbones2010]

Well boys ... looks like doing all of this today and doing passenger caster at 6.3 from what I can tell on the bottom of the C flat spot. Anyways so far the first test drive I'm at 65mph no shimmyy, vibes are there but not as much which I think getting a new front and/or driveshaft better balanced for 5.13 gears would fix that. It's more stable without me trying to control the steering from shimming my arm out.

That said and maybe this is something I'll have to live with, or maybe it's just in my head but while it tracks straight, it's stable at high speed, return to center is fine, it feels like I'm all over the place when I hit a much bigger hole. What controls that? Toe in? Or caster?

 

[catbones2010]

Well boys ... looks like doing all of this today and doing passenger caster at 6.3 from what I can tell on the bottom of the C flat spot. Anyways so far the first test drive I'm at 65mph no shimmyy, vibes are there but not as much which I think getting a new front and/or driveshaft better balanced for 5.13 gears would fix that. It's more stable without me trying to control the steering from shimming my arm out.

That said and maybe this is something I'll have to live with, or maybe it's just in my head but while it tracks straight, it's stable at high speed, return to center is fine, it feels like I'm all over the place when I hit a much bigger hole. What controls that? Toe in? Or caster?

Also feels like turning right is quite faster if I can call that, then turning left. Maybe it's just me and it's normal. I just feel like I turn right and it's a swoop quick type turn, turning left feels normal. Toe is at 1/16.

 

[catbones2010]

Also feels like turning right is quite faster if I can call that, then turning left. Maybe it's just me and it's normal. I just feel like I turn right and it's a swoop quick type turn, turning left feels normal. Toe is at 1/16.

Never mind boys! it was probably just in my head... she drives like a beauty again. I'm guessing I would go through this again if I ever lifted it and added bigger tires onto her. Not hard, glad I somewhat am able to figure it out. I've always had the issue where it would wonder after I set my caster and that is probably because I kept doing both side individually. This was on other jeeps. That said, going with one side, looks to work best.

Thank you so much guys, I really appreciate this. Don't need the alignment shop anymore. Looks like they were trying to make caster 7 per stock configuration which cause my front driveline not happy and with rear driveline it gave me the shakes. Funny that it came after 3 years and showed its ugly face.

Anyways, off to other projects with this thing. Now I can finally put that supercharger on it and tune.

Cheers!

 

[mrblaine]

Never mind boys! it was probably just in my head... she drives like a beauty again. I'm guessing I would go through this again if I ever lifted it and added bigger tires onto her. Not hard, glad I somewhat am able to figure it out. I've always had the issue where it would wonder after I set my caster and that is probably because I kept doing both side individually. This was on other jeeps. That said, going with one side, looks to work best.

Thank you so much guys, I really appreciate this. Don't need the alignment shop anymore. Looks like they were trying to make caster 7 per stock configuration which cause my front driveline not happy and with rear driveline it gave me the shakes. Funny that it came after 3 years and showed its ugly face.

Anyways, off to other projects with this thing. Now I can finally put that supercharger on it and tune.

Cheers!

All you are doing on a TJ if you set them differently side to side is compressing the crap out of one bushing to get the bolt in the side you are working on, or if you have double adjustables, then you are setting them up to fight each other and start premature wear.

 

[catbones2010]

All you are doing on a TJ if you set them differently side to side is compressing the crap out of one bushing to get the bolt in the side you are working on, or if you have double adjustables, then you are setting them up to fight each other and start premature wear.

I see, well I'd like to personally thank you for helping me out. I'm glad I was able to sort it out with your assistance.

I'm still not sure why a 4x4 shop doing alignment 3 years ago would set passenger to 7+ caster and driver to 6.4 caster. Very wild, maybe they didn't know or know how to or maybe the guy doing it did not know. This was also with the cam bolts even though I asked to align with the control arms and gave them the cam delete bolts. Suprising it drove the way it did with their setup, when it was fighting the bushings and control arms. Go figure, can't trust everyone I guess to do it right.

Thanks again Mr. Blaine! If we ever meet, I owe you a beer.

 

[mrblaine]

I see, well I'd like to personally thank you for helping me out. I'm glad I was able to sort it out with your assistance.

I'm still not sure why a 4x4 shop doing alignment 3 years ago would set passenger to 7+ caster and driver to 6.4 caster. Very wild, maybe they didn't know or know how to or maybe the guy doing it did not know. This was also with the cam bolts even though I asked to align with the control arms and gave them the cam delete bolts. Suprising it drove the way it did with their setup, when it was fighting the bushings and control arms. Go figure, can't trust everyone I guess to do it right.

Thanks again Mr. Blaine! If we ever meet, I owe you a beer.

If they got those numbers without moving anything on the rig or moving the rig, then their machine is off, they are off, or there is something terribly wrong with the axle. There is at most about 3 tenths of a degree cross caster.

 

[catbones2010]

If they got those numbers without moving anything on the rig or moving the rig, then their machine is off, they are off, or there is something terribly wrong with the axle. There is at most about 3 tenths of a degree cross caster.

Yeah. Well looks like rather then using control arms to adjust and remove the factory cam bolts. The appropriate way they got paid to align this was to remove the cam bolts, put the deleted in, and use upper and lower control arms for adjustment. When I was looking into a possible caster issue with my shimmy, it looked weird and didn't make sense to me that passenger cam bolt was pushing the axle forward, and driver was fully pulling it back. Why I removed those and put the deletes in after I bought another set of deletes and well, decided I can't trust much of any 4x4 shop no matter how they sell themselves and I have to figure this out. Glad, with the help of friends here, I was able to.

Paid, $429 for alignment was little high to begin with but they did spend two hours on it so I thought, maybe in comparison to a generic one theres more to adjust and remove, adjust and remove, etc.. to get it right.

 

[mrblaine]

Yeah. Well looks like rather then using control arms to adjust and remove the factory cam bolts. The appropriate way they got paid to align this was to remove the cam bolts, put the deleted in, and use upper and lower control arms for adjustment. When I was looking into a possible caster issue with my shimmy, it looked weird and didn't make sense to me that passenger cam bolt was pushing the axle forward, and driver was fully pulling it back. Why I removed those and put the deletes in after I bought another set of deletes and well, decided I can't trust much of any 4x4 shop no matter how they sell themselves and I have to figure this out. Glad, with the help of friends here, I was able to.

Paid, $429 for alignment was little high to begin with but they did spend two hours on it so I thought, maybe in comparison to a generic one theres more to adjust and remove, adjust and remove, etc.. to get it right.

Regardless of what the cam bolts looked like, you can't twist the housing from end to end to achieve different caster readings. That is why it is referred to as a SFA or solid front axle. The only thing the bolts were doing is compressing the bushings in the arms opposite directions.

 

[Rickyd]

Regardless of what the cam bolts looked like, you can't twist the housing from end to end to achieve different caster readings. That is why it is referred to as a SFA or solid front axle. The only thing the bolts were doing is compressing the bushings in the arms opposite directions.

At times you are an extremely patient man blaine

 

[jjvw]

@catbones2010, I would like to add more caster to the right front without changing the left side. Can you explain how I go about doing this?

 

[catbones2010]

@catbones2010, I would like to add more caster to the right front without changing the left side. Can you explain how I go about doing this?

Lol is that a trick question? LOL...

 

[mrblaine]

@catbones2010, I would like to add more caster to the right front without changing the left side. Can you explain how I go about doing this?

Am I allowed to use a torch?