I have no return to center with 4.5 degrees of caster

[connor grimes]

Currently running 35’s with 3.5” suspension lift . Currie adjustable arms with 4.5 degrees of caster. took the Jeep to a shop that offered free alignment check and Toe is perfect but I have no return to center and I’ve noticed the highway driving feels very wandering like I’m constantly going left to right and doesn’t seem to track well. The pain is finding a 4x4 shop with an alignment rack who will take the time to pull the control arms each time and recheck caster /driveline. Ive been considering tackling this job myself and would like to get 6 degrees of caster or however much I can while keeping the front DS happy. Can anyone give me some advice? Thanks

 

[JMT]

Currently running 35’s with 3.5” suspension lift . Currie adjustable arms with 4.5 degrees of caster. took the Jeep to a shop that offered free alignment check and Toe is perfect but I have no return to center and I’ve noticed the highway driving feels very wandering like I’m constantly going left to right and doesn’t seem to track well. The pain is finding a 4x4 shop with an alignment rack who will take the time to pull the control arms each time and recheck caster /driveline. Ive been considering tackling this job myself and would like to get 6 degrees of caster or however much I can while keeping the front DS happy. Can anyone give me some advice? Thanks

DIY. Caster and pinion angle are a compromise. Shorten the uppers and lengthen the lowers (equal amounts) to recover some caster, then go for a drive and see if you have vibes. Wash, rinse, repeat until you’re happy.

There’s no reason to remove your control arms each time to do this (unless you only have single adjustables). The main thing is you don’t want your arms fighting each other. Remove one end of an upper, if it unbinds it is what it is. Now lengthen or shorten that arm and bolt it back up. Caster is clocked about 0.5*, so one side will read +/- 0.5*.

 

[Jerry Bransford]

Currently running 35’s with 3.5” suspension lift . Currie adjustable arms with 4.5 degrees of caster. took the Jeep to a shop that offered free alignment check and Toe is perfect but I have no return to center and I’ve noticed the highway driving feels very wandering like I’m constantly going left to right and doesn’t seem to track well. The pain is finding a 4x4 shop with an alignment rack who will take the time to pull the control arms each time and recheck caster /driveline. Ive been considering tackling this job myself and would like to get 6 degrees of caster or however much I can while keeping the front DS happy. Can anyone give me some advice? Thanks

Few pure alignment shops have the expertise, ability, or desire to be adjusting control arms for caster adjustment. Find a 4x4 shop with an alignment rack that installs suspensions, they'll be able to do it for you.

The key to the caster angle is it can only be raised so far before it will cause the pinion angle to become excessive which will cause the front driveshaft's u-joints to start vibrating. The only way to get the most possible caster angle is to keep increasing it until vibrations are produced then reduce the caster angle until the vibrations stop. That's going to produce as much caster angle as is possible without cutting the welds holding the inner-C's in place so they can be rotated for more caster angle and then welded back into place.

 

[Steel City 06]

What size tires and what backspacing rim are you running? Any spacers?

If you're near zero scrub radius (or positive, which is worse), it will magnify the effects of low caster, especially when hitting bumps or imperfections in the road. Improper tire pressure will make things worse as well.

I am running 2.6° of caster and while it doesn't have much return to center, it doesn't squirm much either.

 

[connor grimes]

That’s the problem @Jerry Bransford there’s no shops around that do that/ are willing . Having only single adjustable arms it’s a PITA to make adjustments. If anyone has a shop in the LA (SoCal) area that they could recommend would be huge.

 

[Steel City 06]

In the long run you're better off getting some double adjustable arms. The cost you're going to pay to have a 4x4 shop do it is going to be 30-50% of the cost of simply adding in new control arms. In fact, the labor costs of straight up installing double adjustables and adjusting them might come out to be less than the cost of just adjusting the single adjustable arms.

Given that the axle is redundantly mounted (since it has 5 arms holding it in place) you can actually replace one control arm at a time without having to disassemble much else.

 

[Jerry Bransford]

That’s the problem @Jerry Bransford there’s no shops around that do that/ are willing . Having only single adjustable arms it’s a PITA to make adjustments. If anyone has a shop in the LA (SoCal) area that they could recommend would be huge.

Most big/serious 4x4 shops have alignment racks. At a minimum even 4Wheel Parts stores typically have an alignment rack. I'd call around and use 4WP as a last resort. Start Googling 4x4 stores in the area and check out their websites.

 

[Lou]

You have your baseline, you are at 4.5*. Go ahead and stick your angle gauge on the case spreader holes and adjust the control arms until that measurement changes 1.5*.

 

[williambmac]

with 3.5" of lift you should have no problem running at least 5.5 degrees of caster.

 

[JMT]

@connor grimes even just lower adjustables would get you some more caster without all the hassle of single adjustable, but you should be G2G with caster at 4.5 or higher at that lift height. Something else may be wrong. Where r u measuring caster? Are the caster angles the same on driver and passenger side? If they’re not different by about 0.5* you have the uppers binding.

 

[cpwolf]

DIY. Caster and pinion angle are a compromise. Shorten the uppers and lengthen the lowers (equal amounts) to recover some caster, then go for a drive and see if you have vibes. Wash, rinse, repeat until you’re happy.

There’s no reason to remove your control arms each time to do this (unless you only have single adjustables). The main thing is you don’t want your arms fighting each other. Remove one end of an upper, if it unbinds it is what it is. Now lengthen or shorten that arm and bolt it back up. Caster is clocked about 0.5*, so one side will read +/- 0.5*.

Just curious, what do you mean by unbind? How do you know if a control arm is binding?

I have Double Adjustable Savvy, and I’m really curious on this, worth a check for me.

My drive side is always slightly turned, not sure if that is what you mean.