Adjust Neg. Caster.

[Stoked]

I recently went to go get an alignment. Toe and chamber were ok, but caster is really negative. The tires on my passenger side are 1.5" closer. Anyone know how to adjust it? Im guessing shim the LCA? A trip to Bear Island this weekend is pending on whether or not I can get it fixed.

[Blackout]

They told me at firestone that they couldn't get my caster in either. I know there's been a few others with that problem. I'd love to see a solution too

[The Roadie]

Why the heck didn't the alignment shop fix it?!?!?!

No shims are typically allowed in suspensions. You (or the shop) needs to loosen three bolts that hold the LCA bracket to the vehicle. Then you can pry the rear edge of the bracket outwards (the bolts are in slightly slotted holes in the LCA bracket) and that moves the lower ball joint forward in the vehicle. Camber adjustment uses the same tactic, but the entire bracket moves in and out to move the lower ball joint in and out in the vehicle. If you run out of adjustment, you can remove the bracket and LCA from the vehicle and get the slots milled out a bit. If you have a milling machine available, that's easier than if you have to pay a machine shop.

Alignment shops who claim trailvoys have no camber and caster adjustment are incompetent goofs with a bad data base of where the adjustments are.

The LCA mounting bolts have a HUGE torque requirement of 177 ft-lbs for the two in the rear, and 195 for the single front bolt. I'm moving mine all the time after nasty rock trail runs.

[Stoked]

Yeah the torque needed on those bolts is crazy. When I was messing around with the LCA bolts, I was loosening and tightening the bolts with my legs, lmao. Im sure I'll be able to move it up a bit doing that, but in either case, is it bad to drive with +/- caster, other than having the tire closer to the wheel well edges?

[Blackout]

I think they adjusted mine, just couldn't get it in spec.

[bartonmd]

The lift shouldn't affect caster... If they've adjusted it and couldn't get it in spec, you've likely got a tweaked control arm... Especially if you're talking about being 1-2" back...

Mike

[Blackout]

I'll bring this post in once I get my tires and get aligned again

[HARDTRAILZ]

They almost got my caster in spec with my flipped control arms. It is barely out of the acceptable range... My specs are in the new lift thread. You probably have something bent.

[Stoked]

You probably have something bent.

Hopefully not. Im going to take it to a place tomorrow morning that aligns crashed cars. Word on the street is that they can do almost anything.

[Rob93]

You probably have something bent.

Hopefully not. Im going to take it to a place tomorrow morning that aligns crashed cars. Word on the street is that they can do almost anything.

If that doesn't work, OK Tire across from Speed and Truck World did mine with 4" lift+flipped control arms and I am happy with it. They do all of the trucks from Speed and Truck World and that place installs lifts as big as you can imagine

[Stoked]

Yet another place telling me that they cant fix the caster of my fron passenger tire. For a short term fix, the guy evened up my other tire so that they would have an even negative caster. Could I possibly have a damaged lower control arm? there is no visible damage.

[Trail X]

I believe negative caster is pretty dangerous and should really not be driven at speed. Positive caster is what makes your steering auto-center, so your tires are now in a non-steady-state system (kinda like when you're in reverse with a correctly aligned suspension).

[tbangert]

After I installed my lift I had my tb aligned. They said the caster couldnt be put into perfect spec and it's slightly off. The guy worked on it for almost an hour too, he said it was pretty close and shouldnt be an issue.

[Stoked]

Still with the neg caster, still want to fix it. I'm really not feeling any ill effects (especially now that I trimmed the wheel wells), but I want the tires centered as much as possible. I've been researching through the Flipped UCA threads. Will flipping them and having neg camber give me the extra play to move the tires forward and fix the caster angle?


...or am I just looking for an excuse to flip the UCAs *edit

[HARDTRAILZ]

My neg caster is due to flipped control arms...

[Stoked]

[HARDTRAILZ]

I believe negative caster is pretty dangerous and should really not be driven at speed. Positive caster is what makes your steering auto-center, so your tires are now in a non-steady-state system (kinda like when you're in reverse with a correctly aligned suspension).

It was explained to me that it was like the rake on motorcycle forks. As long as the sides were equal it was not a big deal. At least the alignment guy explained it that way when talking me out of spending money on custom control arms. Mine is a tenth of a degree out of spec I think with flipped and 88s and everything done.

[SteveTB03]

My truck never had a problem auto centering with the floored uca's and my steering was shot!!! my steering was loose as hell the tierods were also shot and it drove and centered just fine.

[Trail X]

I believe negative caster is pretty dangerous and should really not be driven at speed. Positive caster is what makes your steering auto-center, so your tires are now in a non-steady-state system (kinda like when you're in reverse with a correctly aligned suspension).

It was explained to me that it was like the rake on motorcycle forks. As long as the sides were equal it was not a big deal. At least the alignment guy explained it that way when talking me out of spending money on custom control arms. Mine is a tenth of a degree out of spec I think with flipped and 88s and everything done.

My understanding is based upon caster wheels (like on a shopping cart). The centerline of the turn axis is well forward of the wheel in order to have the auto-centering function. The same thing applies to vehicle caster, except the turn axis is at an angle instead of sitting in front of the wheel centerline. Having positive caster directly relates to how stable your vehicle will be on the highway. Negative or 0 caster will give your vehicle the tendency to wander around the road.

[HARDTRAILZ]

My caster. Is actually positive but out of reccomended range