School me on suspension angles

[LoJac963]

I've watched some youtube and read articles but I feel nothing actually describes where to take these measurements.

I installed the Mopar 2" lift myself and had the TSB work done then added 37s. Life was great until I added the Teraflex 1.5" level to the front and now I have a crazy hard pull to the right. I also have an adjustable track bar and the axle is centered.

I picked up an angle finder, the gauge style with the magnet but I don't know where to measure. My toe was roughly 1/8th" toe in last I measured but I'm sure the angles are trash since the level install. I am assuming I will need at minimum adjustable LCAs but I want to see how bad the angles are first.

Thanks in advance!

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[LoJac963]

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[AmishMike]

Checking you toe only checks your tie-rod. Your track bar keeps the diff centered. I would guess that it is your drag link that is now too short. As the diff gets further away from the frame/steering box etc. your drag link will need to be longer to reach the spindle.
You have a 3.5 inch lift, I would see what mods people are doing to their steering with that lift. I doubt that there is enough threads left to simply spin out your drag link far enough to fix it. I would mark the drag link where it is, spin it out some and see if your problem gets any better.

 

[HuskyTaylor]

Anytime that you add, delete or replace parts on any front end it should go to an alignment shop. With that said, I did the same to my truck without any problems .

 

[Renegade]

Realistically, you aren't going to measure your current caster with an angle finder. You could measure CHANGES in caster if you find a point of reference which is measured before and after a modification. Your Mopar lift control arms are 1/4' longer than stock to bring the caster back into an effective range. It is likely that you do need control arms which are adjustable or longer than current to get back into that range after adding the 1.5" spacer. I believe Teraflex fixed lower control arms are 5/8" longer than stock, and would likely do that, if you don't wind up going to adjustable arms. An alignment shop could show you what you have now, then you could get pretty close using that angle finder and a measuring tape for future modifications/adjustments.

 

[LoJac963]

Thanks for the replies. I am first going to try and put my stock steering stab back on and see if the rancho is pushing to the right. I will also check the drag link.

What I don't understand is plenty of people have done the Mopar lift with 1.5" level without issue so I don't know why I have a right pull after the level install. Everything was great after the Mopar lift and TSB work....

 

[Eric Kern]

Thanks for the replies. I am first going to try and put my stock steering stab back on and see if the rancho is pushing to the right. I will also check the drag link.

What I don't understand is plenty of people have done the Mopar lift with 1.5" level without issue so I don't know why I have a right pull after the level install. Everything was great after the Mopar lift and TSB work....

What was the issue?

 

[LoJac963]

What was the issue?

No clue. I ended up pulling the Teraflex adjustable LCAs off and reinstalled the extended Mopar LCAs which seemed to improve the pull slightly. I Also think the tires might be one issue but usually they have great reviews. I still have not done a rear track bar. Rear axle is only off maybe a 1/4" at most so I don't know if that warrants a couple hundred to recenter.

I just consider it part of driving a Jeep I guess. There seems to be no concrete answers. I'm almost to the point of just ripping everything apart and going with a different lift and basically starting over. A more complete lift with track bars, all adjustable arms, etc.

 

[AmishMike]

Unfortunately, it is worth the couple of hundred to get the rear centered. It will save on premature tire wear, possible suspension bushing wear, negligible fuel economy, and definite drive-ability. Not to mention piece of mind. It's one of those 'pay me now or pay me later' situations.

 

[Renegade]

Unfortunately, it is worth the couple of hundred to get the rear centered. It will save on premature tire wear, possible suspension bushing wear, negligible fuel economy, and definite drive-ability. Not to mention piece of mind. It's one of those 'pay me now or pay me later' situations.

I’ll disagree, after having put 16k miles on mine without doing anything to the rear track bar.

 

[hjdca]

I've watched some youtube and read articles but I feel nothing actually describes where to take these measurements.

I installed the Mopar 2" lift myself and had the TSB work done then added 37s. Life was great until I added the Teraflex 1.5" level to the front and now I have a crazy hard pull to the right. I also have an adjustable track bar and the axle is centered.

I picked up an angle finder, the gauge style with the magnet but I don't know where to measure. My toe was roughly 1/8th" toe in last I measured but I'm sure the angles are trash since the level install. I am assuming I will need at minimum adjustable LCAs but I want to see how bad the angles are first.

Thanks in advance!

Hello, I measure my caster with this instrument. It is digital and it has a hold button. It is magnetic, so, you just put it on the top of your "C" on each side and use the hold button to save the reading. See pic with "red circle". You need to be on level ground, with the tires on, at rest. You can also use the supplied ruler with the angle instrument to try to figure out any slope to the ground you are on and subtract or add to the reading. This process will get you an accurate reading. Note my caster is around 5.8 and it is perfect for my truck.

 

[LoJac963]

Unfortunately, it is worth the couple of hundred to get the rear centered. It will save on premature tire wear, possible suspension bushing wear, negligible fuel economy, and definite drive-ability. Not to mention piece of mind. It's one of those 'pay me now or pay me later' situations.

This I do not necessarily disagree with however as Renegade said, he did nothing and has no issues. My problem IS the constant replacing of parts to hope the tracking improves when it doesn't. I've already dropped over $350 on adjustable LCAs which did not help. Now they sit on my garage floor. I look at it like this, if I'm going to keep replacing parts then I will go with a more complete lift which includes everything from the start

I’ll disagree, after having put 16k miles on mine without doing anything to the rear track bar.

This is exactly what is so infuriating. There are many members with my exact setup. Mopar 2" lift and Teraflex 1.5" front spacer to level with 37s, even Milestar Pats without any additional parts without any issues what so ever......

 

[LoJac963]

Hello, I measure my caster with this instrument. It is digital and it has a hold button. It is magnetic, so, you just put it on the top of your "C" on each side and use the hold button to save the reading. See pic with "red circle". You need to be on level ground, with the tires on, at rest. You can also used the supplied ruler with the angle instrument to try to figure out any slope to the ground you are on and subtract or add to the reading. This process will get you an accurate reading. Note my caster is around 5.8 and it is perfect for my truck.

Thanks for the info. That's interesting, I thought 5.8 would be too low for these? When I was taking measurements I was around 7 degrees and my alignment wasn't bad when I had it put on the rack. Damn nice shocks also!

 

[hjdca]

Thanks for the info. That's interesting, I thought 5.8 would be too low for these? When I was taking measurements I was around 7 degrees and my alignment wasn't bad when I had it put on the rack. Damn nice shocks also!

I took the reading at the flatest gas station around, but, I did not try to account for their slope. I installed the Clayton 3.5 inch kit with all the control arms set perfectly to their specs, so, they probably shoot for approx. 6 deg. of caster - which would be perfect I believe.

 

[LoJac963]

I took the reading at the flatest gas station around, but, I did not try to account for their slope. I installed the Clayton 3.5 inch kit with all the control arms set perfectly to their specs, so, they probably shoot for approx. 6 deg. of caster - which would be perfect I believe.

This is honestly what I am leaning towards, ripping out my Mopar lift and going with a complete lift but I don't know at this point. Seems like with the tires wearing in the pull has lessened.

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