at05gt Introduction

XJensen said:
Sounds like a plan. Like Clyde said push the lower forwardbolt to the back of the lower axle side slot. Or if the slot is on the frame side push it forward
Click to expand...
Drop brackets are on the frame side so it needs to go forward towards the axle, I'll see if I can get shims at the parts store, or if any of you long arm guys have them lying around. I'm getting good with a ratchet strap and making the axle go where I want it.
 
I think I will fabricate my own caster shims, can't be that hard its just a hunk of metal with 2 slots cut in it. Should I use steel or aluminum?
 
you either need to lengthen the lowers (shims can work) or shorten the uppers. whats your Toe set at? check your toe and caster and post up where its at right now. I bet both are out of whack, maybe the trackbar and drag link are not parallel and maybe your stabilizer is dead. or all of the above, throw in a bad TRE or two .
 
I know the tie rods are probably shot, I have replacements ready to go. But, how could drop brackets affect toe if I had none of these symptoms before the install? I never touched any of the steering components other than lengthening the drag link.

EDIT: I stand corrected, just took a tape measure to the front wheels, measured from my first straight tire groove to the matching groove on the other side.
Front is 56-1/4" rear 58-1/8" so the front is in by 2 inch's, so I'm toed in.
 
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at05gt said:
I know the tie rods are probably shot, I have replacements ready to go. But, how could drop brackets affect toe if I had none of these symptoms before the install? I never touched any of the steering components other than lengthening the drag link.

EDIT: I stand corrected, just took a tape measure to the front wheels, measured from my first straight tire groove to the matching groove on the other side.
Front is 56-1/4" rear 58-1/8" so the front is in by 2 inch's, so I'm toed in.
Click to expand...

That probably just part of the problem. Set you toe to an 1/8" inch, check you caster and post up a pick of your steering.
 
I told you dude. check toe. 2" of toe in will make your rig drive like crazy. guaranteed that is contributing to the darty driving if not the exact cause.

throw an angle finder on top of the upper ball joint and tell us the caster. you want positive 4-7* (axle angled backward is positive, angled forward is negative, you want positive for it to track straight)
 
any time you make any changes to the front end, check toe in. and caster
 
Alright well if I'm gonna do it I may as well do it right, I'm gonna do the ZJ steering upgrade. I may have accidentally damaged my tie rod when I was ratchet strapping the axle back and forth (looped the strap over the tie rod not thinking about it) so it appears slightly bent inwards.

I can get all the parts for 60 bucks.
ES3096L Tie rod end (short) 22.99 @ O'Reilly
DS1312 Long tie Rod 31.99 @ O'Reilly
ES2079S Adjustment Sleeve 14.99 @ O'Reilly

I'll try and attach some pictures so you guys can check my drag link/trackbar angles.
 
I installed the ZJ steering upgrade, much beefier. Fixed the toe, cut some shims from 1/8 by 2 inch flat bar and shimmer the LCA to the max. Using Jeep-xj.info I used an angle finder on the front diff bolts gave me +9 degrees, using his calculations my caster is 0. So I either need to make the LCA longer or shorten the UCA. I have an idea but I want some advice first. The axle side of the UCA looks like it has enough meat I might be able to drill a hole about an inch back to bring the top of the axle back at least a few degrees.
 
Drove it around for a bit today, night and day difference. I didn't realize the toe was that bad, but wow driving it now it's a completely different vehicle.
 
So from the measurements and calculations I've done, my caster is currently 0. The RC drop brackets push the UCA frame side mount forward by about an inch, I'm assuming this is to correct the pinion angle of the front yoke. So I either need to push the LCA out farther, or bring the UCA back in.

I'm debating trying to redrill the axle side of the UCA an inch back or find shorter UCA arms, I don't know if I want to push the LCA out farther as my axle is almost perfectly centered in the wheel wells right now. Thoughts?

Ideally I want adjustable arms, however due to current budget constraints that is not a possibility for awhile (I've spent enough money on the jeep, and the wife is getting on to me about it). I can drive it with 0 caster, there appears to be no ill affects other than the steering wheel doesn't like to self center, once I got the toe dialed in all the squirrelyness wen't away.
 
Just adjust your caster where it needs to be. The only adjustment for that is the lower control arm frame side adjusters. Then take a look at what clearance issues you have and resolve them. I have re drop brackets with longer than stock re arms. I also pushed my axle forward about 1 1/2" and I don't have any steering clearance issues.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
The LCA is shimmed forward as far as it will go, I machined some 1/8" shims and stacked 3 each in addition to the stock shims and bolted them into place. Current caster is 0 deg, the only way to fix it is either longer LCA or shorter UCA and I really don't wanna push my axle farther forward.

I'm talking with Rough Country right now, The issue I'm noticing is the brackets push the UCA mount forward an inch, I'm assuming to correct pinion angle but it throws the caster off really badly.

This shit just frustrates me, It's supposed to be "bolt on parts", install and go and I'm realizing the further down the rabbit hole I go the more money I have to spend to make the "bolt on parts" work properly. Learning curve on Jeeps is steep.
 
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