So what do you run for caster? Or don't care as long as it drives OK?
Well mine wasn't driving OK. After swapping the stabilizer for hydro assist it was wandering, no return to center, etc. The stock spec for a 2005 Jeep Wrangler was between 4-6 deg. However, on my last computer alignment, it showed the specs as between 6-8 deg. Mine was set to 6 deg driver and 6.5 deg passenger. Since it was within spec I didn't worry about. I chased down other things and nothing really helped. Furthermore, the internet said that with bigger tires, you need LESS caster.
A little while back, I wanted to just try adjusting the caster to see how it drove. I never got to that because the passenger LCA threads were frozen solid. I just buttoned it up and thought it was within spec, and maybe even a little high because of the 37's.
The other night I caught a short by Ian Johnson where he said he likes to run his caster between 8-10 deg! I decided to take that frozen LCA out and did the heat, pipe wrench, leverage, cheeseburger thing for a couple of hours and got it unfrozen, but still super tight. I should have taken it apart and cleaned the threads, but no, I just gave it one full turn to extend the LCA (increasing caster).
I measured the best I could using a digital angle finder from the top of the ball joint, but I couldn't tell when it was perfectly straight (front to back). So the full turn on the LCA increased caster by about 2 deg. WOW! What a difference! Now the risk of increasing caster is that you can mess up your driveline angle. I had a "drone" at about 70 mph. Well that went away!
The steering was vastly better, but I felt it could still be improved. I decided to give it a 1/2 turn more that would put me in the low 9's for caster. This is where I paid for not cleaning the threads. I had to give it more heat and cheeseburgers. I was hoping it would drive even better, but not cause driveline issues. Well BINGO! it drove even better, and no drone at 70 mph.
Well mine wasn't driving OK. After swapping the stabilizer for hydro assist it was wandering, no return to center, etc. The stock spec for a 2005 Jeep Wrangler was between 4-6 deg. However, on my last computer alignment, it showed the specs as between 6-8 deg. Mine was set to 6 deg driver and 6.5 deg passenger. Since it was within spec I didn't worry about. I chased down other things and nothing really helped. Furthermore, the internet said that with bigger tires, you need LESS caster.
A little while back, I wanted to just try adjusting the caster to see how it drove. I never got to that because the passenger LCA threads were frozen solid. I just buttoned it up and thought it was within spec, and maybe even a little high because of the 37's.
The other night I caught a short by Ian Johnson where he said he likes to run his caster between 8-10 deg! I decided to take that frozen LCA out and did the heat, pipe wrench, leverage, cheeseburger thing for a couple of hours and got it unfrozen, but still super tight. I should have taken it apart and cleaned the threads, but no, I just gave it one full turn to extend the LCA (increasing caster).
I measured the best I could using a digital angle finder from the top of the ball joint, but I couldn't tell when it was perfectly straight (front to back). So the full turn on the LCA increased caster by about 2 deg. WOW! What a difference! Now the risk of increasing caster is that you can mess up your driveline angle. I had a "drone" at about 70 mph. Well that went away!
The steering was vastly better, but I felt it could still be improved. I decided to give it a 1/2 turn more that would put me in the low 9's for caster. This is where I paid for not cleaning the threads. I had to give it more heat and cheeseburgers. I was hoping it would drive even better, but not cause driveline issues. Well BINGO! it drove even better, and no drone at 70 mph.
