1985cucv

ok guys i have been reading alot about adjusting the caster on your truck what im wondering is can each side be different? my drivers side is set at 5 degrees i believe (it is on the 5th notch from the front) and my passenger side is close to 3? the issue is that i cannot move my passenger side one but my drivers side moves easily do i have an issue?. i think the bolt may be rusted in there quite a bit so i sprayed it down we'll see how it goes. i was able to move it a little bit about half a degree but that was it.

i have a leveling kit so i was wondering if this would help my wander issue and apparently it has with many others thanks

1985cucv

no one knows ?

txarrowhunter

On my truck one is all the way forward and one is all the way back. Some guys said thats probably cause the axle isnt welded perfect and may be a lil twisted...which i find hard to believe!

.boB

Caster, camber, and toe should be almost the same, left to right.

The only way to check caster is to put a caster gauge on it. You can't look at notches, bolt position, arm length, or anything else. You must have a caster gauge. If you've changed anything without a gauge, then you need to have it re-aligned.

05 CTD2500

Mine is set the same, one forward and one back, one side is easy to turn and the other I can turn just not easily. I know this doesn't help, but believe the only way to get it accurate is to use a caster guage as mentioned. When I messed with mine I put a chalk alignment mark on both, ended up putting it back where it was from the factory because I didn't get the results I was looking for (trying to cure a pull to the right due to tires).

1985cucv

i moved mine equally on each side and i have no issues with it thus far it drives a little bit better and i did mark the old spots so i can still go back to them we'll see thanks guys

Lost Lake

Caster should be a hair more on the right to compensate for crown in the road.
I would only adjust those while on a rack.

1985cucv

i adjusted mine equally on each side and the truck drives the same! i can see the axle move forward when i move the bolts. i spun the axle forward so positive on the bolts and it does help the steering wheel recenter better. so i dont think i have an issue if not i have the original marks marked so i can put it back.

Highway 4x4

Not enough caster will give you the wobble of death.

bigpig41

Common difficulty interpreting all these threads on various boards is defining what is a positive caster movement and a negative movement . It's described both ways even in this thread. Seems to me that when getting down on your knees and looking at the driver's side front wheel that a rotation of the whole axle(and thus the two ball joints) COUNTERCLOCKWISE(moving upper ball joint towards the front of truck and lower joint towards the back of truck) would provide more caster affect and thus improve recentering of the steering wheel coming out of a turn. I must have my thinking mixed up as both Wikipedia an the dodge factory service manual describe positive caster as moving the bottom ball joint forward.

which way actually gives more caster affect or action?.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caster_angle

torquefan

Positive caster means that the upper ball joints are tipped rearward compared to the lowers. To increase your positive caster, you would rotate the axle to make the uppers further rearward.

And, to clarify some of the earlier posts on this thread, with a solid axle, you cannot adjust the caster on one side only, in relation to the other side. All that will accomplish is making your front axle no longer square to the frame of the truck.