Im not too educated when it comes to caster but something doesnt seem right. i have attached some pics of drivers side and passengers side. The drivers side caster the lower control arm is at full lenght meaning the bolt is positioned towards the rear of the truck, on the passengers side the bolt is positioned all the way forward shortening the lower control arm. Is this supposed to be like this?? i thought both had to be about equal lengh or so...but looking at it it looks way off to me. i do notice a small vibration on my front end after a recent alignment but i thought it was just my tires.
i talked to the technician today and he said it was to compensate for road crown.

is that how its supposed to be? thanks 4 your help

 

the bolts will never be in the same spot, but a good alinment will determine if its out or not.

 

Does it drive straight?
I think they should both be the same or your axle will be twisted.

 

it drives pretty straight, only when i hit small bumps i feel my tires wanting to turn and steering wheel vibrates and recently i started hearing a clank. on ocassion.

 

Maybe these will help:

"If the caster is different from side to side, the vehicle will pull to the side with the less positive caster."
from:
http://www.familycar.com/Alignment.htm



"If one wheel has more positive caster than the other, that wheel will pull toward the center of the vehicle. This condition will cause the vehicle to pull or lead to the side with the least amount of positive caster."
from:
http://autorepair.about.com/od/gloss...lignment_2.htm

 

If you are using the pro-comp steering componets that could be some of your problem. Sounds like you are experiencing bumpsteer. I had the same problem when i first put my 5" pro-comp lift on. They put the stock steering componets back on it and it drove like stock.

 

I have stock steering

 

You cannot adjust the caster differently on each side of our trucks with the control arm eccentrics. Yes, the adjusters can be in different positions, but they are not going to twist the axle.

Differences from left to right are fixed with offset ball joints.

Having less caster on one side seems common on Dodges and makes them pull. There have been a number of posts on this issue. I think the axle knuckles are welded on slightly different from each other. Maybe a tolerance problem or maybe a design to make them pull slightly away from oncomming traffic or to compensate for the crown in the road. Don't know.

I maxed mine out with the adjusters to give it the most caster (bottom of the wheels moved forward). This to make it more stable and less likely to shimmy or, as it is called around here, death wobble.

All other measurements are set up to Dodge specs and the left and right are slightly different from each other on my truck. I noted the difference so the next time I get ball joints I can get the proper offset to correct it and make them the same.

 

I thought offset BJ's are meant to fine tune camber, and since our trucks have solid axles are not needed and using them leads to problems?

I maxed out my lower control arms too, making them 'longer' when I leveled my truck.

 

Fisher,

Offset ball joints can rotate 360 degrees as I see it and can therefore adjust both caster and camber. The main thing for me was to try to bring the caster values to match each other. But, unfortunately, the ball joints were worn out and I could not get a good baseline reading to then allow me to order the correct offset joints. So I installed standard ones and took the readings so the next time I could, if needed, get the corrective ones. I think I need 1/4 degree, if I remember correctly.

Anyway, my truck was pulling very hard with mostly worn out 315 BFGs. The pulling was really pi$$ing me off and rotating did not help. Grrrrrr. But with the new Toyo 285/75s and the new front end parts, the problem went away.

Now the issue is the rough ride from the 285/75 Toyos! Man, those are stiff tires! I either need to get stronger shocks or switch to 285/70s. Pot holes and rough pavement raises havoc at speed. What's your experience with your 35s and Bilsteins? I'm coming up on 60,000 miles on this set and deciding on the next. Gotta do it before winter.

 

So both of you have maxed out your caster. I would think that the positions would be diffrent but not by that much. The drivers side is maxed out while the passengers side is as short as it gets. That's over 1/2" of diffrence.

The truck rides better with the revtek coils and 5100 bilsteins than stock. The tires are very stiff but my rear end is alot more bouncier than the front end. Alot of people have told me that for a lifted truck they would of thought the ride would of been more rough and that it rides better than stock also, I believe it does myself.

 

John,
The I have no complaints with the tires and feel better with their E rating, I had 2 flats in one fishing season with my 285 Cooper ATR's (D rated), both times they needed to be replaced.
I did the Billsteins when I did the spacers up front, things seem a little more controlled if you know what I mean, I put them on the rear too.

 

To me it looks like the driver side has the catser minimized (negative) while the passenger side is maximized (positive). When the eccentric is pointing back, it is pushing the axle to the rear. When the eccentric it is pointing forward, it is pushing the axle forward. It looks like your axle is "effectively" twisted the way it is setup; but it would take an alignment to know for sure. You could try moving them and see how it affects the steering, but mark them so you can move it back in case it makes it worse.

 

Paul,

Please read the previous posts. The adjusters are not strong enough to twist the axle. The caster cannot be individually adjusted for each wheel with the excentrics.

 

also taking into account that each control arm could be slightly different in length, and the brackets on the axle could be slightly different, and the bushing could be different, this is why we have adjustments.