bump steer for 500 alex

hey everybody

kind of a newbish question here. i know my angles up front for my trackbar and drag link aren't perfect, but they aren't terrible either. im running a waggy 44, with heim joints, and the tie rod, and drag link both OTK, with an RE track bar.

well when i set the pinion angle i went to 5 degrees, but didn't cut and turn the C's. reason being is i plan on driving it on the street, and just couldn't get myself confortable enough with cutting them, and having them welded back on. i did a driveway alignment and everything got a lot better, and im running 38 inch SXs with BBs for ballancing.

problem:

i can drive up to 55-60 MPH fairly well, but everynow and then in turns i get some shimmy. it isn't too bad, but with all new parts up front, brand new 3 link, AND hydro assist, i feel like i really shouldn't be getting much shimmy through the steering wheel.

i plan on over break adding another 12 oz of bbs to each tire and see if it gets any better. the bushing in my trackbar is a little worn, along with the heim is a little worn. so im thinking of building a straight trackbar with new components and seeing if those 2 things combined will help things out.

also my TNT truss system up front has eliminated the possibility of being able to rotate the Cs at this point because it runs all the way to each side and pretty much makes it impossible to get a grinder in there

any recomendations on what i can do?

over all it isn't bad, but i need to be able to drive it about 1.5 hours to the national forest, and dont want to have white knuckle death grip the whole way there

Post pics of the draglink and trackbar angles

wishihad1 said:

38 inch SXs with BBs for ballancing.

Click to expand...

HA!
there werent enough bb's in the world to make my 36" tsls ride round


anyway

when you say 5*, is that at the pinion angle? not knuckles.

because if your pinion angle is at 5* im guessing your caster is close to 0*, which would be your problem

I vote caster. Depending on your setup you may need to cut and re-weld. Don't be afraid, or have someone else do it for you??? If it's not too bad you may be able to try and split the difference between the pinion and caster.....

its my pinion that i set to 5*

i looked for any pics, but all i could find was pics with the stock waggy steering, and things have changed a lot since then.

even now if i wanted to theres no way i would be able to rotate the C's. unless i cut off the entire truss, then there is no room for me to do any work there. theres a good 3 inches that i wouldn't be able to touch with a grinder

yea

dial in your caster and take it for a drive. see how it is then. if you are tall to the point where your driveshaft is at too much of an angle you have no choice but to cut and turn em' (well you might be able to juggle the caster and pinion angle with adjustable ball joints.

I never had enough lift for it to be an issue with me.

if you hit a bump with the caster close to zero it will jolt the steering one way and not want to return to center on its own.

FYI, that's not bump steer... Bumpsteer is when your tires toe in at droop.

how can i go about adjusting the caster without turning the C's?

can i do it through adjusting my long arms?

the LCA mounts dont leave any adjustability, and neither to the mounts for the uppers?

well i may not be spot on with my definitions, but when i hit a bump, and get some quirky steering, thats what i call bump steer

crazyjim said:

FYI, that's not bump steer... Bumpsteer is when your tires toe in at droop.

Click to expand...

That's called inverted-y steering.

wishihad1 said:

how can i go about adjusting the caster without turning the C's?

can i do it through adjusting my long arms?

the LCA mounts dont leave any adjustability, and neither to the mounts for the uppers?

Click to expand...

Pics,Pics! What kind of set-up are you running that doesnt have any adjustment?

ill try to do some searching for pics tomarrow to see what i can dig up.

im 70 miles from the jeep right now, so finding what i need may be tough. but its just a standard RK 3 link. problem is the LCA mounts that came with the tnt truss kit only has a hole. it isn't slotted like the stock mount, so sliding the link in the mount forward or backwards isn't possible. only adjustment i have is in the arms, which i suppose could have the same effect?

well i called TREKsoffroad and they said i can easily adjust my caster through the RK arms.

i cant dig up any good pics, so for now im just going to have to go with this. but where should i measure to adjust my caster. i imagine if i set a angle finder on my pinion it should be at 5*
but where do i find caster, and what is a good number to shoot for?

thanks for the help

and i figure i can build a pretty HD tracbar for about 60 bucks, so im gonna go ahead and do that do

I remove the zerk from the upper balljoint a place my angle finder there(thats your castor).

cool..thanks

any idea as to what i should shoot for. probably somewhere around 6 inches of lift. ive got locking hubs, so i can bring the pinion down as much as needed really.

bump...im guessing something like 3*

I would shoot for 5*,Ive run as low as 3* and it just drives a little weird.

i try to get mine around 5-6*