Shock bar pin angle vs pinion angle

Im in the process of installing a metal cloak 3.5" lift on my 99.

I noticed that where the front shock bar pin sits, the angle is a bit off in relation to the pedestal it sits on. Is this normal? Is it ok to tighten the bolts? I don't want to ruin the shock so checking with you guys first.

UCA length is 15.1"
LCA is 16.5"

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B9xR6pDmCabNb0hqb1VFb2N2X1U

the bushing is meant to take up that deflection.

Post a pic of your pinion angle.

my axle is nothing like a D30.

concerning your application... X.XX degrees of castor is X.XX degrees of castor. regardless of the jeep being at stock height or lifted a foot. you may slightly increase/lower deflection if the axle is positioned farther forward or rearward from stock, but for all intensive purposes that is irrelevant. tighten it down and call it done.

VAhasnoWAVES said:

my axle is nothing like a D30.

concerning your application... X.XX degrees of castor is X.XX degrees of castor. regardless of the jeep being at stock height or lifted a foot. you may slightly increase/lower deflection if the axle is positioned farther forward or rearward from stock, but for all intensive purposes that is irrelevant. tighten it down and call it done.

Click to expand...

It's not irrelevant.

He's got about 1/4" of clearance to the LCA..........his pinion is down.

Jeep Driver said:

It's not irrelevant.

He's got about 1/4" of clearance to the LCA..........his pinion is down.

Click to expand...

ok... the OP stated 3.5" of lift. if that is ride height then he has WAY too much castor and can afford to dial it forward. they gap should not be that small at ride height.

looks more to me like the axle is at full droop.

Yes the axle was at full droop. At ride height the bar pin still has about 3/16" gap. Here are some pics.

To me just from eye balling it, it looks like axle should be forward about 1/2" but that would be way longer control arm lengths than recommended for 3.5" lift.




These springs, which came in a lift kit from metal cloak. They hit the edge of the arm here, guess I need to move the spring inward farther??...They seemed fairly centered.


Seems like the bump stop is not centered...too far forward? Which makes me think the axle need to be moved forward farther.

I really should reserve further comment here............



I still think you need to bring your pinion up a bit.


Springs......this is why I don't like 'kits', buy the part, should have gone OME.

There are tables online that show the correct adjustment for UCA/LCA. At 3.5" lift only a LCA adjustment is needed. I bet you can find the table online before I can figure out how to post it. ;-) Also that looks like one goobers up exhaust crossover pipe. Is it possible that your springs are upside down? On Metalcloak the wider spring gap end goes up, not down???

keep in mind that as the axle compresses the axle will travel forward. so while the axle looks to be a bit farther back than it should be when at ride height, when it is articulated the idea is for the bump stop to hit the spring pad nice and square. but at ride height the wheel will appear to not be centered in the wheel well.

this is one of the inherent problems with short arms that gets magnified as you lift higher and higher.

The only advice I can give here is to have all bolts basically "finger tight" while installing new suspension components then once the tires are on the ground supporting all of the weight then you can go ahead and tighten all the nuts and bolts to spec.

The suspension also has to break in. The rubber in the shocks will flex allowing you to bolt it in even if it isn't flush at first glance. On the coils it looks like you may have to spin them around to get the arch of that coil spring away from the axle C where you have contact. It may take a little time to tweak all of the components for a perfect fit.

Make sure you can find a shop you can trust for an alignment after you have everything settled. Do yourself a favor now while you are down there to point the front pinion directly at the transfer case. 3.5" is a great lift height. Should handle fine after the alignment. It is not uncommon to hear a bunch of creaking and popping during an off road maiden voyage with the sway bar disconnected. Looks good so far arty: