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tube rotation/caster adjustment?

1998xj1985

NAXJA Forum User
hey guys long time reader, occasional poster. i really want to lift big, but i'm weary of all the things that will arise in the process, namely caster/pinion adjustment. i have hear of rotating knuckles, and sounds good but i'm not sure how you would accurately do that, so i thought something of my own...

it would be a sleeve with an ID equal to the OD of the axle tubes so it just fit over them. the sleeve would be maybe 5 or 6 inches long. on either end, there would be hash marks for every degree. on the axle tubes, i would draw straight line to represent the 0* marks on the sleeve. then i would cut the tube all the way through. put the sleeve on the housing side of the tube and line up the 0*mark with the line. the i would insert the wheel side tube and match its line up with how many more or less degrees of caster i wanted. carefully weld it back together and go wheel. does anyone have any opinions on whether or not this would be useful/a good idea?
 
ahhh that sounds like a lot of work. i think you are making it harder than it really is. just make sure you have a good angle finder.
 
I think you would be better off making a jig, to hold the axle at the pinion angle you want and somthing to line up the castor up the way it should be. Im not sure why you kept reffering to 0* but I do beleive that castor works best on a cherokee somewhere arouns 5* , defenetly not zero

I am going to make a jig when I build my Dana 44, that will have jig provisions for all control arm brackets and I am going to make it also do the castor by having a pin go throu the ball jointless inner cs.which will also get the right width too. it will take awhile to build the jug, but it will be worth it
 
1998xj1985 said:
hey guys long time reader, occasional poster. i really want to lift big, but i'm weary of all the things that will arise in the process, namely caster/pinion adjustment?
How Big is Big? I ran 8in on 35's on the road. Now 38's and trail only.
Easiest fix is to get adjustable uppers and lowers, or radius arms and set the Caster where you want it for drivability. at 8 inches and 35's my caster was right at 5.5 degrees. Would have to pull the alignment sheet from Nov 05 to confirm that, but that;s what I recall. Install an axle with lock out hubs and disconnect the front drive shaft when street driving. (D-44 or warn hub conversion for the D-30). Off road you will not have an issue with Ujoint life or front d/s vibrations, on road no issues either. If you have to have the front engaged on the road, the down side is most often shorter U-joint life because of the high operating angle.
Save the knuckle twisting for when you need to shorten a wider replacement axle assembly.
 
thanks for the replies guys...

the 0* is just a reference point - ie 0* change from whatever it is to begin with so say i have 1* or 2* after the lift, i want to add 3.5* to that, i would just rotate the tub so the line matches up with 3.5

big for me would be 5.5-6.5 inches, which i have heard, is where the caster/pinion angle starts to be a problem.

i've also read about offset balljoints, you guys know if they worth anything? also how tought to install and set up correctly?
 
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