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Installed adj uppers n lowers now steering probs, bumpsteer? Caster?

Sleeper

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Pittsburgh
Well last night i started my project finnally, TNT adj uppers, RC adj lowers, Teraflex 1 1/4'' coil spacers, RC drop brackets and some brute force. Now when i drive it veers all over the place and i guess has bumpsteer? The wheel does not jerk but it goes left or right when i go ove r a bump in the road as well as goes left or right sometimes when i am on the brakes.



Everything is tight, i have a HD trac bar and drop bracket and the lowers/ upers are newish with good heims and bushings. Now two things....



1. I am not sure what the caster is right now but i put a degree wheel on the bottom of the front driveshaft u-joint and it says 10 degrees i think from what i rememeber.



2. When you look at the coil springs from the wheel well they are tilted towards the back, not straight up and down. The wheels look centered in the wheel well but who knows, they were like that before i did this work and thought this would take care of it. The factory bumpstop is near the rear of the coil,not in the middle.



Any ideas on what to do? I can attempt the alignment at my shop but i have no clue what the caster should be at 5.5-6''. It drives fine down the road at 40-50 mph unless i hit a bump or crest in the road....
 
And real numbers!!!!!
pichers1.jpg
 
it looks like this when it is on the ground with the wheel on. See how tilts back..


Uploaded with ImageShack.us


Seems to me maybe the lowers are not adjusted out far enough? And if i adjust them out more than i think the wheel will not be centered up front in the well? Should i use the 101'' wheel base rule and go from there?
 
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Looks like you either need longarms, or drop brackets. I could be mistaken though, you also may want to try to adjust your lowers a bit to push the bottom of your axle forward, that may help?
That is not my pic but one i found, i put the drop brackets on today along with the adj arms.
 
If your lowers are not long enough then you may need to get longer ones. What size lift are you running and what were the lower control arms designed to extend out to?
 
it looks like this when it is on the ground with the wheel on. See how tilts back..



?

:gee: this is what mine looks like currently with stock uppers fixed length lowers and 4" lift coils when i flex out my bump stop rubs my coils. BUT i dont have any kind of weird vibration or anything either...

im willing to bet that your alignment is out. especially if you havent checked it since you lifted it. its only suppose t obe i think 1/8" toe'd in unless ur running an np242 at which is should be the same
 
your toe should be about a 1/16 to an 1/8 of an inch with a 30" tire. tcase shouldnt matter?
 
I pretty much think that the lowers need to be adjusted out. My coils were like this before all the work i did as well with no probs at all, but not this bad...
 
Yes, the control arms need to be lengthened to move the axle forward. However, that won't effect the handling, will just center the axle better and help the springs. If you haven't realigned it yet then there's no way to diagnose poor handling, do the alignment. You can do it yourself with an angle finder and a tape measure.

Bump steer is from the track bar and drag link being way out of alignment with each other, so the axle and steering end up not moving together causing it to steer some as the suspension cycles, or when you hit a bump. Since you didn't change the track bar or drag link then you shouldn't have bump steer. You're handling problems most likely are due to an alignment issue.
 
holy crap, your axle is too far forward, it shouldnt be angled opposite of the first picture you posted. what that means with the pic's you posted when you compress your coils the axle cycles forward pushing your coils forward into the bump stop and makes that angle WORSE not better, so i'd prolly pull them rearward a little bit trying to center those coils better. and what you could do is pull off your wheels then snug up your rotor with 2-3 nuts on both sides and measure your toe, if you have something long straight and flat (small square tubing works best) just measure the distance between the front of the rotor and the rear of the rotor and make sure the front is 1/16-1/8 closer together.

side note, make sure the piece you use is at least the height of your tire and center it on the rotor, reason why is it's just like measuring using the tires only a lot more accurate. also, make sure the weight of the vehicle is on the axles using 2 jacks or stands so it mimics the vehicle being in its natural position. hope i was clear and this helps.
 
the first pic i posted with no wheels was just one i found on the net, i did not have pics as of yet. The rest is my heep. I was thinking exactly what you said... pull the uppers back as i think my axle is set by the lowers in a good place.... maybe. Thanks for the tips on the alignment!
 
your coils look like they mimic this "(" if you tilt it back hopefully it straighten's them up. your castor angle should be in the 7 degree angle area
 
Has the pitman arm been dropped?The angles dont look like they should.
 
I just went through this same sh1t. I just did a Clayton 4.5" short arm on my 2000. I have the LP 30. I'm guessing you have the HP 30 ('99 and older), so you won't have as bad of a front pinion and ds angle issue as I had. Your caster should be somewhere in the 4.5-5 degree range, but 3-3.5 degrees isn't uncommon. I know what you're talking about with the wandering effect. Mine is the same way. Caster's purpose is to return the steering wheel to center. As you take away caster, you lose that. If you turn the steering wheel and let go, the vehicle will wanna keep going that way instead of swingin back to center. I find myself having to constantly correct the steering while going down the road (PA roads blow, so that doesn't help either) Coupled with the fact that it's a short arm and not longarm, with bigger tires prolly, that's the way she's gonna ride. Get the thing professionally aligned. Pinion angle always takes preference over caster.

BTW My lower adj. arms are set to 17" eye to eye
 
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