New Alignment Numbers - Small Change/ BIG improvement

Installed ~2” lift and 265/75/16s in December and recently had an alignment check done when I had an oil change that showed toe slightly out of spec. I expected some changes due to aligning only hours after installing new springs.

Today, I found a guy who agreed to try to get max caster, which the dealership wouldn’t do when I had tires installed originally. Original alignment and new one below for reference. Im shocked by how much better the truck drives with such a slight adjustment. It’s like going from a CJ-5 to a Cadi. My advice to anyone lifting or lifted is to try to get 3 degrees caster or as much as possible without affecting camber. It’s worth it. I thought the truck drove well before, but this was a huge improvement.

Lift Specs:
Stock UCAs
5100s with OME 8500
Single AAL rear 2”

Original Alignment after lift/ tires:

New and improved alignment, 4 months later:


Crappy current pic of the truck so you get an idea of stance.

 

Where did your specs go?

 

I'm not seeing any of the pictures. Curious as to the numbers as I am going to get my alignment in the morning.

 

Me too. They were there yesterday, should have printed them then.

 

So weird. They disappeared now for me too! My phone somehow double posted the original, and I suspect that when one thread was edited the images disappeared for both.

I've now re-loaded the images to the original post so you should be able to see them.

 

Can't believe they sent you out of there with one degree of caster the first time. Thats like riding a unicycle compared to getting close to 3 degrees or better. Now you are where you should of been to begin with.

 

That is the before number, immediately after lifting. They got me to 2.1.

I was just surprised at the difference between 2.1 and 2.9. Drives like OEM with no twitchiness at all.

 

Caster makes a big difference in driving comfort. My TJs all had 35s about 4" lift and you could drive with one finger at 70 mph with about 4-4.5 degrees. OE spec was like 6-7 degrees out of the box with the little tires. Larger tires require less caster than smaller tires require on a TJ any way as I see people saying the opposite here. I see they also gave you a hair more caster on the right as it should be . Thats something else I don't see much attention given to that here . On a straight axle Jeep its built right into the axle so its hard to mess that up .

 

The caster difference makes sense, if you think about a solid axle with a radius arm. IF that radius arm has a downward angle, caster will increase as the front springs compress, likely right back to that 6-7 degrees. The axles follow an arc. With an IFS, our wheels will compress and follow the line of the upper/ lower control arms.

 

Mine had adjustable upper and lower control arms so I could set caster to what ever I wanted only being limited by pinion angle . Most any of the sensible Lifts could get as much caster as needed with out compromising the front pinion in reality . We refer to the links as control arms even though they look nothing like the Tacomas control arms. The one in the picture has what is referded to as long arms which is more like an adjustable radius arm as I could adjust caster with the short arm coming from the upper mount to the radius arm .cant really see the short arm behind the shock

 

I've struggled for a long time with caster on my truck, trying to get a shop to get me the numbers I want...no one would ever get it higher than 1.5 degrees or so. Finally found a good place down the street from me that got me 3 degrees caster (without having to adjust the SPCs, just using the lower cams) and all my rubbing issues have disappeared, I can't even begin to tell you how happy I was lol.

It does feel a bit different driving on the street, I can't really explain it...turning feels tighter I guess. But I'm finally clearing my 33s properly now without having to cut anymore.

 

Yep. I get it. That axle still travels on an arc, with caster at maximum when the spring Is compressed. .

 

To me, turning feels like it did when stock. I noticed it feeling a little looser right after the lift, and less so after alignment #1. Just like adjusting rake on a motorcycle or bicycle.

 

Thats how I usually explain caster , think of bicycle forks and your upper and lower ball joints the angle is why you can ride with no hands. The steering wheel will return to center in the trucks because of the same angle. With the long arms on the Jeep the caster changes as the radius arm moves. With the adjustable short arms the caster stays more consistent as the suspension cycles