New Alignment Qs

Hey All

I finally got my alignment yesterday. I noticed something weird on the freeway. If I ever slightly right the steering wheel will stay that way and not return to center. When veering left it seems normal. Can you take a look at these before and after reports and see if you notice anything weird? FYI I have JBA high caster standard duty control arms and Fox 2.5 DSC around 2.75” lift.

 

Here is the before and after

 

I'm not a lifted guy but if I remember correctly caster is really not adjustable on most makes (generally). That's why your alignment shows the same on both before and after. The return you speak of is going around a corner, like a left or right turn. Return to center on the road or highway would be dictated by the crown in the road or wear in the road etc. Minimal drift can sometimes be corrected with toe. Most will drift right over a half mile. It's been a while so all you ASE(4) guys take it easy on my ass.
Zim

 

JBA recommends 3 degrees caster with increased caster UCAs. I noticed I am now rubbing on the cab side on the fender flares. Super frustrating because Big O wanted 189 for an alignment because of the lift (who knows why it’s more) I went to another shop for 150 obviously they don’t know what they are doing. Anybody know a of a place near Marin Country CA that actually knows how to perform an alignment on lifted trucks?

 

It's probably the way they setup the cross caster and camber.
It appears both are adjusted to compensate for road crown; one or the other, not both.
Also, with high caster comes high camber changes when the wheel is turned.

I prefer cross camber for road crown.
It works by equalizing scrub forces latitutadinally across the tread pattern.
Using cross caster works by influencing dynamic toe.

 

So because the caster is built into the control arm, it has moved to the rear, or towards the cab. This is the additional positive caster. It's not changeable in my opinion. The angle of the upper ball joint moves to the rear to increase the angle from the upper to the lower. You would have to physically move the control arm, ball joint to change it. This is the hardest thing almost on a automobile to understand, and I've never, ever had anyone explain caster without a demonstration in person. I have copied the two pictures before and after and will try to illustrate it later.
Zim

 

Sucks man wish you were in so cal. Know a great alignment place for lifted trucks. Call around some offroad shops and see who they recommend for alignments.

 

I know this is not a perfect illustration, but look how far back the grease fitting has moved on the new control arm.
Zim

 

I noticed you said you "finally" got your alignment. How long exactly did you drive with it out of alignment?

You could have done massive amounts of uneven tire wear with the toe being that far out, which would account for it feeling weird now even with the alignment done

you really do need to get aligned right away after lifting. I was getting 3-4mpg worse after lifting, thats alot of tire scrubbing.

 

Pretty much what I was thinking.
I have the same JBAs , well three years old and got my alignment done after new tires. It can be done.
Just have to find someone that knows what they're doing

 

Who do you recommend?

 

I drove about 400 miles didn’t have a choice I ran out of time and had to drive to emergencies all week.