JBA’s Installed. Rubbing Mud Guard

Hey, folks! I recently installed a set of JBA high caster UCA’s on my 2017 off-road in the hopes of regaining caster to improve handling/tracking at highway speeds.

Truck has the Eibach Stage 1 lift which gave me about 2” to 2.25” of lift. My tires are 265-75-16 KO2’s on SCS Ray10’s. Wheels are 8” wide with 4” b.s & -12mm offset.

Had truck aligned today. Camber & Toe set at 0. Driver’s side caster is at 3.8 & passenger side is at 4.0. Seems like great numbers from what I’ve read here.

Truck handles so much better on the highway, but I noticed I’m now slightly rubbing the mudguards in certain situations. Seems to mostly happen in reverse with wheel cut far to the right and sometimes to the left.

Looking for suggestions. Should I bump the caster a bit more? Massage mudguards with heat gun? Bump my Eibach’s up to the 2nd clip?

I hate to remove my mudguards. I live back a mile long stone lane and they definitely help knock a bunch of them down when I hit the pavement and they start flinging as speed increases.

 

Bump. Need some of you alignment experts to chime in.

 

UCAs achieves increased caster by moving the upper balljoint rearward and as a consequence, moves the tire rearward.
If you're using caster for clearance purposes from the mudflap/cab mount, an LCA that moves the lower balljoint forward would be a better solution. To my knowledge, no one makes one. The closest thing is the JD Fab sub frame which repositions the control arm pivots.

Also, with increased caster comes increased dynamic camber(camber change when the wheel is turned). This may or may not be a contributing factor.

 

If you are only slightly rubbing in reverse at full turn, I would not worry about it too much. Typical with SCS wheels. You could dremel off some of the mud guard plastic at the contact points, and use a heat gun.

 

Check the LCA cam bolt positions. If the forward one is past halfway from full inward and/or the aft one if past halfway from full outward then the wheel can be moved forward with that adjustment but you will lose some caster. With the adjustment at the UCA you might be able to regain some or all of the lost caster, it just depends on the current position.

 

Yeah, I think that’s what I’m going to do. I may even bump my Eibach’s up to the 2nd notch.

 

Thank you! I’ll look into that and run it by my alignment guy.

 

See where the mud guard is rubbing and unbolt the 3 screws holding it on, chew away rubbing area with weapon of choice, reinstall flap.

Done.

 

If it's only rubbing a little bit, I would get aftermarket mud flaps. Stock ones are rigid whereas Rekgens are thinner and more flexible for offroading. Plus you can get them in the XL to get more rock flinging protection.

 

I like this idea. You’re right, if the factory ones were more flat, it wouldn’t be an issue. The tire is rubbing on this one spot that protrudes on the factory guard. I’ll look into the ones you suggest. Thank you!