[ntaousakis]

My caster up front is at 3 degrees. I want to make it more like 5 degrees. I have both upper and lower CA's that are adjustable. How can I adjust it to increase the caster and not decrease my pinion angle? Is this possible?

[JayIV]

Nope. They are one in the same. If you adjust caster, you affect PA, and vise versa.

You do however, have a tad bit of lee-way in the front shaft's PA, at least I do. At 6.5'' of lift, I am running 3* of caster up front with the stock shaft and a Clayton's kit (clayton's x-member). So, you should definitely be able to get about 5* of caster without vibes.

[theksmith]

the only way to change caster without changing pinion:
- adjustable ball joints (some say are weak and should not be used, i have no personal expierence)
- have a shop cut and rotate the knuckles/housing to change the relationsip of the knuckles and pinion (EXPENSIVE)

as JayIV said, most people seem to be able to compromise with around 4* of caster and not have vibes or bad wandering issues. if you have the ealier true CV style front driveshaft you should consider switching to the later style double-cardan shaft, as that will be more forgiving with regards to pinion angle

[ntaousakis]

ok thanks for your help guys. Thats what the guy at the alignment shop said, but he was young so i had to double check. I guess ill shorten im LCA one turn, and extend my UCA one turn. I think that should bring me to 5* caster, or will that give me less caster? I was having a weak dw when I was hitting bumps, and once recently I had DW, but my drivers front shock is bad, but im getting a replacement in this week.

[nierace]

Thats going to give you more pinion angle, less caster.

Shorten your UCA and leave the LCA alone. One turn isnt going to be enough, go to the hardware store and get a angle finder. Put a small socket onto the cap of the u-joint to get what your pinion angle is now:



If your pinion angle is 9 degrees now, in order for you to get near 5 degrees of caster you will need to lower it down to 7 degrees.

You should measure what your drive shaft angle is as well, as you do not want there to be a larger difference than 3 degrees from your pinion angle from your drive shaft angle. So if your pinion angle and drive shaft angle are now both 9 degrees, you will be cutting it close on leaving that range, because as you lower the pinion it will make the drive shaft angle steeper as well.


I think your best bet would be to settle at around 4* to ensure you dont get any vibes, the 247 is much more tempermental than the 242 with pinion angles as well, so keep that in mind.

[ntaousakis]

ok, so I would have to shorten my UCA some, i guess i have to compromise pinion angle for caster. I just want to have it at 4 degress i think, and all should be well.