2” Lift- Are Caster Correction Bushings Necessary? (1 Viewer)

[jordancollard97]

Buying a barely used 2” Ironman lift from a buddy. Problem is he’s keeping his caster correction bushings.

Yes yes, I’m know they’re a good idea- but are they totally necessary, and will the vehicle still drive/handle fine without them?

It’s only a 2 inch lift. If I were going higher I’d be more prone to suck it up and spend the $ and labor to install them.

Advice appreciated.

 

[Fj80oregon]

Don’t lift it unless you really need a lift, not want a lift. Be honest with yourself! Your truck will not drive as good as it does now, lifting really effects the handling of them from stock. Best to put the lift on, correct the rear panhard to center the axle. Delta makes a really nice bracket for the panhard. Then get a castor readout from an alignment shop. If it’s out of spec, might be right at the edge of in spec, then get brackets or new radius arms. The bushing suck and will fail.

 

[ZackR]

I went with control arm drop brackets on my 1.75" lift to correct the caster. Personally I think they are a better option than bushings.

 

[jpoole]

You are very likely to need caster correction with a 2" lift. As you raise the center of gravity of the rig and move the suspension out of it's sweet spot solid tracking becomes more important. You'll want to keep toe in spec as well as that will help with tracking also and I'd take steps to eliminate play from the system (wheel bearings, tierod ends, frame cracks, worn bushings, steering box slack, etc.).

I think that drop brackets are superior in a number of ways to other corrective measures. I'd put the bushings as the worst option behind of drop brackets, arms, cut and turn, plates and offset kingpin bearings for most situations. The drop brackets will help keep the rear-connection point of the arms lower and closer to stock angle so that the axle is more easily pushed up w bumps vs down. As the angle of the arms changes, with the axle itself lower and the pivot point of the arms higher, bumps push the axle more back and less up which impacts handling, if that makes sense. The Toyota engineers factored quite a bit into the geometry of all of the suspension components at factory height and it all moves away from optimal as you lift which is why the various corrective measures are needed.