how neccessary is it to do a cut and turn if you have a trail only rig? i had it done on my current fj40 axle but i've got a 62 housing now that i want to swap in, if i point my pinion up without cutting and turning will it make my steering weird or limit my turning radius? or just wear out my bearings really fast?
If you are SO, which you sig looks like you are, and you go with high steer (good idea to get the tie rod out of harm's way) then you could run into clearance problems with the leaf pack when pointing the pinion up. It really isn't that much more work and it will steer better. Even when making a trail rig I'd make sure I wasn't building in defects.
how neccessary is it to do a cut and turn if you have a trail only rig? i had it done on my current fj40 axle but i've got a 62 housing now that i want to swap in, if i point my pinion up without cutting and turning will it make my steering weird or limit my turning radius? or just wear out my bearings really fast?
With your caster set like this, the truck will be dangerous on the street at street speeds. You can probably get away with it off road, but even then any kind of speed will make it handle really funky. The only way to get both a good pinion angle and proper caster is to cut and turn.
Now with an FJ62 axle, the relationship between the pinion angle and the knuckle angle is slightly different, and your pinion angle might be acceptable setting the caster properly. In any case, set up the caster right. You don't want surprises or dangerous handling. You are going to be doing enough fab work to get the wider axles under there, the CnT is not that big a deal.
With what you want to do, the tie rod will most likely need to go thru the springs, won't work, along with it being just being dumb for steering angles. C&T adds like a day to the process.
I thought if going to be a trail ( only ) rig .. and you aren't really between clouds ( of lift ) you can keep it as is .. with the knowledge that you are driving without proper caster settings ..
Other think that come to my mind it's the front diff goes down when you go forward .. it means if you keep it down ( the pinion angle ) to safe little caster, at traction momentum the u joint angle sould be high ..
For what its worth: If it is STRICTLY a trail rig, meaning, you never ever plan on going over 20 MPH, its not nessesary to C&T. Positive caster make the vehicle track straight. Negative caster make the vehicle turn easier. It would actaully be easier on your PS pump to have negative caster. Now, saying that, if you do try and drive it on the road with 10 deg. negative caster, it will be a scary scary ride...
