Game on: Lift, Bumper(s), and Winch

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Picked up a brand new Slee front bumper from the air terminal last night. I'll be mounting the winch and bumper on Saturday, but I couldn't help hauling the sucker into family room and unwrappinging it with my toddler.

Very impressive hunk of steel. I pity the poor animal/automobile/rock that happens to run into this thing. I also see now why the winch has to go on the bumper before mounting the bumper itself--the winch is almost completely sheltered inside the bumper and under the front grille.

I was wondering, anyone know if Slee forms the font bumper from the same 80 grade stuff as their rear? Doesn't say so on their website, but I assume it's all the same steel.

Regardless, very cool and very burly. I can't wait to get it on the truck. I'll get some pictures up asafp.

Hayes
 
Rick, bushings are installed the right way, first thing I checked. I didn't bother to spend money on getting caster numbers before the lift. From all the info I had, CC bushings were enough for my 2.75in lift. It's the panhard rods -both front and rear- that I need to replace with Christo's. Why should I worry about caster? Drives great, except for left pull, which could be unrelated. What's wrong with caster out of whack?
 
I don't get how a truck with a pull can be decribed as driving great.

From your numbers your caster is way out of wack. To me, this would be the first obvious thing to correct. I take things one step at a time, that way you don't get lost in the confusion.

With the pull and those caster numbers you might want to closely check out your axle. When was the last axle service done, by who and where the trunion bearings replaced?

Those CC bushings where for non J springs which are an inch shorter. Theoretically they shouldn't be enough, but not off as much as you are seeing.

My truck has been through a few spring iterations over the years and when it had light caster it would wonder and on a road with alot of crown it would pull but that was always to the shoulder. I think when you find your caster problem the pull will be caused by the same fault.
 
landtank said:
I don't get how a truck with a pull can be decribed as driving great.
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I'm also puzzled by those with a lift & no CC and they say their truck drives great. With no CC and 2-1/2" lift, mine handles like crap and can be downright scary with a heavy load in the back, cross-winds, and speeds ~70mph. It's OK around town but you can tell it's not right and nobody could say it drives great.

I really need to get my Slee caster plates off the workbench and on the truck.

-B-
 
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Ok, runs like c@&p, because of the caster. I got it. Why my numbers are so out of whack, no clue. Axles were completely rebuild a month ago (thanks, CDan:cheers: ). With brand new tires, truck seems to want to wander more than with the old rubber, either or right. More sensitive to crosswinds, too. When I had the truck raised on a lift, the front axle was pulled to the left by about half an inch -by the panhard bar, the only suspension part not replaced. Even when resting on the ground, would it pull it to the left? What about caster plate: I'll get Christo's, but, with my numbers, can I keep my OME cc bushings WITH the plate?
 
Roman I recently had an alignment done that yielded bad caster numbers on one side only. The tech had adjusted the tie rod and left the clamp out of position and it was hitting the leading arm and influencing the reading.

What might help us is your Hub Center to fender measurement. Mine was 22.5" and had -1.8* caster and I needed 6* of correction to make it right (i can explain the math if you missed my thread). This is well beyond what Christo's plates will yield by themselves.

What I would do is put the stock bushings back in and get a base line reading of what you caster is. From that we can get a rough idea if you are in a normal range and determine what is needed to correct this. I have no modifications to my panhards and it tracks straight as an arrow. If your hub/fender measurement is similar to mine and the caster is corrected I can't see how your truck would drive any differently.
 
Hayes said:
After talking to Ben at SLEE, I've decided to get my current caster measured before I do anything. Sounds like the only reason to use the plates on the 2.5" lift would be if my current caster is very low.

Hayes
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I'm running an 850/863 combo with 1" spacers up front on stock caster with no problems. This is on a 92. I drove it this way with the 3FE and the 350tbi, and it handles great. No tracking, wandering, etc.
 
White Shark said:
I'm running an 850/863 combo with 1" spacers up front on stock caster with no problems. This is on a 92. I drove it this way with the 3FE and the 350tbi, and it handles great. No tracking, wandering, etc.
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Is this a seat of the pants evaluation or did you verify your caster?
 
Distance hub center to fender is aprox 22.5-23in.
Caster is -0.8left/-0.4right with cc bushings. Book says 2 to 4.
Right now, I don't have the mulah to buy new OEM bushings, pay to have them pressed in, and replace them, just to get a reading. I know it's the correct way of doing things right, but I've got birthdays in the family and Christmas to worry about. I hate to have to things the cheap way, but, hey, it's life! Rick, what's the next step?
 
Your setup looks to be about the same as mine and I'd suspect that if you were to remove the bushings and reshoot it your total needed correction would be around 6* or 7*, but that's a wild ass guess. Seems like alot but not too many people have been tracking this stuff.

Take a look at the tie rod clamps and make sure they aren't hitting the leading arms when you turn the wheel to either lock. This will give false caster readings on the low side.

As far as the pulling, you might try swapping the tires around, some have had that be an issue. Also how does your camber look? If one side is out that might point to a bearing problem.

When you get up into your lift range correcting caster isn't cheap. The solution will most likely require the stock bushings be put back in as the CC bushings aren't up to the task and I beleive interfear with what will get you where you need to be. Maybe another board member can help you out with this.

I'll mention this but I have no idea what you can expect from this, so take it for what it's worth. Downey Offroad use to offer a drop plate for the rear of the leading arm mount. You would weld this to the existing mount and then bolt the leading arm to it. It would drop the arm by 2". This amount would most likely get your caster in line. I personally would not use them but you might post around and see if someone else has and how they worked. They probably would be the most cost effective way to correct the caster you have.
 
What about Slee caster plates, with or without CC bushings? It looks easy to install, and I can justify a one-time-only $139.00 to fix my caster (problem). I'll check Downey.
I'll check the tie rod clamps, thanks. I don't remember the numbers for camber, but the bearings are brand new. Disregard, that doesn't mean squash: just had a brand new OEM Denso distributor cap go bad on me!
 
Romanknight said:
Disregard, that doesn't mean squash: just had a brand new OEM Denso distributor cap go bad on me!
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Would you elaborate please. There's not much to "go bad" with a dizzy cap. Did it crack?

-B-
 
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