Ok, I have been searching for a cheaper solution to the caster fix for a 6" lift and Slee sells their control arms which are $1000 and Iron man recommends their caster plates which I have been told will not work for a 6" lift, Man A Fre sells the drop brackets which I just found. It seems to me that the Man a Fre would be the way to go since this is what most lift companies do to achieve their lift is lower the entire control arm. How come I dont hear or read alot about these? Do they work? I just dont want to nor have the cash to pop on the $1000 Slee arms right now or the $1400 Superior arms. What is the feedback on the drop brackets?
Man a Fre Caster Drop Brackets
- Thread starter yamapro
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People who have never had them say they hang down too far and will catch on the rocks. People who have had them say they're fine, and BTW theirs are for sale, would you like to buy them?
jvazquez53
El Tractor
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You may want to contact the Ironman dealer, Camel 4x4, they can clarify that for you. They put the 6" lift from Ironman and those plates seem to work.
Camel 4x4 and Outdoor for 4x4 Parts and Accessories
- Thread starter
- #4
so you have a set for sale? The 4" set?
therer is no way the ironman caster plates will correct caster to the factory spec for a 6" lift, NO WAY!
- Thread starter
- #8
That is what Christo told me, I was asking about running the plates and bushings but was informed about the contact with the steering. I eventually want the superior arms but just want to get by until I have the extra cash. So the brackets look like they could be a good fit. My truck is a DD so road manners are important. Any feedback from someone running these?
- Thread starter
- #9
Will they correct the caster enough on the 6" slee lift?
I have the MAF drop brackets for a 4" lift.They don't really get in the way.......but I just hate the way the look!!(Having a lifted truck with good ground clearance and these 2 brackets hanging down
)Can I get caster plates for 4" of lift and from who slee,landtank or ironman??
)Can I get caster plates for 4" of lift and from who slee,landtank or ironman??- Thread starter
- #11
I have the MAF drop brackets for a 4" lift.They don't really get in the way.......but I just hate the way the look!!(Having a lifted truck with good ground clearance and these 2 brackets hanging down
Do you have any vibrations, did they correct the caster? No crazy steering issues?
I had to get a DC front drive shaft.Other then that, no problems caster is good,no vibes,steering is good. They work good, just don't like looks of them hanging down!!
- Thread starter
- #13
do you think your joints on your OEM shaft were done or that you needed the DC to get it correct?
- Thread starter
- #14
I guess what Im asking is did you do the bracket then needed the shaft or you did them both at the same time?
Six inches of actual lift is going to require about 11 degrees of caster correction and this is more than caster plates and bushings can provide. You can get about 7 degrees of correction before the tie rod hits the control arm with plates and bushings. Drop brackets and pates should get the caster correction job done at a fraction of the cost of new control arms.
With the angles I had in the front I had a (bad) vibration in the front.Someone correct me if I'm wrong but with a 6" lift I think you will certainly need a DC drive shaft.It will save you a headache like I had in the long run!!I drove for awhile with stock DS and had vibes that got worse with time, by the time I got a DC DS I ruined the front main bearing in my transfer case.......
- Thread starter
- #17
Most people I have spoken with do not have the DC shafts but are running control arms In my opinion just for the geometry the MAF Brackets would give better geometry than the Control arms but everyone is correct that you definately will lose the clearence by having the brakets hanging low. The brackets should give close to stock geometry as well as not getting you any closer to any steering pieces. Even the control arms will get the arms closer to the steering pieces just because of the way they have to return to the OEM locations on the frame. I cant believe a company hasnt come out with a crossmember skid plate that relocates the frame mounts further back for the front and further forward for the rear. Rubicon Express offers this for Jeeps and it is a great concept with lots of flex and capability. But that is a completely different subject.
That's because Jeep arms are painfully short to start with. Moving the arms on the 80 creates most of the same problems that the drop brackets have.
I have adjustable control arms in the rear(upper).I meant aDC DS just for the front.If you run MAF drop brackets I think you'll definitely need aDC DS.You end up straight out at your pinion side(0 degrees) and one hell of an angle at the transfer case.Two very different angles, which =vibes.Give it a try you'll see what I mean.
I have the MAF 3" drop brackets. Have been running them for nearly 5 years. Search my threads, my truck isn't a mall crawler in any sense of the word. The one thing that people conviently forget with caster plates is they make the front of the arm hang down lower from the axle. So, if you're looking at which creates the lowest point on the vehicle, caster plates do! Lots of people reject the drop brackets based on the kit that drops the front and the back. That definately creates some lower hang up points, and I wouldn't consider that myself. The front though, no big deal. I've never had them prevent forward motion, and only once did I have them catch backing up in a rock garden - and that was such an extreme case I would have had issues reguardless of castor correction method.
There is alot of BS about the drop brackets out there, but the one thing almost no one will disagree with (there is always one idiot) is that the drop brackets maintain the factory motion of the axle better and give better road manners. Not that caster plates or arms or bushing give bad manners, but the drops give better manners. At 5" of lift and 37's I spun my truck 180 degrees on dry pavement at 50 ish in an emergency situation, and the truck handled as it should and didn't roll (do a search for "how to empty your bowels"). Spike jokes about people with them wanting to sell them, and I think that has more to do with people wanting to be one of the cool kids, not one of those dorky kids with the drop brackets than it does with any real performance issues.
The question that should be asked though is why do you think you need 6" of lift? 6" of lift pretty much necessitates a DC DS - reguardless of caster correction method. If you use L-shocks you have lots of compression travel and almost no extension. There is just alot of cost associated with it. If you're goal is to run 37's, there are lots of guys doing it on alot less lift. Or, you can go with a 4" suspesnsion and a 1" body lift and have much fewer issues and you can do both of those combined for less than a 6" lift will cost you. The 1" body lift also helps w/ doing a high clearance exhaust system.
A legitimate alternative to arms to accomodate 6" of lift is flipping the radius arms to the top of the axle. It's just a matter of cutting off the mounting brackets on the axle, and rewelding them in the appropriate possition (caster wise) on top of the axle. Much cheaper than arms or drop brackets. It also gives the most clearance of any option - road manners should be very close to a caster plate set up since the motion of the axle will be almost identical (motion is determined by the distance from the radius arm mount on the fram to the center of the axle, it doesn't matter if arms are on top or bottom). This is a popular option down under. The trend here in the states seems to be either lower lift, expensive arms, or a custom radius arm or 3-link set up.
There is alot of BS about the drop brackets out there, but the one thing almost no one will disagree with (there is always one idiot) is that the drop brackets maintain the factory motion of the axle better and give better road manners. Not that caster plates or arms or bushing give bad manners, but the drops give better manners. At 5" of lift and 37's I spun my truck 180 degrees on dry pavement at 50 ish in an emergency situation, and the truck handled as it should and didn't roll (do a search for "how to empty your bowels"). Spike jokes about people with them wanting to sell them, and I think that has more to do with people wanting to be one of the cool kids, not one of those dorky kids with the drop brackets than it does with any real performance issues.
The question that should be asked though is why do you think you need 6" of lift? 6" of lift pretty much necessitates a DC DS - reguardless of caster correction method. If you use L-shocks you have lots of compression travel and almost no extension. There is just alot of cost associated with it. If you're goal is to run 37's, there are lots of guys doing it on alot less lift. Or, you can go with a 4" suspesnsion and a 1" body lift and have much fewer issues and you can do both of those combined for less than a 6" lift will cost you. The 1" body lift also helps w/ doing a high clearance exhaust system.
A legitimate alternative to arms to accomodate 6" of lift is flipping the radius arms to the top of the axle. It's just a matter of cutting off the mounting brackets on the axle, and rewelding them in the appropriate possition (caster wise) on top of the axle. Much cheaper than arms or drop brackets. It also gives the most clearance of any option - road manners should be very close to a caster plate set up since the motion of the axle will be almost identical (motion is determined by the distance from the radius arm mount on the fram to the center of the axle, it doesn't matter if arms are on top or bottom). This is a popular option down under. The trend here in the states seems to be either lower lift, expensive arms, or a custom radius arm or 3-link set up.
