saginaw question

[John Smith]

And if you are unsure of a source to buy steel shims... Look here. 4Crawler Offroad Products - Custom Leaf Spring Shims

Here is what my old aluminum shim looked like after it flattened out over a few years. You can also see where it started to interact with the steel. Bad evil aluminum shim be gone!

 

[wbb72fj40]

ok I finally got time to install the shim lastnight.with an angle finder on the u bolt plate I am sitting at about 4.5 deg seems to help some. But its still up for involantary lane changes when you hit a 18 wheeler track in the road. I am gonna take it to the alignment shop and see if I can get some help there.

Does flipping the springs help just by lengthening the wheel base?

 

[John Smith]

Did you install the shim with the fat part towards the front of the truck so it tilts your pinion towards the ground more? If so, and you are still all over the road you need to check for slop in all your steering linkages, steeing box, knuckles, etc.

 

[wbb72fj40]

Howdy! I am running a 3.5 turn on mine. It is certainly much quicker and more sensitive than the stock steering I originally kept on it after the SOA was done. About 1.5 years ago I installed a hi steer setup from 4x4 Labs. The old steering stabilizers I had were shot, so I threw them away. With about 5 degrees of caster and 1/4+" of toe in, it steers really nice. John

Toe In right meaning the front of the tires are closer than the back?

How does it effecet tire wear?

 

[wbb72fj40]

Did you install the shim with the fat part towards the front of the truck so it tilts your pinion towards the ground more? If so, and you are still all over the road you need to check for slop in all your steering linkages, steeing box, knuckles, etc.

yes it's in the front. all the linkage is new. I think a large part of this has to do with the shakle angle being nearly 90 deg and the truck riding like a wagon. so if you hit a good bump you actually bounce around enough to move the wheel. The 3.5 turn box is not forgiving.

I am afraid to go foward with any othe mods until i get my existing bugs worked out.

 

[Storm]

I get a tape measure and chalk, mark the inside of my front tires half way up in the front, measure the distance between the tires, roll the rig till the marks are half way up behind the axle, measure again. Adjust my tie rod until I get the two measurements where I want em, personally I go 1/16" closer in the front. I can drive down the freeway with one finger on the wheel on 37's, SOA, and soft waggy springs. But then my caster, box, tre's, ect are all in good shape. I also have a shackle reversal, how are your spring bushings?

 

[wbb72fj40]

Ok I fixed it. pretty much everybodys input was right I had a caster issue compounded by a alignment cause I am stupid I put my the wrong degree shim in the axle some how I put a set of 2 degree shims in that I bought
just in case instead of the 4 degree shims I bought for this project . I figured this out cause I was crawling around under there trying to find somthing wrong when I looked at the back and noticed that those shims were twice as thick as the front. thats when the choice words came out and I realized what I hade done. So I scrambled around and found the right shims still in the package said a few more choice words and replaced them. Oh then threw the little shims in the trash.

then i proceeded to do the tractor style aglinment. (measure center thread to center thread) about a 3/4 inch the wide in the front now even front and back.

drive's more like a cruiser less like a cj
thanks for the help baron