Slee's new caster plates

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bjowett said:
Huh? I don't see it... yet... care to enlighten my eyes? :confused: :D

not *that* thing! the adjustable gizmo! sheesh....
you know, rough, with the welds, squarish, protruding, kinda looks like one of those 2 legged walking tanks from Star Wars. Well, to me at least...
E
 
Here's a question for C-Dan if he's reading this thread -

Are the OEM bushings available? I think I lost mine on my OME swap, I might need'em one day,
 
Riley,

They are available for about $35 ea. Kinda spendy but well made.

-B-
 
Wow. o.k. hope i'm following all this correctly. Brian, your gizmos are adjustable correct? That way you can adjust for more or less caster unlike slee's plates?

My truck seems to have the same caster Gary's truck did when he installed the plates. So i'm guessing it should work for mine also, just need to put oem bushings back in. I guess another question would be what about the already adjusted control arms slee offers with his large lift? Aren't they already adjusted for caster? If this were the case then you would not need to order the arms, just these plates, right?
 
Are Toyota trucks and more specifically their axles different from dana axles and the like? I was running -7* of caster on my Heep for 2 years and never once had a problem. The damn thing tracked better than my mom's Mercedes(I didn't say ride, handle or corner, I just said track ;p ).

Perhaps the 1* stock caster has to do w/ the AWD system?? I honestly have no idea, someone enlighten me.

Ary
 
concretejungle said:
I guess another question would be what about the already adjusted control arms slee offers with his large lift? Aren't they already adjusted for caster? If this were the case then you would not need to order the arms, just these plates, right?

Christo may correct me, but it seems to me it goes like this:

2-3" lift: OME CC Bushings

3-4.5" lift: Slee CC Plates

5 - 6" lift: Slee replacement control arms.


The plates are for that range of lift only. The slee control arms are for the 6" lift; no plates required.
 
Arya Ebrahimi said:
Are Toyota trucks and more specifically their axles different from dana axles and the like? I was running -7* of caster on my Heep for 2 years and never once had a problem. The damn thing tracked better than my mom's Mercedes(I didn't say ride, handle or corner, I just said track ;p ).

Perhaps the 1* stock caster has to do w/ the AWD system?? I honestly have no idea, someone enlighten me.

Ary

It's probably due to suspension design. Don't jeeps have an upper and lower control arm, with only one connecting point each on the axle?

However, having said that, I know the 'death wobble' was an issue with me when I lifted my Grand Cherokee 8 years ago.
 
Keep in mind that Slees kit was designed for more lift that I am running. My 6* + caster will be much less with 5" or 6" springs. If you look at Christos site, he talks about lift in inches, vs. caster, so you could figure out what you individual caster would be with your lift amount. What amount of caster are you guys running with Slee arms and 6" springs?
Gary
 
I was going to add earlier, thanks for the write-up, great job Gary.
 
I thought I would post this to better illustrate what is being discussed here.

THE EFFECTS OF CASTER

Caster is the angle to which the steering pivot axis is tilted forward or rearward from vertical, as viewed from the side. If the pivot axis is tilted backward (that is, the top pivot is positioned farther rearward than the bottom pivot), then the caster is positive; if it's tilted forward, then the caster is negative.

Positive caster tends to straighten the wheel when the vehicle is traveling forward, and thus is used to enhance straight-line stability. The mechanism that causes this tendency is clearly illustrated by the castering front wheels of a shopping cart (above). The steering axis of a shopping cart wheel is set forward of where the wheel contacts the ground. As the cart is pushed forward, the steering axis pulls the wheel along, and since the wheel drags along the ground, it falls directly in line behind the steering axis. The force that causes the wheel to follow the steering axis is proportional to the distance between the steering axis and the wheel-to-ground contact patch-the greater the distance, the greater the force. This distance is referred to as "trail."

Due to many design considerations, it is desirable to have the steering axis of a car's wheel right at the wheel hub. If the steering axis were to be set vertical with this layout, the axis would be coincident with the tire contact patch. The trail would be zero, and no castering would be generated. The wheel would be essentially free to spin about the patch (actually, the tire itself generates a bit of a castering effect due to a phenomenon known as "pneumatic trail," but this effect is much smaller than that created by mechanical castering, so we'll ignore it here). Fortunately, it is possible to create castering by tilting the steering axis in the positive direction. With such an arrangement, the steering axis intersects the ground at a point in front of the tire contact patch, and thus the same effect as seen in the shopping cart casters is achieved.

The tilted steering axis has another important effect on suspension geometry. Since the wheel rotates about a tilted axis, the wheel gains camber as it is turned. This effect is best visualized by imagining the unrealistically extreme case where the steering axis would be horizontal-as the steering wheel is turned, the road wheel would simply change camber rather than direction. This effect causes the outside wheel in a turn to gain negative camber, while the inside wheel gains positive camber. These camber changes are generally favorable for cornering, although it is possible to overdo it.

Most cars are not particularly sensitive to caster settings. Nevertheless, it is important to ensure that the caster is the same on both sides of the car to avoid the tendency to pull to one side. While greater caster angles serve to improve straight-line stability, they also cause an increase in steering effort. Three to five degrees of positive caster is the typical range of settings, with lower angles being used on heavier vehicles to keep the steering effort reasonable.
 
I'm wondering if bjowett's idea of using the mini-truck "cam bolts" could be combined with Christo's Caster plates. This would give the best of both solutions; a less intrusive installation for those of us with limited access to custom fabrication, and a way to adjust caster depending on the amount of lift.

Thoughts?

-B-
 
I think you are really on to something there B. Great idea. I was actually thinking along the same lines, you just posted first. :)
 
Shed Guy has me thinking of something. What if I pressed the stock bushings out of the control arms both front and rear and put the OME Caster Correction bushings in there to extend the wheelbase a smidgen and then relocated those stock bushings to the front and used Slees caster plates. I'm not just trying to save a buck by not buying new stock bushings, but I can see that it could be a bit of an advantage.
 
They don't fit, the rears are 60 mm, fronts are 54 mm. You can bore the rear arm holes and install front bushings, but the rears won't fit in the front.
 
I think the rear bushes are 56mm or 58mm, because when we bored the rear bush hole in the arm, it made the thickness left around the eye the same as pre 95 arms, as the post 95 were thicker in this area.

And from the pics, you can see I also needed to make a spacer for between the chassis bracket and the bush, but combined with a 10mm body lift, it was an easy way to stop the 36" swampers rubbing on the back and top of the front fender.
 
Beowulf said:
I'm wondering if bjowett's idea of using the mini-truck "cam bolts" could be combined with Christo's Caster plates. This would give the best of both solutions; a less intrusive installation for those of us with limited access to custom fabrication, and a way to adjust caster depending on the amount of lift.

Thoughts?

-B-
It would be nice having the adjustability, but my truck is awesome at 6*. I can't imagine why I would need to adjust it.
Gary
 
Beowulf said:
I'm wondering if bjowett's idea of using the mini-truck "cam bolts" could be combined with Christo's Caster plates. This would give the best of both solutions; a less intrusive installation for those of us with limited access to custom fabrication, and a way to adjust caster depending on the amount of lift.

Thoughts?

-B-

B, a most excellent idea... I could see it throwing the cost up another $60 from a small "tuner" like Slee. The Question is "will he?".... Let me throw some gas on a fire... Christo, you state to properly clear 35" tires one needs to spend $3k with you, what's another $60 on top of $120 to do it right? :flipoff2: Folks drive Cruisers because they want the best... don't cheap out now. ;)
 
bjowett,

Correct me if I'm wrong, but the only change would be an elongated hole in the plates and using the Toyota "cam bolt" and cam instead of the one with the kit.

-B-
 

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