Thread: Caster question caster was out -2.7

Originally Posted by rovercare

Well worth having a bite at, your suspension wil cost you more than I could build you a tuff assed RR classic for........but We want go on about that, you've probably heard it a zillion times before

Go BACK to knuckle at the wheel aligners, and state you'd like the following

A. Current Castor angle

B. Correct/Recommended castor angle

The difference between the 2 will be the correction you need......simple really

Then you'll increase the angle of the front tailshaft Uni joints, but seeing as your going to do the lift at any cost

Sorry but

A. why would I want RR

B. why would I want you to build it for me, I've got to where I am with my own two hands and some great advice believe me if I wanted a RR I would have bought one, and built it my self it would have been easier and cheaper I agree, tougher no not really

C. I'm after as you would put it a tuff assed D2

there you go a bite

as far as cost what I paid for my shocks alone are the price that most people pay for there 2 inch lift kits springs and shocks however Billy 7100 is what I wanted

Now to get a few facts straight the car doesn't drive bad at all it doesn't sway, it is soft on suspension, the only noticeable effect is steering doesn't return to centre as well as it use to and where there is a slant in the road for example water run off it tends to pull lightly that way. I was told this is due to the diff angle eg caster I originally thought new steering dampener still not 100%

another fact is this, it not a towing vehicle, its not a touring vehicle, is not a daily driver, and not that it cant be a set of air bags on the rear and away you go how ever its my toy. and if I was going away in it I would probably tow it on a trailer why well two reasons

1. if I was going to rover park for example and broke something that couldn't be fixed on the trailer its go's

2. I've got access to a car trailer fuel card and company car to tow it with

now getting back to the topic yes I realise that by correcting the caster by placing new radius arms it will in fact place a second angle on the front prop shaft, a new front and rear strengthened prop shafts are on the cards

can some one advice at what degree would an of the shelf D2 have as far as caster angle the bloke that did the wheel alignment was at a buerepairs so he wasn't all that switched on he was a young fella he did a good job don't take me wrong but he didn't know what I was driving all I wanted was a quick fix to centre my steering wheel for tomorrow when I was out last week end and prior it was pain for the steering to be off centre

these are who is making the arms that I'm waiting for

Radius Arms from Qt Services

i didnt think cranked arms etc were legal in oz well thats what i heard any way

But neither is 4" skyward, may as well try to make it driveable/safe.

you can get custom made arms with the crank in them to correct castor errors, they are legal but require an engineers certificate for fitting, you have fun with that.. most places will tell you to go nark if you have more than 2inches (50mm not the 35 that some places flog as 2 inches) of lift.

what is totally illegal is the simple bending of the arms to correct the castor.... when you see one thats been done wrong snap in half at the rear axle mount you'll see why...


Another workaround is offset bushes with cam locks essentially its a special nut that holds the pin and its got an offset center spin them to get your alignment then lock them off. legality of them is a bit iffy but easier than getting an approval for a different locating arm.

Originally Posted by dullbird

i didnt think cranked arms etc were legal in oz well thats what i heard any way

I must have been trying to look like I had friends by standing next to you when someone said it 'cause I heard the same thing.

ok.....i just had a look at a picture of the setup........


you can remove the brackets that the radius arms bolt from the diff housing and swing them round a bit and re-weld them back on......

or you can move the rear mounts for the radius arms forward to push the bottom of the diff towards the front of the car.....
basically....push it back to its its original position......because due to the lift.....the diffs would have moved in towards the centre of the vehicle
to some degree......


now......looking at the suspension setup......i also notice there is a panhard rod.......
you may require one a bit longer than standard to centre the diff housing.....
as it would have also moved sideways a bit with the lift......




back the the caster......i think dobbos way would be a better option......
i think it was dobbo that said cut the ends off the diff and weld them back on again......
this method will raise the back of the diff......to allow the prop shaft to sit a bit straighter.....decreasing the angles on the uni joints a bit......
and give the correct amount of caster you require......


if you take the option of welding.......make sure you get someone that knows what theyre doing......these components are under a lot of load......
so need to be done properly for your safety......



good luck......its nothing a few dollars cant fix.......do it once....do it proper.....

As above sounds good but I would be inclined to cut the ends of the diff housings off and reweld (get a diff place to do it in a jig so it is done right and if something does go wrong and you kill some one then you have some one to blame) and then get custom shafts built with double cardin joints to take the excessive angle rather than trying to turn diffs etc which will only fix it at the diff end and not at the TC end of the shaft.

If you did that then you wouldnt need bent, extended or modified radius arms at all and you should be able to keep the standard ones unless you need something stronger.

I too find it strange that it doesnt wander with -caster, mine is a shocker with 0.

Im thinking that if it is just not centering that maybe they have 3.0 deg standard and he is saying that it is 2.6 deg (or what ever it was) less than what it should be.

This would then make it less likely to self centre with big wheels but would still be drivable.

Sigh, the man at Beaurepaires has this info in his puta

Most Live axle vehicles are +3degrees, you still have no idea on if its -2.7 from standard or its ACTUAL figure is -2.7, I'm tipping the later, because if he didn't know what it should be, he couldn't reference from the correct figure........anyway I don't care, I'm repeating myself