Caster Recommendations?

2019 TRD Pro, 1.5” lift front and rear, 305/70/16 Toyo MT tires on 16x8-12 wheels, and dirt king ball joint UCA’s. Getting alignment done soon, what caster should I be aiming for? I’ve heard 4 degrees on right and 3.5 on left to compensate for road crown. Is that too much? Will that tear up my bushings? Or should I ask something like 3.5 degrees on right and 3 on the left? I know camber should be as close to 0 as possible and toe should be in factory spec.

 

I’ve not heard of asymmetric caster being used for road crown. Toe-in perhaps. Personally I would trust the Toyota specs over a random guy on the internet.

 

Anything over .25 degrees of a difference in caster will give serious torque steer if you’re on pavement in 4Hi, but it’ll track straight in 2wd. I always run 3.5 on both sides caster, 0 toe and 0 camber.

 

As much as possible. Keep them as close as possible to each other. All roads are not crowned the same and can differ depending on direction and topography.

 

These trucks lifted factory specs can get thrown out the window. I run 0 camber caster 4.3 and toe 0 No complaints over here

 

I initially set mine at 4.5 degrees. What I felt was heavy steering while turning and lots of road feed back when hitting bumps. Went back and redid the alignment and brought it down to 3.5 degrees. My personal opinion is I like the 3.5 better. Much smoother and less effort to turn the wheel. 21 offroad Elka shocks, Spc uppers, Deaver stage 1's. Lower control arm maxed as far forward as possible on 285's

 

Sweet. Are they 3.5 caster on both sides? If I choose to do that, should I drop it down to 3 on the left to compensate for road crowning? (my mud tires pull to the right a little bit too)Or just keep it the same on both sides? I’m thinking with 3.5 caster just because I have heavy ass 305’s E load range and are a bitch to turn aired down anyway and as is.

 

Yes 3.5 both sides. Mine drives straight and doesn't pull but each vehicle is different when it comes to alignments. I have unlimited access to an alignment rack so I was willing to try different set ups. As for compensating for road crown, give it a shot. It will most likely drive perfectly straight. You wont know unless you try.

 

Thanks man I appreciate it!

 

TBQH, my caster is way outside specs at 4*, but I did that mostly to fit my 33’s. The steering feel at hiway speeds was weird at first but now I think I like it or are just accustomed to it.

 

Seems like most guys go up to 4 or higher to clear the cab Mount for extra clearance if they don’t have a CMC

 

I got 4/4.6 caster with my SPC’s but they only used the upper control arm to roll the tire back, is that bad. I still clear the cab mount by 1/2”. I just feel the tire treads more when slowing to a stop. The lowers are still zeroed out

 

I moved the lower eccentrics to push the wheel as far forward as possible and did the alignment with the upper Spc control arm

 

Here's my alignment. 2" spacer up front, 33" tires. The wheel doesn't return to center when driving.

Can I hit ~3 degree caster with stock uca's and 2" lift? I see it's"green", but it doesn't feel good, and looks like they didn't touch it.

 

0.1 degree caster is just silly? Or am I mistaken? Don't want to go in there and ask for the impossible with stock uca's..

 

If you are referring to the alignment, you are correct. Two things wrong with the alignment above. First, obviously, that caster is way too low. That's what we call in the alignment world, a shopping cart alignment, which creates serious bump steer and wander. FActory specs are what you want to shoot for most of the time, unless your trying to fit larger tires. The factory specs are something like 1.7 to 3.2 degrees or something close to that. Which bring me to my 2nd problem with the alignment above. They purposely altered the specs to make the gauges green and put the "needle" near the middle. Very deceptive.

 

You're going to need UCAs to get caster where you want it. Just bite the bullet and get them, it'll pay off in the long run. Mine is around 3.5 degs with ICON tubular arms and I'm lifted about 2 inches.

Also, it's kinda your responsibility to make sure the LCA cams aren't frozen when you drop it off for alignment. Those things are notorious for being stuck and will flatten the weak tabs on the frame instantly as soon as you try to move them. That's why alignment guys don't want to touch them

 

The shop that performed this alignment is deceiving you by entering custom specs to make the extremely low caster spec to look green. Specs are something like 1.7 to 3.2 degrees or something close to that.

Typical "Toe and Go" alignment which MANY shops do because they don't understand alignment or they are just pushing the alignment out the door, when some actually work needs to be done.

 

Thank you. I'll get some uca's, make sure my cams aren't frozen, weld on some tab reinforcements, and get a less silly alignment done.

At what lift height should I start looking for a "high caster" uca? I doubt I'd ever want to go over 3"

 

Will come down to a lot of what your truck is used for. Pretty much any UCA will help you get the caster. You can prob get away with 2.5-3 if your not running a very aggressive tire. the more aggressive and wider the truck gets the more you may need. I started around 2.5 but now run 5-6 (LT kit now)

You do not need a bunch of caster just to have a bunch of caster.

JBA/SPC (popular for a wide range and has lots of adjustments) - not uni-ball based (i think)
Total Chaos - uniball, more travel but more maintenance
Dirt King - uniball, more travel but more maintenance
Icon - Delta Joint
Cambug - larger uniball 1.25 vs 1 similar as others.


There are a ton of other similar ones out there that follow designs from above.
ARB OME
RC
Freedom
Poly Performance
Nitro
Dobinsons