Mopar LCA swap

[Steve JLUR]

The larger tires won't have an affect on caster, but like @RagTopDeluxe mentioned, an increase of 1.2 to 1.5 degrees is typical. You should have caster right near 6 degrees w/ the longer Mopar LCAs, and a much better drive at higher speeds.

TY - RagTopDeluxe and blnewt and mwilk012!

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[mwilk012]

If this has been asked and answered later in the thread, I apologize. Do you, or anybody else, know what the caster will change to with the longer Mopar LCAs, and a change to 35” tires on a Rubicon? I understand that with a 35” tire the actual diameter can be slightly less, or more.

tire size does not change the relative position of the axle.

 

[hurricanes99]

So i have talked to two shops about putting on my LCA's since i just don't have the time right now. Both are saying an alignment will be needed. The second shop said they would have a hard time believing that the toe wouldn't be affected by changing the lowers. Thoughts? What should i be shooting for on the toe? Caster i plan to go 6.5.

 

[txj2go]

Toe and camber cannot change, none of those parts are affected. Caster changes because the new LCA are longer, that's the point. Steering wheel alignment (centering) does change slightly but should be easy enough to correct. I have not corrected mine yet and this doesn't seem to affect anything.
You should keep looking, it doesn't sound like either of those shops understand what they are doing.

 

[Roky]

So i have talked to two shops about putting on my LCA's since i just don't have the time right now. Both are saying an alignment will be needed. The second shop said they would have a hard time believing that the toe wouldn't be affected by changing the lowers. Thoughts? What should i be shooting for on the toe? Caster i plan to go 6.5.

The shops apparently don’t work on Jeeps, or solid front axle vehicles. Toe will not change by increasing your caster.

 

[blnewt]

Toe and camber cannot change, none of those parts are affected. Caster changes because the new LCA are longer, that's the point. Steering wheel alignment (centering) does change slightly but should be easy enough to correct. I have not corrected mine yet and this doesn't seem to affect anything.
You should keep looking, it doesn't sound like either of those shops understand what they are doing.

The shops apparently don’t work on Jeeps, or solid front axle vehicles. Toe will not change by increasing your caster.

Maybe those mechanics year-end bonuses are based on how many unnecessary alignments they're getting customers to pay for

 

[hurricanes99]

Toe and camber cannot change, none of those parts are affected. Caster changes because the new LCA are longer, that's the point. Steering wheel alignment (centering) does change slightly but should be easy enough to correct. I have not corrected mine yet and this doesn't seem to affect anything.
You should keep looking, it doesn't sound like either of those shops understand what they are doing.

So just adjusting caster should have no impact on toe at all? You can change the toe if needed though right?

 

[blnewt]

So just adjusting caster should have no impact on toe at all? You can change the toe if needed though right?

Yes, camber is the hardest to deal with since you typically need angled ball joints or shims. Luckily it's not usually a problem though

 

[hurricanes99]

So just adjusting caster should have no impact on toe at all? You can change the toe if needed though right?

So I unpacked my new lca’s today. I may give it a shot and do them myself. Will need to check and see if I have the correct sockets. Grease fittings were installed on the ends that are adjustable but the other ends were not. Those fittings were in the packaging with all the other hardware. Not a big deal but not sure why they wouldn’t have installed those too. Will need some anti seize also. I know this will sound stupid but the sleeves in the johnny joints were canted. Guess I need to get them as strait as possible and then measure center to center. Was planning to start at 24 1/4”. Sound about right?

 

[danm]

I believe the effective toe is changed with more caster, but maybe by a negligible amount.
To give it some perspective, imagine that you add enough caster to rotate your axle 90 degrees up. Your effective toe would be zero and your toe would become camber.
So when you add caster, you’re doing that on a very small scale.

 

[blnewt]

So I unpacked my new lca’s today. I may give it a shot and do them myself. Will need to check and see if I have the correct sockets. Grease fittings were installed on the ends that are adjustable but the other ends were not. Those fittings were in the packaging with all the other hardware. Not a big deal but not sure why they wouldn’t have installed those too. Will need some anti seize also. I know this will sound stupid but the sleeves in the johnny joints were canted. Guess I need to get them as strait as possible and then measure center to center. Was planning to start at 24 1/4”. Sound about right?

If you don't have any additional lift on your stock Rubicon 24 1/4" should get your caster around 6.

 

[hurricanes99]

If you don't have any additional lift on your stock Rubicon 24 1/4" should get your caster around 6.

That’s what I was thinking. If 24 1/4” netted 6 I wonder what it would take to get to 6.3-6.5? I know all are different, but just for reference

 

[Odyssey USA]

They build toe into the axle? I thought the tie rod set that.

 

[blnewt]

They build toe into the axle? I thought the tie rod set that.

Yes, it's at the rods, but what @danm was referring to was tilting the axle has a very slight effect on toe. IIRC the change is so minimal that you wouldn't notice and not worth a new alignment.

 

[danm]

Yes, it's at the rods, but what @danm was referring to was tilting the axle has a very slight effect on toe. IIRC the change is so minimal that you wouldn't notice and not worth a new alignment.

That’s correct. I was using an extreme example to illustrate a point.

The fact is, when you rotate the axle 2 degrees, you’re loosing about 2% of your effective toe, not really much to worry about.

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