My alignment appointment is next week. My current numbers are based off of a digital level. Sounds like I made a costly mistake and it's too late now. I will set the LCA to 24.25 tonight and see how it drives this weekend. It drove fine with the Mopar LCA but I was thinking I could make it even better. Rookie mistake as I'm new to this Jeep thing and read all kinds of posts about the LCA needing to be longer but rarely saw anything regarding the UCA.OP, did you do your alignment at an off-road shop? Where is your caster at?
I have a little bit over 3" of lift on my Rubicon (Mopar lift + 0.75" spacer) and my Jeep driver perfectly fine with the Mopar LCA. My caste is about 5.5.
Because of the early steering problems on 2018-2020 JLs (due to bad steering gear, bad track bar ends, bad steering stabilizers, etc) there is a bias on this Forum for people to add a lot more caster and longer LCA to JLs.
Please note: More caster is not generally better. Specially Caster over 6 deg. Also, adjustable control arms can add more cross-caster differences if not set up correctly, which has it's own downsides.
You should not have your LCA much longer than 24 and 1/4. Maybe 24 and 5/16 or 24 and 3/8s tops. But 24 and 1/4 is prob best. And I agree with Clayton (same advice also from Icon and others). If you ever need to adjust caster, use adjustable UCA.
You didn’t make a bad purchase. I agree with these guys about setting caster with ucas, however the best way I found is to use both adjustables. But if you can’t do both, I use lowers. If you’re on stock lowers, and you use uppers to get caster set around 6 then it pulls the wheel back in the wheel well which I hate the look of. Some guys don’t care , some don’t see it, but I do this shit a lot so it’s easy for me to see....... but anyway..... you’re going to be fine if you have to lengthen your lowers more than 24.25....just my opinion......The Mopar arms were 24.25 so if that's the case I made a bad purchase. I read as much as I could prior to doing this but I should have actually asked someone that knows.
My apologies for the typo, fixed! 24.25*Not sure what you mean by 4.25?
Are these kits matenance free? I’ve been doing some reading and find that some kits require greasing of certain parts.For the amount of lift that you have, we would recommend setting the front lower arms to about 24.25 for best results. This is also part of the reason that we always suggest going with a set of front upper adjustable control arms, rather than the front lowers when looking for better road manners, as the lower arms are better for setting axle position or wheelbase, and front uppers are best for adjusting caster. You can still achieve proper caster by using the lower arms, it's just a little bit more difficult trying to find the right balance. If you're still having any problems after your alignment, give us a call and we can go over your current setup and make suggestions accordingly!
For anybody looking for a great entry-level system like the Mopar kit, but that also provides everything you need for proper suspension geometry so that your vehicle still rides like it did stock, take a look at our Ride Right suspension systems!
https://www.claytonoffroad.com/product/jeep-wrangler-25-ride-right-lift-kit-4dr-2018-jl
They are! All of our Ride Right and Overland Plus systems are completely maintenance-freeAre these kits matenance free? I’ve been doing some reading and find that some kits require greasing of certain parts.