Alignment Caster Woes? Need some Advise.

[ANDREW LARSEN]

Does anyone here know there stuff around aligning a 4th gen 1500?

I got a 2011 ram 1500 5.7. I recently installed a 2.5 in leveling kit and had my truck aligned.

The truck now severely pull to the right on the freeway. (bad caster adjustment)

I called the shop and the tech said my adjustments were maxed out all the way and told me to just swap the front tires with each other. Yeah... great customer service.

Anyways. Looking to adjust the caster myself until it drives straight. Anyone ever done this before? Looks likes the lower control arms have two cammed bolts.

 

[muddy12]

You can adjust the caster via the cam bolts on the lower control arms. HOWEVER, adjusting for caster can throw off your camber and toe.
You may have to find a “happy medium” between caster and camber, and then set the toe.



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Tach_tech]

Adjusting it isn’t something you can really do yourself without some way to measure Caster,Camber, and toe. Small turns of the adjusters can cause big movements. Your pull could be caused by a bad tire as well. Swapping them left to right would help verify if that’s it. Did they give you a print out of the alignment?

As well the eccentrics adjust both camber and caster at the same time.

You should still be able to get everything aligned just fine with a leveling kit. Adjustments shouldn’t be maxed out. Is it possible your eccentrics are seized? I’ve seen that quite a few times.

 

[CheechDogg.0n37s]

Caster for some reason is the most troublesome of the 3 to adjust just right for alignments on the 4th Gens ... the last alignment I had they put the caster at (left 4.5) and (right 4.9) ....

Before that I had it at (left 3.2) and (right 3.7) ....

It now drives very straight but the tires now rub more against the bumper so I am going to have them remove some caster to get it back to the 3.2 and 3.7 it had before.

Have whoever is aligning your truck zero in the toe right at zero first before they adjust anything else ... if you do that then your caster will be fine if its within the range of 2.9 - 4.5 so that it wants to drive as straight as possible ... you can get away with as little caster possible so that the tires don't fight each other when driving down the road ...

So again make sure they adjust the TOE first and have it close to 0 as possible ...

 

[CheechDogg.0n37s]

You can adjust the caster via the cam bolts on the lower control arms. HOWEVER, adjusting for caster can throw off your camber and toe.
You may have to find a “happy medium” between caster and camber, and then set the toe.



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

You never want to adjust the TOE last ... TOE is always first especially on these 4th Gen Rams ...

 

[CheechDogg.0n37s]

Does anyone here know there stuff around aligning a 4th gen 1500?

I got a 2011 ram 1500 5.7. I recently installed a 2.5 in leveling kit and had my truck aligned.

The truck now severely pull to the right on the freeway. (bad caster adjustment)

I called the shop and the tech said my adjustments were maxed out all the way and told me to just swap the front tires with each other. Yeah... great customer service.

Anyways. Looking to adjust the caster myself until it drives straight. Anyone ever done this before? Looks likes the lower control arms have two cammed bolts.

More caster will make the truck feel tight ... less caster will make the truck feel very light to the point that anything on the road will make it move around on you ....

Do you have your alignment specs with you ?


Right now mine are :


Camber: 0.1 left and -0.1 right

Caster: 4.5 left and 4.9 right

Toe: 0.06 left and 0.05 right

Total Toe: 0.10

Steer ahead: 0.01

 

[crazykid1994]

I’m at 3” leveling lift and am set to 4.3° caster with .04 toe. Originally was told they couldn’t do it that it was maxed. Took it somewhere else. They didn’t adjust the rear cam bolts originally. Took it to an off-road shop and they got my alignment perfect.

 

[CheechDogg.0n37s]

I’m at 3” leveling lift and am set to 4.3° caster with .04 toe. Originally was told they couldn’t do it that it was maxed. Took it somewhere else. They didn’t adjust the rear cam bolts originally. Took it to an off-road shop and they got my alignment perfect.

I am going to go back to 3.2 and 3.7 caster so that it raises my front just a bit to stop my tires from rubbing on the bumpers .... my truck still drove pretty straight this way and had very little pull ....

 

[crazykid1994]

I am going to go back to 3.2 and 3.7 caster so that it raises my front just a bit to stop my tires from rubbing on the bumpers .... my truck still drove pretty straight this way and had very little pull ....

4.3 caster actually lifted my truck about .25” in the front. Unfortunately it pushes the tires out a tad bit but I can deal with that. And I don’t have a front bumper to worry about. . Between 3.5-4° should be a happy medium and keeps the tires farther from the rear. When I was at 3.5° it was about 1/2” from rubbing the rear liner. I haven’t even measured now but it’s over double that space.

 

[CheechDogg.0n37s]

4.3 caster actually lifted my truck about .25” in the front. Unfortunately it pushes the tires out a tad bit but I can deal with that. And I don’t have a front bumper to worry about. . Between 3.5-4° should be a happy medium and keeps the tires farther from the rear. When I was at 3.5° it was about 1/2” from rubbing the rear liner. I haven’t even measured now but it’s over double that space.

View attachment 203293

That is weird lol ... with the caster at the 4.5 and 4.9 right now it lowered it on my truck lol ....

And yes the less caster the close it gets to the rear liner that I know for a fact lol .... so I might have to be around the 3 to 3.5 range to get it back to how it was before when it didnt rub at all ...

 

[Tach_tech]

You never want to adjust the TOE last ... TOE is always first especially on these 4th Gen Rams ...

You can adjust toe first if it’s really out, but you’ll have to adjust it again after adjusting camber/caster as that will change the toe. However adjusting toe does not effect camber/caster.

If you’ve ever done alignments on a machine with live read outs you can see how much camber/caster adjustments will change toe. Toe is the last adjustment you do when doing an alignment.

 

[CheechDogg.0n37s]

You can adjust toe first if it’s really out, but you’ll have to adjust it again after adjusting camber/caster as that will change the toe. However adjusting toe does not effect camber/caster.

If you’ve ever done alignments on a machine with live read outs you can see how much camber/caster adjustments will change toe. Toe is the last adjustment you do when doing an alignment.

Wrong, you never adjust toe at the end lol ... come on man .... show me where it says you adjust toe last lol ....

Here you go ...

https://www.thurenfabrication.com/tech/alignment-and-handling.html

In case you don't want to click on the link, this article has also been shared here on the forums before ...



Getting an alignment? Arm yourself before you go!


Read the below info, and arm yourself with this info before you get an alignment. When you go into the shop be sure you mention these things.......

1) Tell them you need an alignment, and tell them that the specs are not stock. Make sure they are OK with that.
2) Tell them you will want to take a printout home with you, and you'd like them to point out the TOTAL toe and caster before the truck is taken off the rack.
3) The specs you need to ask them for is 0.00 to 0.05 TOTAL toe, and 3.2-4.8 degrees caster depending on year and model. See the spec sheet PDF for those details.
4) The driver side and passenger side caster degree will never be the same. There is more positive caster welded into the axle, on the passenger side, so with the caster cams close to mirrored, just shoot for a good caster average between sides.


Here is why the Toe setting is key

On these Dodge Ram trucks, as long as all the components are in decent shape, ZERO toe in will give you the best handling and tire wear. I try to align to 0.00 to 0.05 degree's TOTAL toe in. Basically dead on zero, none. Even 0.08 degree's is too much. Here is why this works on these trucks.......

Toe-in in regarding most vehicles with independent front suspension, toe-in is there to stabilize the front wheels. This is because on non-solid axle vehicles, there are so many flexible bushings and variables letting inconsistencies happen, the front suspension will dart all over the place without some toe-in to stabilize the chassis. These Dodge RAM trucks have NO rubber bushings controlling the wheels, and virtually ZERO deflection/flex to alter toe. If the ball joints are in decent shape, and the tie rod ends at the steering knuckles are in good shape, the wheels stay pointed where they are set with the toe adjuster.


Why Toe-in can cause problems on solid axle trucks

Here is the problem. Since these solid axle trucks have a very rigid, simple, high accuracy assembly between the wheels(solid axle), toe-in actually will make the tires fight each other. Road surface, cross wind, etc can always make the truck want to dart side to side, and never really go straight. The front wheels are basically turned in towards each other, and going down the road one tire will always win the fight. This almost simulates an a-arm car/truck chassis that is aligned with NOT ENOUGH toe-in. So, this toe-in that is supposed to stabilize the chassis, end up doing the opposite on these solid axle trucks.

Toe-in working with Caster

Toe-in being set as close to ZERO as possible is the key factor. Do this first before messing with caster. This will let the Caster function do it's job. If there is measurable toe-in degree set in the alignment, the more you add Caster, which is supposed to make the truck drive itself straight, the more it does NOT drive straight. Trying to adjust caster with too much toe-in is pointless, and you may get backwards results like mentioned. Get the toe in set to zero first!!!! The reason for this is that Caster is basically leaning the axle back, letting the weight of the truck drive itself straight. If you lean the axle back with Caster, and too much toe-in is making the tires point in toward each other, now both tires have most of the load scrubbing on the inside of the tread, and the truck will always be trying to "find a side". We want it to "find straight". Zero toe, will let the tires ride on the tire tread, perfectly square to the road. This lets the truck run on a lower degree of caster, while still driving great, which is what we want. This also makes the tires wear longer, better fuel mileage, less wear on steering components, and a more relaxed driveline angle. ALL WINS!


Caster overview

Caster in general terms, is using the weight of the vehicle to have influence over the front wheels, manually having them work together, to point the vehicle straight. That said, both front wheels are actually fighting against each other, equally, to create this imaginary straight forward effect. If you were to magically make one front corner of the vehicle super light, the vehicle would auto-steer to that lighter weight side, as the caster forces would not be equal. This is one reason why zero toe-in really helps us. Zero toe puts the weight even across the front tires, making sure the outer edge of the tread is loaded. This increases the hard caster forces, as there is full possible leverage around the ball joint pivot line, letting us run less actual Caster degrees. Again, we want this. Less Caster degree puts less force on components.


Caster settings, tips, quirks, and range of adjustment

Regarding a 2-3" lift, the best way to quickly check and see if your caster is close to where it should be, is to look at the angle between the driveshaft and the front differential pinon flange it bolts to. Basically, there should only be a SLIGHT angle difference between the two rotational axes. If you crouch down and look from the side, the axis if the differential pinion flange will be a LITTLE closer to parallel to the ground, compared to the drive shaft itself. If the truck is stock height, the two axes will basically be in line with each other.

Increasing the caster angle degree will normally make the steering wheel feel more heavy, and sluggish, assuming the toe-in is set close to zero. Decreasing the caster angle will make the truck feel more responsive and light.


2013+ newer radius arm truck caster notes....

• The adjustment cams are backwards on these trucks, compared to the solid axle Rams from the last 20 years. The cam bolt is actually inside and moving the axle itself, while the cam washers are located by the arms, unlike previous generations. This means moving the arrow on the cam to the rear of the truck, is increasing caster degree.

• There is plenty of caster adjustment on these trucks to work with up to about 3.5" of lift, even with stock arms and no radius arm pivot drops.

• It is VERY important on these trucks that you don't adjust the driver and passenger side cams too far out of balance. In other words, make sure there is not much manual cross caster. If one cam is for example pointed straight down, the opposite side cam should be no more than one mark forward or back. I have seen alignment shops do some crazy things here. If you do put them far out of balance, you can get some drastic lean in the suspension. Reason being, radius arms make the front axle act like one big swaybar. With the caster cams far out of balance, it gives a similar effect as having different length swaybar links, which would force a chassis lean. If you do need a little caster bias fine tuning, which is pretty normal, loosen the upper radius arm bolts at the axle also, then re-tighten once the handling is good. This will let the axle center up as best as it can, by using slop in the hardware to help the chassis find neutral.

• With our 2.5" coils, the approximate good handling cam indicator position, is about the first mark to the rear of the truck.

 

[CheechDogg.0n37s]

Caster will never affect Toe ... camber is the only thing that can affect Toe

 

[ram1500rsm]

4.3 caster actually lifted my truck about .25” in the front. Unfortunately it pushes the tires out a tad bit but I can deal with that. And I don’t have a front bumper to worry about. . Between 3.5-4° should be a happy medium and keeps the tires farther from the rear. When I was at 3.5° it was about 1/2” from rubbing the rear liner. I haven’t even measured now but it’s over double that space.

View attachment 203293

High caster is the reason I can run 37's with just a level. my 315/70/17 rubbed at the back with stock 3.2 caster at 2" of lift. So I've been running 4.5-5.0 for pretty much 2 years now and have been preaching on the benefits ever since. Highest I've had it is 4.8-5.2, zero camber or slightly neg at -0.2 camber and total toe 0.10

 

[CheechDogg.0n37s]

High caster is the reason I can run 37's with just a level. my 315/70/17 rubbed at the back with stock 3.2 caster at 2" of lift. So I've been running 4.5-5.0 for pretty much 2 years now and have been preaching on the benefits ever since. Highest I've had it is 4.8-5.2, zero camber or slightly neg at -0.2 camber and total toe 0.10

Yeah , for me caster has to be lower so it doesn't rub up front ... crazy because at 3.2 it didn't rub at the back lol ....

 

[CheechDogg.0n37s]

High caster is the reason I can run 37's with just a level. my 315/70/17 rubbed at the back with stock 3.2 caster at 2" of lift. So I've been running 4.5-5.0 for pretty much 2 years now and have been preaching on the benefits ever since. Highest I've had it is 4.8-5.2, zero camber or slightly neg at -0.2 camber and total toe 0.10

What offset do you have ? I have a -44 offset which is why I will rub at the front more than at the back with such high caster ..... actually it will rub at both ends unless it is right on point ....I did have to trim both the bumper and the pinch welds

 

[ram1500rsm]

Yeah , for me caster has to be lower so it doesn't rub up front ... crazy because at 3.2 it didn't rub at the back lol ....

You have a big lift too correct? Maybe the changes in hubs and arm relocation have an effect on that gap at the back and front combined with wheel offset and tire size. What UCAs are you using? Zone?

 

[CheechDogg.0n37s]

You have a big lift too correct? Maybe the changes in hubs and arm relocation have an effect on that gap at the back and front combined with wheel offset and tire size. What UCAs are you using? Zone?

Correct ..it's the 7" from maxtrac ...and I am using the oem UCAs lol ... haven't had an issue with them ...honestly there is no issue other than the tires rub and it can be fixed in many ways ... I didn't want to trim the bumper more than I have already and before this last alignment it was not rubbing at all but that was with the 3.2/3.7 Caster which honestly is not that bad and not too much of a concern ... I mean I love the way the truck handles right now so I think I am going to probably just trim some more off the bumper lol ....

But yes the big lift definitely affects everything ....

 

[ram1500rsm]

What offset do you have ? I have a -44 offset which is why I will rub at the front more than at the back with such high caster ..... actually it will rub at both ends unless it is right on point ....I did have to trim both the bumper and the pinch welds

-12, wheels are 17x9.
Tires were 315/70/17 Falken AT3W (advertised as 34.7)with factory bumper.
I have an aftermarket ICI Throphy with BFG KO2 37x12.5x17 so I don't have to worry about the bulk of the factory bumper anymore.

 

[CheechDogg.0n37s]

-12, wheels are 17x9.
Tires were 315/70/17 Falken AT3W (advertised as 34.7)with factory bumper.
I have an aftermarket ICI Throphy with BFG KO2 37x12.5x17 so I don't have to worry about the bulk of the factory bumper anymore.

Yeah see ...that is why you are better off than me with my -44 with 20x12 and 37" tires lol ...