Front lower adj. control arms question/advice

tgoss said:

Hey guys, I just have quick question for those willing to chime in.

About a month ago I got finished installing my new axles (PR44 Front and PR60 semi-float rear) and know I'm way out of spec caster wise due to my front lower arms being fixed.

Currently have a Rubicon express 3.5 lift with all their control arms. God only knows why the front lowers are the only ones that are fixed out of the bunch. When I bought the Jeep this was what the prior owner had installed.

I can tell right away the front axle is too far back and caster is obviously suffering so here are my options... In addition to any of these listed below, I'm ditching the RE coils in favor of Evo or RK coils.

1: Purchase Rubicon Express adjustable lowers and just complete the kit, fix what needs to be fixed and continue saving for what I really want down the road (long arms and co's)

2: Purchase Evo/currie/rokmen/throw anyone else's lower adj. arms and just install with the rest of the RE stuff.

Or:

3: Purchase a complete set of different adj short arms (currie/rokmen/etc,etc).

I currently don't have the funds for what I will eventually want to do, but I know I need to get this addressed and by summer should have my shit together enough to finish up the underside of the rig.

Thanks for the input!

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WJCO said:

What's your actual caster measurement at now? Let's start there. A lot of lift kits come with longer fixed lower arms and re-use the stock uppers. So you may be ok with what you have going on.

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wayoflife said:

When you ordered your PR44, did you get it with standard caster or with the +6°?

If you're going to get new control arms, I personally would recommend EVO or Currie. Both will come with Johnny Joints on both ends.

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tgoss said:

Measured 7 degrees of caster when measured on top of the ball joint and the front of the diff housing on perfectly level ground

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wayoflife said:

That's just 1° off. Sounds like you really don't need to do anything at all.

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tgoss said:

Ok, thank you for the advice. Would adj. lower arms help me get my axle moved forward where it should be? My springs are slanted pretty bad, just wondering if that would be advisable or just leave it how it is?

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wayoflife said:

Got any pics of what you're seeing? Technically, adjustable lower arms are used to position your axle and adjustable upper arms are used to set your caster. With as much lift as you have, you'd really want both to make the corrections you are wanting. Unless your coils are getting hung up on the bump stop cups or rubbing on the sway bar arm, I don't know if I'd worry about the way they "look".

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tgoss said:

To be truthful it's difficult to show it with the wheels on and an iphone. I have adjustable uppers, just the lowers they provide in the kit are fixed. I don't have anything making contact anymore after a few adjustments but my front track bar was not pleasant trying to get it into the bracket on the axle so that alignment is what got me noticing the angle on the springs and possibly the caster being worse than I guess what it really is. Thanks again for the help, it's much appreciated.

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wayoflife said:

The ProRock 44 is designed so that you have +6° of caster when your control arms are set to a factory setting. If things are truly off, it'll be because your control arms are off. That being said, a little bow in your coils is really no big deal.

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