After installing a 2.5" lift I noticed my steering does not return to center. I have been driving it a while like this but it is now time to fix it. After a little research I am going to try 4 degree caster shims. Is this the right direction to go? Does the fat end of the shim go to the front or rear of the vehicle.

</font><blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr />
Does the fat end of the shim go to the front or rear of the vehicle.

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I think fat side rear may be incorrect

read this post

http://bbs.off-road.com/ubbthreads/s...ue#Post1109158

DOH!!!!! Yes, fat side to the front. I'll delete the other for future searches since it is wrong. sorry.

Caster is the measure of degrees that the axle "C" is tilted from horizontal. Stand back and look at the axle. the "C" is the part that the steering knuckle attaches to (via upper and lower ball joints). if it is straight up and down then the axle is said to have 0 degrees of caster. if you want to increase your caster you need to rotate that "C" backwards, so yes, your shim should go with the fat side to the front of the axle.

Confused yet?

Ok, lets make it simple. Think of a caster wheel like on a shopping car. Now, imagine a line through the steering pivot. That imaginary line would touch the floor in front of the point where the wheel touches the floor. The wheel tracks behind the steering pivot point. That's positive caster.

Now, imagine a bicycle or motorcycle. The imaginary line through the steering pivot touches the ground in front of the point where the tire patch touches the ground. Again, positive caster.

Both of the previously mentioned vehicles have a lot of positive caster, a Jeep (or a car) does not. The imaginary line through the steering pivots still touches the ground ahead of the center of the tire contact patch for possitive. For more caster, you need to cause the imaginary line to touch the ground further ahead of the center of the contact patch.

To accomplish the goal, you need to pivot the top of the axle to the rear and the bottom forward. If the springs are below the axle, the fat part of the wedge goes to the front. If you had SOA, the fat part would go to the rear.

When using shims, especially under your front axle. Pay a little more, and use STEEL WEDGES. They will not break or wear out as easily as an aluminum wedge or shim would. You can have them custom made to any degree!! [img]images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]
TRY THESE! http://4crawler.cruiserpages.com/4x4...le/Shims.shtml