I finished my axle swap last weekend (woohoo). I pieced my kit together from craigslist because I prefer things the hard way, and here's my dilemma - my springs I got are pro comps but they're stock aftermarket springs, and only 43in at that. I'm running 12in shocks right now and plan on upgrading springs at a later point, but probably won't go any bigger that. 3in or 4 max, and right now it appears that my shocks only have about 5inches of uptravel. Should I exchange these for 10" shocks? Or is it not really gonna be an issue to worry about as long as I'm gonna eventually go with higher springs, do I need to worry more about bottoming out shocks, or overextending them?

Seperately, I'm trying to get my steering to quit sticking so much, and I've already shimmed my knuckles to have .080in on tops and bottoms and its still won't return to center like it used to w/ ifs...is this something I need to get used to or is it something else?

TIA guys

 

I'm no guru, but I would say to pull your shocks and cycle the suspension while measuring at full stuff and full droop to determine what length shocks you need. Or be willing to move shock mounts to fit the shocks you want/already have. FYI, I have my 14" front shocks set up with 5" of uptravel and it works fine.

As for the steering, IIRC return to center is more of a caster/alignment issue, whereas knuckle shims are for setting steering preload. Check out the links below for a better explanation. I'm sure one of the true "gurus" will sound off before long. Good luck.

http://www.4crawler.com/4x4/CheapTri...eRebuild.shtml
http://www.4crawler.com/4x4/CheapTri...html#Alignment
http://www.4crawler.com/4x4/ForSale/Shims.shtml#FAQ1

 

Thanks death that makes me feel a bit better about my shocks. I used 4crawlers axle rebuild page as my guide to rebuilding my axle (cuz I've never done one before) and it was fairly straight forward and very helpful. So I'm gathering that my "return to center" feeling I had with ifs is gonna be something not felt again until I step up to hydraulic...correct?

 

My understanding is that if the alignment is good and everything was put back together correctly then you should have neutral steering. The steering should naturally want to return to center after a turn. If this is a street driven truck and drivability is a major concern, I would re-check everything (wheel bearing pre-load, knuckle/trunion pre-load, caster, toe-in, tire pressure, etc). If you still can't find the issue, I would probably take it to a reputable alignment shop and let them do the diag, then fix it myself. Hopefully one of the "Know-It-All"s will chime in with an easy fix/common issue.

 

possibly wrong pinion angle causing wrong caster.some times caused by putting springs in backwards or just positioning axle wrong . ive seen the 3 degree shims added and it completly corrected the problem , just a thought.

 

Sounds like you need a few degrees more positive + caster. Wedge shims on the perches, lengthen your shackles, or raise your front spring eye position (hanger). Or you can redrill your perches back, move the axle forward, and that might get you some + caster (moves the axle forward on the springs). Read about caster, how it is measured, and then think about it all when you look at all your work you did. You'll figure it out.

 

With proper caster angle, you should have some return to center, that is one of the purposes of caster angle. Too little or too much is generally not good, but get in the range of decent values and it should be OK. Read the front axle information below or hit up an alignment shop and have them measure the alignment and give you the numbers:
- http://www.4crawler.com/4x4/ForSale/Shims.shtml#FAQ1

 

Thanks for all the help guys, I'm tearin into my clutch today so ill be looking around down there and ill let y'all know what I find

 

Ok, so I called the guy @ les shwab and asked him if he could give me the measurements for my truck, he told me that 85s (told him its an 85 cuz of the axle) don't have any adjustments for caster...so I guess I'm asking what kind of "numbers" am I looking to get?

Here's another angle-does anybody know whether having stock replacement springs that have the centering nub for the axle centered in the spring will affect it to this degree? I have a feeling if I pick up some used tg springs it might fix the problem because of their offset centering nub, but I don't wanna drop a bill n a half if it won't change anything...anybody know this for sure?

 

Alignment specs:
- http://www.4crawler.com/4x4/4R_TechInfo.shtml#Steering

You can shim the front axle to correct caster angle:
- http://www.4crawler.com/4x4/ForSale/Shims.shtml#FAQ1

Or you can rotate the steering knuckles to correct both caster and pinion angles:
- http://www.4x4wire.com/toyota/tech/rotated_housing/