Re: My New FJ and Lift and Wheels. The ride is a little loose now.
Got the daystar lift (very similar) and never felt it was loose at all. Quite the opposite. I felt it was a bit tighter b/c when I have to slam on the brakes, the front end doesn't dive like it did before. So I say it's tighter.
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Re: My New FJ and Lift and Wheels. The ride is a little loose now.
Quote:
Tranman previously said:
Got the daystar lift (very similar) and never felt it was loose at all. Quite the opposite. I felt it was a bit tighter b/c when I have to slam on the brakes, the front end doesn't dive like it did before. So I say it's tighter.
Yup. Thats exactly how mine felt after the alignment. also have les body role witch is nice.
Re: My New FJ and Lift and Wheels. The ride is a little loose now.
Did you go up in tire size?
If so, you might just be feeling the extra floatiness (not a word, but hey) of the extra rubber.
When I went from stock tires to 33's I was pretty startled at how much softer the steering and handling got just from the extra rubber being there and flexing before turning. I bet it is only a millisecond or less of lag, but you can feel the difference.
Check the alignment of course, or find someone near you with a similar setup and ask to test drive there's and see if it feels the same.
Re: My New FJ and Lift and Wheels. The ride is a little loose now.
It helps to understand the 3 basic ways in which front end wheel alignment is adjusted and how lifting affects this. There are permanent changes to the alignment after a typical 3" lift that affect steering behavior. I'm guessing that this is what you're experiencing.
The 3 basic components of front end wheel alignment are "camber", "toe" and "caster".
Camber describes the relationship of the surface of the hub to a vertical plane parallel to the long axis of the car. If you view the vehicle from the front, and the wheel(s) look like they're reaching out and away at the bottom (like a dog standing with it's forepaws widely spaced) then they are out of alignment with excessive positive camber. Excessive positive camber will cause uneven inner edge tire wear, and if there is right/left alignment asymmetry, it will likely influence a "pull" to one side. The tolerances for camber are typically plus or minus half a degree or even less. I've heard of people setting the camber different on one side than the other based on things like the weight distribution... but that's too advanced for my understanding.
Toe describes the "aim" of the wheel. It's just like you imagine. Looking down at your feet you could walk toe-in or toe-out. Wheels can be aligned or misaligned in the same way. The wheel can be aimed in or aimed out, even if its vertically well aligned. When I've knocked a wheel out of alignment on rocks, it's been typically an obvious toe out. Toe misalignment causes a strong pull on the road.
Caster is the hardest one to describe and the most important one for this conversation. Imagine a bicycle or motorcycle. The front wheel is contained in an assembly called the "forks". Typically for a simple 10 speed bike, the forks are angled forward and at the end, they actually bend forward to hold the wheel hub. This is called the "rake" of the fork. The more rake, the more stable and soft the ride. The steeper the rake angle, the quicker and more responsive it is to turning, but then it becomes touchy. Racing bikes have steep rake angles. Road cruisers have longer rake angles. The axis on which the car "steers" its wheels is NOT vertical. It has a rake angle just like a bike. This is called "caster". If you look inside your front wheel well on the FJ, you'll see that the upper control arm which wraps around the top of the shock tower actually flexes on a hinge that is angled backward, it flexes up and back.
When you lift an independent front suspension 4x4 like the FJ, the alteration in the front end is really just a change in the resting position of the control arms. Some people describe this as changing the vehicle's "stance". Effectively, the wheels are just pushed down away from the body, along the normal arc of travel that they would be able to do anyhow. However, in doing this, the relationship of the steering mechanism to the flex points is altered. You change the caster! The angle becomes steeper. The steering becomes touchy.
Camber and toe can be easily re-aligned after a lift. Caster, on the FJ, cannot be re-aligned. One way to change this is to go to an aftermarket upper control arm which has its ball joint mounted farther back than stock. I'm not sure if anyone makes this specifically. I have an aftermarket upper control arm (which I got because it has a nifty ball joint) but I never compared it to the stock one in regard to the joint location. I will do this and get back to you about it... my guess is that it's not significantly different. There may be other products available which have either repositioned ball joints or else caster adjustment capability. I would suggest, instead, to just get used to it being a bit touchy in regard to small changes in the steering wheel position.
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