Castor correction bushes advice - PLEASE!!!

[pauluow]

Hi all,

A quick piece of advice - I know castor correction limits flex etc and I wish I could get around it, but can't - so can anyone suggest any brand of castor bushes over others, for better durability and/or performance??

Thanks everybody,

Paul

[dumbdunce]

there are ways around using castor correction bushes, and some of them are arguably cheaper and more effective. it would be helpful to know what vehicle we're talking about, but for GQ/GU nissans, there is a wide range of castor plates available. For 80 series landcruiser, castor plates are available for about 5 degrees of correction. on both, it is possible to slot the holes in the axle brackets where the control arm mounts, then wald a washer in place where you want the pin to locate, so you have infinite control over the castor. you can get more exotic, with drop boxes or arm flips if you are going over about 100mm lift.

in answer to your original question, my observation is that castor bushes are all pretty much the same - they need to be made of fairly rigid stuff to maintain on-road control, and if you flex them up regularly, they will eventually crumble.

hope this helps

cheers
DD

[pauluow]

Thanks for the advice,

Basically to provide more info on the car - GQ Patrol - The lift is about 2-3 inches im not totally sure I measured it and it is about 2.5 over what it had when I bought it.. only problem being it had an Old man emu kit in it when I bought it (kit was over 10 years old) and im not sure what the height was over original.. Ive seen some diagrams floating around on sloting and welding washers in place so original bushes etc can be used..

My main question with that is: What is the legal stance on this for rego etc??

Thanks again,

Paul

[Dak]

Another point though, if it has no drivability problems don't bother worrying about it, with a 2" lift you won't need to do anyting, even maybe with a 3" lift. My truck runs nearly 0 degrees castor and drives perfectly fine.

[fatassgq]

Hey mate, to find what height you are at just measure your front bumpstop.
If they are unbroken then measure from the bottom of the rubber to the steel pad it hits on inside the front coil.

Std is about 50-60mm on a GQ

2" lift should be about 100mm bumpstop height.

As mentioned if the car has no drivability issues don't bother. If you run bigger tyres this will especially be the case.

Pedders do a very good rubber 2deg bush if you must use something.
Wouldn't touch urethane bushes if you can help it.

Cheers
Brian

[chimpboy]

I have 3" lift and on balance I would not use the castor bush option again. I would use a more serious option like castor plates.

If you are closer to 2" lift than to 3" you probably don't need them anyway.

I must say though that if you have 3" lift, then it's unlikely you can get away without any castor correction, unless you like driving like you're in an old movie (you know, always moving the steering wheel back and forth even when you're going straight.)

[pauluow]

Ok..

Thanks fatassgq ive just been out to the garage and jammed the tape in - basically im measuring 120mm ish, bottom of bumpstop to steal pad, so im assuming thats a 2.5 - 3 inch lift correct??

Now, further to what Dak wrote - after I installed the suspension initially I thought the steering was ok, then yesterday I did a long drive along the expressway and the car performed very badly around 100-110kph.. Wandering continually mooving the wheel left and right to go straight, so I decided something needs to be done..

Question - would a wheel alignment help this at all - maybe slight toe in??

Also fatassgq said running bigger tyres this will especially be the case - what I got out of that is - It drives better with larger tyres without castor correction??

Thanks,

Paul

[Dak]

By the sounds of your wandering problem you may need to do something, thats normally a sign of lack of castor, you really need to get an alignment done and see what castor you do have and go from there.

Cheers, Jeff.