I leveled my 17' f250, Should I add caster now? Truck seems to ride fine other than typical solid axel feel.
I put 2" Uptice Mfg blocks under the springs and put in a Bison Off Road drop bracket for the track bar, and re-centered my steering. Axel is within a 1/4 inch from being dead center. Truck has plow prep package and 33x10.5 r17 Kenda Klever R/T tires. Caster/ Camber blocks are stock
I'd like to hear what people think, add it? Can I add it with the absolute certainty I won't need to go to the alignment shop to re-tweak any other specs?

 

I’m more interested in how you modified your truck to only 17 feet long. That had to be expensive.

 

^^^😁

Add it, you are out of range now. If you install the caster shims correctly it won't negatively effect any other settings.

Are you planning to step up to a larger tire? A 33 is pretty small on these trucks stock, with a level/lift they must look really small.

 

35" when it's time, looks ok now. My Avatar is what it looks like today

 

If you're only at 1 degree of castor, yes I would add more. I used the spc 2.3/2.6 degree bushings on my truck, drives great.

 

Yes, there's no such thing as a "typical solid axle" ride. If you're alignment is right, itll drive just like any other vehicle. Shoot, my crawler is on 40s with a solid axle and it drives on the freeway with one finger.

Fwiw, adding that track bar drop bracket without dropping the pitman arm is adding bump steer. Your drag link and panhard need to be the same angle and as close to the same length as possible to eliminate bumpsteer. Adding a drop bracket there makes the panhard angle not the same. The axle now travels in a different arc than your steering does, hence the bump steer. The panhard can be at any angle. As long as it matches the drag link you'll have no bumpsteer...

Add 2.5 caster shims and set your toe in to 1/16" and you'll be surprised how well it drives...

 

I believe Ford sets the caster really light on these trucks in an effort to make them light steering. Adding 2° additional caster made the truck feel more "planted" and eliminated the tendency to wander on the Interstate. I bought the SPS-23228 sleeves from Summit Racing and installed them myself - easy job.

 

The factory caster on mine is 4.2 drivers and 4.56 passenger. It drives really well. Mine is a 17 unmodified. I would say you definitely need to add some.

 

The Bison drop bracket has a slotted attachment hole to help maintain the angles. I don't notice any added bumpsteer

 

I haven't read many complaints from drop bracket users, of any brand, saying they notice way more bumpsteer. Not saying that its not true, just the amount of additional bumpsteer is maybe not an issue, or perseivable by all end users.
Part of that is probably because these things inherently have some bumpsteer. My truck is completely stock, I would be lying if I said it has no bumpsteer.

 

Just saying, the way a front end with a panhard moves is in an arc. Match the steering arc to the axle swinging arc, and you'll have no bumpsteer. Heavier steering dampeners will hide it and if you aren't using much suspension travel you'll never notice it... but its there.


Does it work to center the axle? Sure. But its not the right way to go abiut it IMO

 

True but.... these trucks do exhibit bump steer even completely stock. Maybe the drag link and track bar aren't parallel to begin with? I don't know, what I do know is that steering dampers seem to have a noticeable effect on the perceived bump steer. My factory crap stabilizer allowed much more bump steer than the Bilstein I replaced it with. Having said that, there is still bump steer. Its a non issue for me personally, but "no bump steer" isn't even true of a stock SD....So I have to wonder, how much worse is the bumpsteer when using a track bar drop bracket compared to the bumpsteer these trucks naturally have, stock?

 

Here's a good animation

 

side to side movement doesn't matter. The axle can shift over as much as it wants.. as long as the steering follows it, there's no bump steer...

My 17 doesn't have bumpsteer 🤷‍♂️. Hitting a bump and having the steering wheel move is not bump steer.

Best way to describe bump steer is if you were to come up over a rolling hill at speed and the suspension unloads/compresses and the steering wheel is kept straight, but the truck turns slightly left or right during the unload/load. That's bump steer...

You can tell if you have it if you tow a heavy load that unloads the front suspension, and all of the sudden your steering wheel is no longer straight...

 

OP, adding more caster to your truck will definitely improve its driving characteristics, especially at speed. I would begin by adding caster slugs that are at least 2* greater then whatever is already in the truck from the factory. Preferably more. You can also use aftermarket Radius arms or drop brackets like the ones offered by major vendors. Think OUO makes a set for minimal lift/leveled trucks for a pretty good price.

Many people will confuse steering feedback and bumpsteer.
Bumpsteer is the effect of a suspension steering angle changed by the arc of travel if the vehicles steering links as the suspension moved through its (bump) travel
Nearly every solid axle vehicle, with mechanical steering will have some bumpsteer. No matter what, the Draglink travels in an arc. It may be less observable in a HD truck as we really dont have significant amount of suspension travel, plus the factory did a decent job designing the suspension. But it is there.
Changing the angle of the panhard (track bar) in relation to the draglink can exacerbate the issue.
No steering damper(stabilizer) will reduce bumpsteer. they only reduce steering feedback.
Rule of thumb, when modifying suspension you want to keep the drag link and panhard bars traveling in the same arc of motion. To do so keep them close as possible to the same angle and the same length through their respective pivot points.