I have some clayton lower front control arms. I am keeping stockers on top up front.

Question number one:

Clayton instructions tell you to set at 23 eye to eye but that is if you are doing front uppers too. Should I set it to 23 1/8 or 23 1/4 instead?

Question number two:

Clayton tells you to install zerk fittings up if you wheel, makes sense, however when you do this this meand that one control arm has to be one half turn shorter or longer. Is this ok? Is there a side that should be should sligtly shorter or longer?

 

23" is already longer than stock and you DO NOT want to make them even longer as that will give you way too much positive caster. i would stick with 23" as that will give you about +6° of caster.

are you sure about this? have you actually measured these out to be 23 eye to eye and found one side to be shorter when the zerks are both pointing up? also, a lot of joints have a zerk on one side and a plug on the other. you may just need to swap the two.

 

I installed Clayton but had both upper and lower.

Start at the recommended length, lower control arms also affect your wheel base length and if you go too long/short, your tires may rub in the wheel well on articulation. Make sure you have your uppers loose so they don't bind when making adjustments.

Set your caster measurement on the passenger side - I don't know if this really makes a difference, but I used the passenger side and got it the first time using Clayton recommended length. To make sure I had both arms the same length I happened to have a rod the exact size as the bolt holes, no slack so I measured one, inserted the rod and placed the other arm on top of that. I measured again and they were both identical. I'm anal about measuring so I also place a small mark with Sharpie marker so I had my center to center measurements as I found out as soon as I set it down I would pick it up and the end would turn on its own.

WOL has a write up on caster within his alignment how-to: http://project-jk.com/jeep-jk-write-...-end-alignment

Once your caster is properly set, place the opposite control arm in its mount, you may need to move the axle carefully to get it to fit. If you don't have a helper, use a ratchet strap to pull it in, shouldn't take much effort and be sure your rear tires have something to keep it from rolling backwards. I was able to use my hydraulic lift to raise the arm just enough to fit it.

Check your caster again - you may have to make adjustments.

make sure your axles are centered and your steering is centered, etc.... I had just the slightest pull to the right but after alignment no issues at all.

Check your articulation to make sure tires don't rub in the wheel well.

Hope this helps and Good luck

 

Went pretty smoothly. Kind of a pain to grind the tabs on the axle control arm brackets so there is no interference. I did 23 exactly and got about 4.5 degrees positive caster. Drives much better than the 0 degrees I had. the jeep tracks much nicer and feels almost stock with the 3.5 clayton coils, JKS front and rear track bars, teraflex shocks, clayton front lowers, and JKS rear uppers to set rear pinion angle for Tom Woods DS. highway driving was especially great. I also took time to use 9/16 shouldered bolts for front control arms and trackbar. Much tighter than 14 mm file chrysler put in.

 

yea, the grinding was a pain on the driveway. I like my Clayton, ride is solid. I travel a lot and always hated when semi's would come in the opposite direction doing 75 - 80mph. This last trip did not even notice them.

At 89mph (gps top speed recorded) didn't feel it until I looked down at speedo. With Clayton uppers at the length they recommend, my caster was about 5.5 1st time. minor adjustments and everything lined up.

Went wheeling on the rocks in Moab last month and all I can say is wow - what a difference