are shims necessary up front?

[Cornfield creations]

Hello, I have a 4" tuff country lift with springs all around, I put a 2* shim in the back, isn't enough, so I am gonna get a 4* for the rear and was thinking about moving the 2* up front, or is that not even necessary?

 

[hunterguy86]

by shims do you mean add a leafs or lift blocks? If you mean lift blocks DO NOT put them up front. Are you trying to gain more lift or just level it out?

Hope this helps some, we just need a little more info to help you out more

Dustin

 

[Cornfield creations]

sorry, its a 79 k-5, i just wanted to tilt the pinion up a little more so theres less angle on the bottom u-joint.

 

[pauly383]

You don't want shims up front . With 4 inch springs it shouldn't be an issue . I am still WHEELING my original CV shaft upfront .

 

[readymix]

He is talking about shims not lift blocks or add-a-leafs.....

You can shim the from if you want to but you have to find the right amount. In the rear all you are affecting is the pinion angle so you are only worring about that one thing.
In the front you need to consider not only the pinion angle but also the caster. If you don't you could run into divability issues. Search here a little and you will understand more

 

[Cornfield creations]

thanks, its not a big issue, just thought i'd help it out some. But I don't want to mess with the castor or have any steering related issues.

 

[Leper]

The less you change the front axle steering geometry the better off you will be.

 

[monster man]

just to tack on- since I added ORD extended shackles (1 inch), it says the castor is off a couple degrees- would shim work better in this case? I can see my CV joint needs to be clearance ground and I'd rather not.

 

[BlitzK5]

This is my exact issue to. I just posted a thread about it without realizing you did. oh well. I cant even hook up my driveshaft now after installing the longer shackle's. But I also dropped the TC down 1" to make my rear driveshaft pinions at 5 degrees which tilted the front up.

 

[monster man]

no- you were first- I saw your thread after I posted this!
with 4" TC springs and no T-Case drop my front d-shaft is just showing splines. I think with shims on the front to bring the d-shaft more level it will both put my caster back to normal and make the d-shaft useable

 

[BlitzK5]

Yeah thats what I was thinking. Going to use 2 degree ones. I guess I will try it and see what happens. Someone on here must have done this before so maybe there will provide us with some info if they see this thread befor it slowly dissapers

 

[theperfectgarage]

My bds 4" front leafs came with 2* shims I believe, I use em and have no probs. I screwed around alot with the rear axle shims and different t- case drops till I was happy with the rear angle.