free caster mod vs whiteline ALK
 

Hi All,

Just want to know the real world differences between the caster mod and the whiteline ALK ?

Also does anyone still sell the 6mm or 10mm spacers ?

thanks

Caster mod and poly bush, infact you can buy a lot of poly bushes for the cost of a WTL ALK.

Whiteline wouldn't be my choice, based on recent experience. Just not up to the job.

Thanks for the replies, anyone know where i can get the 6mm plates from for the caster mod?

You can do whiteline alk and freecaster mod too.As far as I know whiteline alk have some work in it that softens the front for better turning and giving circa 0.5 degree of caster too.As for the spacers I dont found anyone selling them just go to a machine shop and you will be able to make them.As alot of guys here I say too ALK,ROLL BARS and a decent geo setup(with good tyres ofc)and you are there!

What's the plates for? Cant you just flip the bar

If you do use spacers you'll need longer bolts - remember to use high tensile ones (8.5?)

You can run into problems on some model cars with too much forward movement of the bottom arm, which can foul on the arb

8.8 bolts are generally standard. If you want higher tensile, it's 10.9 or 12.9. Higher tensile bolts can be torqued up higher. There's lots of info on the net about fasteners. It's a highly technical subject.

If it's a lowered classic? Don't use more than a 5mm spacer. Using longer bolts, you may need to cut the bolt threads, so they torque flush with the lower control arms, or the bolts will protrude into the chassis rails or the bolt will contact the chassis rails during suspension movement.
Lubricate the existing threads before removing control arm bolts, or you may destroy one or more internal threads, in the aluminium arms.

I wouldn't use 12.9 bolts in suspension, they're more likely to break, rather than bend.

10.9 is correct I believe, I made some 10mm spacers up recently but couldn't fit on my Widetrack blob, they are already flipped, and braced/bolted out as much as possible, on adding the 10mm spacer the driveshafts contact the engine subframe : I already have 5.5deg of static caster. (flipping tophats is next on) my list)

Would you feel a difference just flipping them no shim?

Great stuff from the "big" guys here.If you flip the pin(Alu arms only)180 degrees you will gain around 0.5 degree caster because it has some offset in it.If you loose the two bolts above the rear bushing mount and push as forward as you can and re tighten you will get again around half a degree caster and this works on steel arms too.Dont forget the spec c high caster arms that give more caster from the "standard" alu arms,4.50 mins instead of 3.30'.Our aussie scooby friends run max 6 or 7 mm plates on gd's but on foresters you can go with bigger size plates.

Definitely. Personally I feel that the ALK and the free caster mod are two different things and therefore there's value in doing both. One reduces the anti lift/dive and therefore lets you get more weight onto the front wheels at turn in. The caster mod gives you good traction once you're turned in. With flipped pins, BC rotated top mounts and a Scoobyworx ALK I got about 5.8 degrees of castor. I've junked the BC's though and gone back to struts, Whiteline Com-C's and Koni's, still with the flipped pin and ALK. I don't know what it comes in with on the alignment but it should be roughly similar. I did notice that with the flipped pin it does tramline more so it might be worth bearing that in mind if it's something you really hate. That said, given I haven't tried the flipped pins in isolation I can't say whether it's them which causes the tramlining or just a cumulative effect of much greater caster than stock.