Hey guys,

I swapped on the scout axles a while ago, but I'm just swapping the CJ D30 knuckles on now. Everything went smoothly with the exception that the camber is 1.5 to 2 degrees positive with the CJ knuckles. I found that the Scout knuckles had a camber adjusting shim between the knuckle and the spindle on the passenger side, but didn't find one on the driver side.

Has anyone done this swap, or know whether these shims are stock parts? As always any information is greatly appreciated.

The shims between the spindle and the knuckle are aftermarket parts. The aftermarket also makes Caster/Camber degree changing, thread in ball joint seats. These will usually only give a degree or two change, each.

The scout axle is known for not having enough caster. You might need to cut the welds to rotate the housing ends to get the desired 6*-8* caster for stable street steering.

Wow! 6 or 8*! I hate a vehicle that pushes into corners.. That's way more than would make me happy.
I was raised in the N.C. mountains. Lots of tight curves and of course we liked hi-speed.. 8* would be really slow back there..
Big JIm <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/pfft.gif" alt="" />

That's stock specs for a TJ. Chrysler 300C's spec is 11*!

It depends on the vintage of CJ knuckles as to the fix for camber issues.
Late model Cj knuckles cannot use shims under the spindle.
The difference is...if the caliper bracket is part of the knuckle (late) or if the caliper bracket bolts on over the spindle studs (early).
If you use camber shims under the spindles with late knuckles the brakes wear at the same angle as the shim.
Not good.
On those camber is corrected by offset ball joints.

Early cj knuckles and caliper brackets can work just fine.

As to caster, the IH front axle is about as bad a axle for conversions as it gets. (nothing personal)
They just stink for pinion angle to caster relationship.

3 d caster is fine. with a IH you will be lucky to get 1 and not have the driveshaft bind. The amount of lift or SOA for sure will make the IH axle useless.

SD

Yeah, in retrospect the scout II axles may have been a poor choice. They have certainly posed a variety of challenges.

I ran the jeep with 5 degree caster shims and no front driveshaft for a while to see how much I wanted. It still needed a little help centering, so I permanently corrected the caster by grinding the yokes off and setting them at 6 degrees. Hopefully with this approach I won't have any pinion angle/driveshaft issues.

That's a good call on the brake wear, I didn't think about that. The scout caliper brackets are similar to the early style CJ as you described, hence the shim, and I have the late model brackets. I guess the solution is the ball joint bushings. Thanks.

The quick solution for IHfrontaxleitis is to use a waggy housing. They have 10 degrees upward pinion angle with 5 degrees caster. They are also within 1/2" axleshaft length of each other. Parts are swapable between them.

SD