Caster adjustment following leveling kit (05-07)

[mooch91]

All,

Just completed the 2.5" Readylift SST leveling kit on my 2007 F350.

I was interested in adjusting caster, which I've read as being so critical for good handling once you level one of the coil-sprung Super Dutys.

There seems to be two generally accepted assumptions that could make this a DIY project as opposed to absolutely needing to take it to a front-end shop (or at least get it done in advance of an alignment to safe some money):

• You lose approximately 1 degree of caster for each inch of lift you add. So for a 2.5" lift, 2.5 degrees caster adjustment would be necessary.
• On these trucks, more caster is almost always better as they are thought to come from the factory with low caster.

So, with this I went and purchased the 2.5 degree bushings from Napa (part number 2642680, same as Stempf 2-1/2).

For the life of me, I can't get the 2.5 degree bushing to fit. The top ball joint just doesn't seem to want to move back far enough to allow it to happen.

Anyone know if you can really add 2.5 degrees of caster using the ball joint bushings on these trucks? Or should I just try to get a lower degree bushing in there and call it a day?

Thanks in advance.