I never pay attention to how much I've rotated. I just set the angle where it needs to be and set the knuckles where they should be and weld it up.
i would completely agree with this point. i have done or helped with about half a dozen cut and turns myself... to have a set angle of where you think things should be is silly. i cringe every time i see a company selling a cut and turned axle with (for example) 12 degrees of upturned pinion angle and your knuckles turned back to -5 degrees caster... every truck is different and every angle will be different accordingly...
personally i like to hang the axle with the ball ends cut and kind of set up my axle on the truck itself. i will set the pinion angle facing the pinion pretty much directly at the t-case output with the vehicle weight on the springs, tack my spring perches in place solidifying my pinion angle and then turn my knuckles on the truck... you will end up with a much more acurate setting doing it this way...
as well, i set my caster with -5 degree caster for 33" and up tires and i have set up a diff with as much as -8 degrees of caster on a truck with 39 inch tires... stock caster angle is generally -1 degree on our toyotas... you ideally want more negative caster on a truck with bigger tires to help "self center" your wheels when you are driving.. to much though and your steering wheel will feel heavy. too little and there will be no "self steering" or "return to center" action happeing while driving...
too much + caster and your steering wheel will be very quick and darty feeling and the moment you let go of the wheel the steering wheel will either shoot right or left with no tendency to want to steer straight...
