alignment woes

So I took my taco to an imaginary friend I met on another forum to get an alignment today and he told me I need to do a little work to get an alignment. Apparently the tabs that hold the thing from rotating that gives the lower control arm its adjustability are bent and the egg type part can rotate with the bolt. Here are some pictures. What is the part called and any info on fixing it would be greatly appreciated.





This is the one on the wifes 4 runner. Notice it isn't bent.


So, how should I fix this?

 

I just got done dealing with this on my taco... Unfortunately you might be looking at some work ahead of yourself. Most likely what happened (typical on tacos) is that your alignment adjusters are frozen.

How the alignment is suppose to work is you loosen the bolt seen in the first picture, then you grab and twist the fixed nut on the other end (seen in the second picture) to adjust alignment the cam adjustor. Of course since the two cams are connected by a sleeve that runs inside the lower control arm bushing next to dissimilar metals this sleeve almost instantly freezes from the factory to the lower control arm bushing and you end up twisting the control arm up and down when trying to adjust the alignment. You will most likely have to cut the sleeve out and replace the cam adjustors and lower control arm bushings. When replacing them load everything up with antiseize so it wont happen again!

As for the tabs... I think you might need to weld something in place there where the tabs are broken / missing

Good luck.

 

Ok so possible question here but the way I understand you go about adjusting this cam part is you loosen something up and then twist on the other side to get everything in spec. I take it there is a bolt that goes through everything that is loosened in the first and last pic of my OP and this is on the other side that you turn to adjust everything?

I'm starting to think we we're trying to loosen the wrong side.



Edit: I'm sure it's the bolt that is suppose to be loosened. Maybe this won't be as bad a job as I initially thought it was going to be.

 

Looks from the picture that you were able to remove the cam adjusers. The most important part is the cam lobe and sleeve part that is in you last picture. Typically they freeze to the bushings but it looks like you were able to remove them! Thats great!

So after you reassemble everything you keep the bolt semi loose and you turn the circled nut and cam part in you last picture. That in turn turns the sleeve and other cam since they are keyed the same. When you fix the tabs on the truck the cam should be able to turn rotating inside the bushing while pulling in or pushing out the control arm.

Its not too hard.

 

Are your cam tabs broken off in a couple spots? You will need to weld new ones on if so. They hold the cam in position so the angle can be set correctly.

Edit: I reread the OP and you said they are bent. Those need fixed.

 

I actually didn't take it apart. Those are just pictures I found on the interwebs that made me realize we were not loosening the right bolt to adjust everything. I got the tabs beat back into place today so hopefully get it in sometime in the next couple days for the alignment and should be good to go.

 

I didnt want to start a new thread so I figured I would post my question here.

I brought my truck to the mechanic next to my job because he gives us sweet deals. I needed my tires rotated and didnt have time to deal with it and he has a lift, he swapped them out. The back (before rotation) were a bit more worn than the front but my alignment was perfect. I could take my hands off the wheel and it would drive straight as an arrow.
Now, it pulls to the left. I havent hit any curbs on any of my mall crawls so its not that. It isn't a serious pull but it is enough to be annoying. Could it be a tire PSI issue?

Also, I had new breaks put on the front while it was there. The discs were not machined because I am at minimum thickness and I didnt want to get new discs, however, they were smooth as a babies ass and I dont think they are warped.

Any ideas or should I take it in and get it re-aligned?

 

Yea, check all tire pressures and correct if off. If they're good or airing up doesn't fix anything then go get an alignment.

 

Thats what I figured. Thanks

 

Wasn't the tire pressure. I'm going to swap sides on the front tires. If that doesn't fix it then alignment it is.

 

Got the truck aligned yesterday. Guy doing it laughed at me for beating the tabs back with a hammer. I told him I didn't know a better way.

 

They are probably thin enough that you could bend them with a pliers.

 

I was lazy and didn't want to take the skid plates off. I wedged a pry bar and either bent with it or beat against it with a ball peen hammer to straighten everything out. wasn't to bad and was kinda surprised I didn't have to go get a bigger hammer.

First time I ever used derby car experience to fix something on the truck...