How to do an Alignment at Home

I did my home alignment this weekend. I started with checking the castor. Then used the UCA slide adjustment to do the camber, and then finally toe. I got lucky and my castor numbers were really close to what I wanted so I left them. I got my final calculated numbers to close the 3 caster, 0 camber, 0 toe and am very happy with how it rides.

Thank you for the write up. I wouldn't have even thought about doing it until I read it.

 

Subbed

 

I'm working on my 06 Tacoma for reference. Each LCA has a front and a rear bushing. I'm seeing an adjustment cam on each side of the bushing, so that makes 4 cams per side. For some reason this is confusing me, because the instructions talk about adjusting the rear cam and front cam, but I'm seeing a cam on each side of the bushing. Are these cams connected so that they both move when you turn one side? Also, is the adjustment side of the cam generally supposed to face upward on all cams? One of those diagrams shows the adjustment markings pointing down and on the other side pointing up...

I've have an OME lift with aftermarket UCA's and my alignment is 0 Camber, 1.5 Caster, .03 Toe. Almost exact on both sides. My front tires always wear the outer lip off first, so I'm wanting to put some negative camber in my alignment. I was looking at my cam bolts and noticed that one of them (see pic) is fully turned and the cam that is on the other side of this bushing is almost centered.

 

There's only one cam per bushing. There's two "alignment" markers/discs per bushing but they're slipped together to make one cam.

 

Do the alignment marker discs turn together? On my rear bushing, my alignment marker discs are really different on each side of the bushing.

 

Just read your edit. They should be the same on either side of the bushing. Almost sounds like it has stripped the one side that plugs into the sleeve portion of the cam. Which is most likely indicative of a seized cam.

 

If I were to make adjustments based on the cam that moves freely, would it still work correctly?

 

Hard to tell without knowing what's wrong with that cam. Best bet is to take it apart and see what's happening. I'm guessing it's seized in the bushing.

 

Looking back at your pic, the cam bolt is keyed to fit the alignment disc's. If one of my disc has stripped, then the cam bolt is no longer moving the same on both sides of the bushing. I've took this truck to 4-5 different alignment shops over the last couple years and they all say my camber is good, but I can see with my eyes that I have positive camber. I'll remove the cam and probably replace with a new one and then try the DIY alignment.

 

I took another look at my cams last night and my passenger side rear cam alignment marker discs are actually the same on both sides. None of my tabs are bent so hopefully my cams are are not seized. I'm waiting to get my garage floor leveled and the tools ready to do a DIY alignment before I remove the cams and put anti seize on them.

My passenger side rear cam is almost fully maxed out, but the driver side is barely turned. It would seem like if nothing was bent on your suspension and you were doing the alignment on a level floor, then the cam adjustments would be very similar on both sides of the truck.

Are the alignment marker disc starting position supposed to be facing up or down? Those pics on the 1st page show the 1st gen alignment marks up on all cams and the pic of the 2nd gen shows the front cams alignment marks down.

 

Thanks for the write-up Jberry. Got a good garage alignment yesterday. Definitely want some toe plates and turn tables for this.

 

Sub'd for future use.

 

Hmmmm toe is out and can't be screwed in anymore. Crooked steering wheel as well. Anybody have any ideas?

 

Nope, factory rack.

I cut down the outer and got it close with the tape measure. Had to hit the road to FL the other night.

 

Toe is set last, so does it effect camber?
I had an alignment about 10 weeks ago and my alignment has started to go bad, first I noticed bad tire wear (worn on the inside edges from camber) and the toe doesn't feel right through the steering wheel.

Tonight I crawled under my truck and found this, I guess the tech didn't tighten the jam nut, but would this affect the camber?

 

Yeeeaaah... I'm not painting my tires.

Actually after looking at this it makes the money to pay someone else to do it seem more worth it lol.

Hats off to you guys who have patience to do this stuff.