Post-alignment issues? / Results of a $50 alignment

Hey everyone! I just finished installing a new steering rack and tie rods on friday. I had planned to take my taco into Wheel Works today, because they're the only ones I've found in my area that will do lifetime alignments on a lifted vehicle. While I was at work on saturday, my mother (being the sweetheart that she is) went to my house, picked up my truck and took it in to get it aligned. However, now it feels squirrely. On right-hand turns, the steering is slightly delayed, followed by a sharp rightward motion.

I find the angle of the driver side tie rod ball-joint and the amount of threads showing on each tie rod to be kinda strange. Did I maybe not get the steering shaft aligned properly?

 

1. If you're not happy with it......take it back. Keep taking it back until they do it right or explain to you what is going on that is prohibiting the proper alignment.

 

Thanks for the advice. I will bring it back in on Wednesday.

I really don't have time for shenanigans though. If I'm not satisfied after I bring it in again, I'm going some place else.

 

those tie rods do not look like they were installed properly onto the knuckle. the thread should to be just long enough to pass the top of the castle nut. and those cotter pins should be sunk in between the turrets. they look like they're sticking out upwards. but maybe it's the angle of the pic. can I get some closer pics of those castle nuts and from the top end?

also, you said you installed new tie rods. But the passenger side boot is destroyed. either they F-ed it up, or you didn't change that one. feedback please.

third, yes, I would think those tie rods aren't centered properly in the rack. but that goes back to how you installed the replacement rack.

for the rack issue. turn your wheel all the way to the left. then turn all the way right and count how many turns it takes. should be something like 4.5 turns total. so once you get that. turn it back to 1 side, and then the other way half as many times as you originally counted. is the wheel straight, and does it drive straight?

i don't think it will. meaning they alignment tech probably didn't know you just replaced the rack and tie rods and just aligned it without adjusting the steering wheel and rods properly.

as far as the tie rods being cocked a little differently, that's usually OK so long as they're the correct ones. They're supposed to be able to do that. you can usually just push into place with your hands

good luck.

 

Or, the steering wheel was turned once to 1 side when they did the alignment and they adjusted it form there.

 

These are the best I can get for the pictures. The reason the boots look like they're broken is because I bought a set of tie rod boots from LCE, but they don't seem to fit the Moog tie rods I bought (I wish I could've bought OEM, but I couldn't afford them). I tried but couldn't get the original rubber boots back on. I'll see if they can press the originals back on.

I made sure that when installing the new rack that the steering wheel was straight ahead and that it traveled evenly from lock to lock. It is possible that I was a couple teeth off on the spline when putting things together.

The steering wheel is straight down the road and it isn't too difficult to keep it straight. However on bumps or dips the wheels tend to wander. But I attribute that to not having my sway bar installed (waiting to find QDs and new bushings).

 

ok. they look fine. just looked a little weird from the other angle.

maybe you can ask an alignment tech IRL or on the forums about how the threads on your tie rods are uneven. see if you can manually unscrew 1 and screw the other so the threads end up more even without changing the alignment.

then after that, recenter the steering wheel.

 

That's pretty bad. I'd definitely be taking it back. Realizing you have a 3" lift, shoot for 0 camber, 0 toe, and as much caster as possible and consider some UCA's.

 

Cvs look extreme to me.

 

Take it back.
Says 6 month warranty lol

 

yeah your caster is all off .1 and 1.2
they should be closer to the same numbers ..The left side isnt even in specified range
edit : neither side is in range

 

Dealing with the same thing right now with my truck. I put in some new poly rack bushings and it made the bad alignment really obvious. Drivers side wheel is pointed left, passenger is pointed straight on, and I didn't touch anything but the rack so I know I didn't change anything. And the positive camber is so bad that in less than 1k miles I've put noticeable tread wear into the front tires. Trying to get the alignment people to do it right. I've got the Bilstein 5100 lift on stock UCAs but for how extreme the positive camber is it seems way out of whack. I've also got the squirrely feeling you've got going right. Probly because to go straight my steering wheel is almost 1/3 of a turn to the right. Gotta love alignment issues.

 

Sorry it's taken me so long to get back to y'all! I took my truck back and had them re-align my taco. I'll post pictures of the results from the second alignment in a little while. Now it drives a much straighter line, but apparently they couldn't figure out how to adjust the caster on my UCAs because both sides are still a good 1-1.5 degrees off. And it still pulls to one side or another whenever I hit uneven or bumpy roads. I found a picture of how to adjust the caster on the Light Racing UCAs and I'll bring it in to the alignment place one last time (hopefully).

I also used Energy Suspensions Poly bushing kit for my steering rack when I replaced it. I can't say for sure that that's what cause my alignment to be off, because my alignment was going to be off regardless since I'd just replaced the steering rack and tie rods.

I made the mistake of running my ToyTec lift for 6 months before I installed Light Racing UCAs, and in that time the two tires that were in front just got TAPERED THE %&#@ OUT. You definitely need UCAs to fix your camber. I LOVE my LR UCAs. Good luck bud!

 

Got any suggestions to fix that? When I installed the lift over a year ago, I know I installed a 1" diff drop kit.

 

New alignment values.

 

Got it realigned last week. Have one camber bolt stuck so nothing I can do there sadly. But the other wheel is in spec amazingly. No more pulling the left finally

 

After I installed my LR ucas the caster was within specs. Did you make sure to install the ball joints of the UCA in the correct position? I know that they can be installed in 4 different settings or more I think.

 

I've had my LR UCAs for about a year now. I got it aligned right after I installed them and my truck drove perfectly up until my steering rack started going out. The cheap alignment shop just can't seem to figure out how to adjust them. So I'm taking it back with this picture.

 

Take it back, the toe should still not be off so much. Youre going to have to stand there with the FSM and instruct them how to align it.

 

If they can't do it, wonder if you could just ask for a refund and take it to a shop that can do it.

The outter tie rods do seem really off though. Mine are pretty close to same number of threads.