Mid Travel BS 2.0

Caster is the relationship between the upper ball joint and lower ball joint and what ball joint is leading. In almost all situations the lower ball joint should be leading the upper ball joint. Because of this relationship, the height of the rear of the truck plays a huge roll in the amount of caster a vehicle can have. A truck with the rear suspension higher then the front will have a harder time getting higher caster numbers then a truck the rear lower then the front. My truck sits slightly high in the rear and 3° is about where it likes to sit.

When I align a vehicle I tend to set the camber equal from side to side, close to 0° depending on lift height. I give a 15 through 25 minute caster lead to help with road crown, though the vehicle will still drift right. Toe is usually around 3mm in. A little negative camber is good after lift because these trucks usually go positive camber under suspension compression. I don't usually have equal caster because constant pull correction usually makes drivers unhappy/fatigued over long trips. If you take your hands off the wheel and the truck drifts left or stays straight, that is wrong, it should not pull right though.

 

Well truck was driving so weird, and since it's my DD, I couldn't wait to order the TC kit. I just ended up using some 1/4" bar stock, straightened the tabs and welded it all together.

I'll drop off tomorrow to get aligned again and hopefully be good for now.

 

Tearing stuff out for the new leaf pack and shock hoops.

 

Hey buddy, remove that last ebrake cable guide on the frame under the door so the cable floats freely and will droop far enough. Use just that one pass through clamp that goes on the leaf pack that is hanging on your ebrake cable.

 

It's not a huge deal. I have flat alignment cam tabs as well on mine on both the front and rear portion of the drivers side LCA's and I was able achieve the results I wanted (with the help of an icepick of course to shift the LCA some so I could adjust caster)

I have since wheeled the living fuck out of it, gone airborne more then a fair amount of times and the caster nor camber has not moved once. The toe on the other hand is the one which really pisses me off.

 

I'd like to see your alignment results before and after offroading lol. I had one flattened cam tab and my camber was never in spec again. Well, it was, since the guy bent the tab back, but the first time I went offroad my alignment went to shit again

 

word, i get an alignment each time i go offroad and i dont go near as crazy as Rob does. I'd be curious how crazily torqued his is.

or is the frame so messed up that its tweaked itself solid

 

Did that when I looked at it later. It wasn't as stretched as the pictures looks. BTW, getting all that Pro Comp stuff off was a huge PITA. Frozen nuts everywhere.

 

I check my alignment periodically.

3.0* Caster driver side
3.3* Caster pass side
0.9* Camber driver side
1.0* Camber pass side

The stuff has never moved since I installed my control arms. It will need to be moved once I re-lift the truck again in the coming days this week, but as of right now I drift slightly right because of the caster difference. It annoys the hell out of me, but the tires have been wearing well, and even.

Toe is set to where it needs to be. Always moving of course and my steering wheel is always fucked up because of shitty steering rack bushings.

Torque specs on the bolts are astightasIfuckincan or guttentight. No really, they are tighter than a virgin on prom night.

 

$69 ENERGY SUSPN Energy Suspension 8.10106G Rack & Pinnion Bushing Set

http://www.amazon.com/Energy-Suspen...automotive&vehicleId=4&vehicleType=automotive
Ready. Set. Go.

 

You. God.

I had no idea they were available through Amazon!! Have you replaced yours yet? I'm sort of dreading it because I hear the bolts are a bitch to take off unless you have an angle grinder and just cut them right off and replace them so you can install them upside down.

 

We need to set up a weekend. I completely forgot I brought all my bushings to mod day. Cleaning out the truck after camping and found them in the backseat. Have the steering rack and all body mount bushings I still need to replace.

You can just call me Jeff, it's cool.

Also, I have a grinder.

 

I just bought them minutes after you showed them to me. I just made sure they were for sure for Tacoma and I hit the buy button. 2 click purchase. Lol.

 

You need to step your Amazon game up bro. 'Buy with 1 click' or GTFO.

 

On the 4R you have to take all the bolts out of the alternator to move it a bit to get the driver side rack bolt out, I think it it the same with the taco. I put those poly bushings in my new rack, quite pleased. I hear getting the old ones out sucks though, bout my new rack without the bushings installed so the new ones popped right in.

 

I'm planning on building my 2015 into a mid travel rig and I've decided to to go with King Shocks.... Question:

What are the differences between the extended travel front king shocks and the conventional? I'm hearing it's just a spacer/washer inside. The extended travel is more expensive by a couple hundred bucks over the conventional shock. If that's the main difference then I might as well buy conventional and remove the spacer/washer.

Can anyone verify/negate or add to this?

Thank you

 

It is a spacer. And they only give you max 3/4" travel at the hubs difference

 

Oh what's up, Chris! So, going conventional is will do just fine? Sara gave me the okay to go with Kings so now I'm trying to research kings out for this overland rig. Going 12" kings with shock relocate in the rear.

 

Go conventional and then down the road when they need a rebuild have the guys at Downsouth Motorsports rebuild them and they pull the spacer for free lol

What UCA are you looking to go with?

 

Cool. Speaking of Downsouth, I was going to ask where can I fid the best deal? I've heard Downsouth and Tustin Toyota are both very good.

UCA - I'm feeling Icon