Alignment Specs (heeelp!)

Yes they loosen the rear axle and shift it around..

 

That's good to here they did a good job and not just charged you like no other.. Alignment specs are pretty lenient on these trucks any way a little bit of positive/negative camber or toe for that matter will not cause a bunch of tire wear.. Caster seems to be the only issue when people haven't replaced their UCA's after a lift @ that point you either try to max caster or you set camber a leave caster close to 0..

 

So, I just installed my lift last weekend and called the tire and alignment shop a couple blocks away to ask if they would align my truck with the specs that I wanted, and he said sure, what are you looking for. I told him I wanted to to get 0 Camber, 0 Toe, and 2.5-3 Caster and he said "You don't want 0 Toe, I promise you that.. You will wear out the inside of your tires and your truck will wonder all over the road, but I will put it wherever you want it. Custom alignments are $115 bucks."

I told him, I have done a bunch of research and from what I've read 0 Toe would be best. He said "not from my experience and I've been doing this 25 years, yada yada yada.."

Any reason he would say 0 Toe is not a good idea? @modifiedtaco any input here would be appreciated.

 

These guys are pretty sharp.. they put driver weight in the driver's seat, they actually ask you what kind of driving you will be doing.. i do alot of long hours on the highway so as much caster as i can get and the slightly neg camber feels pretty good..

 

This is interesting really. I've always just dropped mine off and picked it up when done. Should I be more insistent that they use a certain spec? I've never had abnormal tire wear. I have had Schwab on more than 1 occasion not tighten the front end up and damage my UCA's. that was on my Tahoe not my Tacoma. So I don't go there. Period.

 

That sounds like very good place to go if you have somewhere like that around you would be worth paying extra.. we have a guy that does autocross we align his cars with him sitting in it he spends a lot of time at the track so he just tells us where he wants his specs to be and we will set them. Then he goes out and races again and comes back a week later and we'll tweak thing again and so on

 

i consider this whole process to be the most engaging part of setting up a new vehicle. i'm at the final stage right now. final alignment may be Friday if we can nail it.

 

I wouldn't worry about it if your vehicle drives straight and your not seeing uneven wear. Everyone has different needs just depends on how picky you want to be.. if you get technical even guys with perfect alignments on paper are not actually perfect because as soon as they sit in it or add passangers the angles will change

 

On my subaru I did the same. I ended up messing with front camber for awhile to eliminate some of the understeer when going in to corners to fast. Although I have the advantage of adjusting things when ever I feel like it and don't have to worry about paying every time

 

Because it's a static alignment.
There is a small bit of positive scrub radius built into the steering geometry.
This causes the tire to toe out while rolling.
That's why the factory spec is toe in; it zeros while rolling.
Set it at zero it will toe out while rolling; toe out wears the inside of the tire.
If you add scrub radius via wheel or tire size, the effect is even more pronounced.

 

Yup, my tire wear shows exactly this and I have lower offset wheels away from steering joints. I do my own alignments at work and play with the settings to find optimal wear/ handling.

 

This

 

Interesting. So, what should I ask him for as far as toe? Everything I've read on the forum always says 0 toe is optimal.

 

Stock wheels and tire? Lift?

 

Yes, stock wheels and tires. 2.5-3 inch lift.

 

Middle of the factory spec is fine; +0.095(+/- 0.160)toe in

FWIW, scrub radius also affects camber while rolling; 0 camber will move to positive. The factory spec is +0.54(+/-0.75)positive camber. I suspect they spec'd positive to account for suspension squat. Since you added no scrub radius, factory is fine. If you had, I'd recommend negative camber within the factory spec.

Caster should be fine at factory as well; approx. +2(+/- 0.75)
Increasing caster will also have more of an affect on camber change while rolling as well.

 

So I know I need to get 2.5-3 degrees caster with my 3in lift, and aftermarket UCA's on 285s. But what about the camber and toe? I have 17x9 wheels -12 offset 4.5 backspacing.

 

I assume it's 70 series..
You added about 1-3/8" of positive scrub and on the high side of the caster spec.

I would want maximum factory toe-in and maximum factory negative camber. You might not get the camber because of the increased caster. Just get it as low as you can.

Since you increased tire diameter, you require more caster for mechanical trail not just clearance purposes.
+2.75 sounds good. Problem is with the increased caster, you lose adjustment toward negative camber. Also remember, more positive caster means more camber change(to positive) while rolling.

So;
+2.75 caster
-0.2 camber
+0.1 toe

Heim jointed UCAs would offer a lot more adjustment. Unfortunately, most are manufactured with 6" lift geometry in mind.

 

^ This right here is why I love this forum. Guys like @splitbolt dropping knowledge and willing to help. I really appreciate you taking the time to help out the members here and answer our questions.

 

Old thread I know, but i just got mine aligned this morning (reputable shop). I removed my 887 coils and swapped to maxtrac spindles this past weekend, so it needed it badddd. Camber and Toe are at zero, and he got to a little over 5+ degrees of caster. I am running LR UCAs. I was initially surprised he was able to get it that high, but it drives great. Didn't experience anything off, so we will see.