3rd Gen Rear axle is offset more on the passenger side

Fixing the bed alignment is warranty work...

Matt

 

The bed can move with surprisingly little effort so don’t pull too hard. Sometimes i has to pull a little hard, but most of the time it moves easily.

I just took some measurements between the cab and bed as well as frame to fender. Small movements here and there until it was close enough for me. Then I adjusted the bumper to the bed.

 

Never said nor implied it wasn't.

Point is why spend a day futzing with a dealer when you can fix it yourself in under an hour (including a Coke break), and do a better job?

But please. Feel free to enjoy your dealer relationship to the max.

 

Lol, just saying you said yourself you "only take it for...warranty work", which implies you would take it there for this issue...

I'm not a fan of the dealer but why spend an afternoon with a tape measure trying to get the bed perfect when they should fix the issue that came with the truck?

Matt

 

No way it should take an afternoon to do. It’s 6 bolts, a measuring tape, and a little body English. Max an hour if you decide to drink a 6 pack in between bolts ha

Edit: My question is why would you want to spend an afternoon (proabbly a day) at the dealer rather than at your own casa? My dealer is cool, but not that cool haha

 

You are correct. I did say that. And I see the implication...........

What I should have said was 'only take it for warranty work of significance'.

As in needing new parts, needing extensive labor, needing tools I don't have, etc.

I'll admit I lose sight of some of these things. Last actual warranty work I had done was on an '88 Ford.

 

Yah- I meant if the bed is too badly misaligned, he needs to have both it and the cab checked as the cab may have been misaligned first on the assembly line and further down the line they slapped in the bed to match it. Thats probably what happened to mine as they both were off compared to eachother and the frame.

Just measure both compared to the frame, its easy.

 

Not sure why, but I noticed my 2nd gen was off after getting after market wheels. Discount Tire went as far as replacing all both rear rims because they thought they'd ordered one with the wrong backspace. I've since noticed a lot of 2nd and 3rd gen Tacomas in parking lots that were off as well, all on the passenger side. It also seems to be pretty common across brands:

https://www.bing.com/search?q=why+is+truck+axle+off+center&form=EDGEAR&qs=PF&cvid=d67f2ed4e13041d99b86a5767906d4f6&cc=US&setlang=en-US&elv=AXXfrEiqqD9r3GuelwApulqwcHjSvHQzDwRDHBIpFnMe1OcAujD2CelZKgS1fYeZQoztmmMNDqzUcgaOI4C7dUesV3twlK42LQl68H!Cr7pN


After hours and hours of googling:

On Jeep Wranglers, it is very common on the lifted ones, due to the torsional force of the track bar. I don't know if Tacoma's have track bars, but I'd be curious if it centers with a heavy load.

I've also read claims that the axle is actually off center because of the offset of the driveshaft caused by the transfer case. One would think they'd offset the pumpkin, but maybe it was easier to offset the whole axle to make engineering easier and reduce the manufacturing cost of having to make left/right shafts that are different lengths? I don't buy this excuse at all.

A third thing that I read, though mostly about diesels and high power muscle cars is that the torque just "squishes" the suspension bushings and pushes it over, as a result of the direction of the drive shaft rotation. This "might" be possible, since just about every case I could find of this is mentions an offset to the passenger side.

Mine has been sticking out for 2 years. It's annoying, but the alignment shop said it was within spec.

 

I first noticed mine when putting in a shell- it was way off from the sides of the cab. Then I noticed the cab being off from the frame, then the dealer said Toyota wanted to have the whole thing realigned and they gave me a Corolla for 3 days. I was like for three days until I got my truck back.

 

Unless you're like this guy and your axle is in fact, offset...

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/2017-3rd-gen-taco-dog-tracking-crabbing.540572/#post-17459181

 

Thats what my truck had- the frame measured out square though.

 

I remember mine was off on one side close to the cab and I could tell cause I could bit my hand in to my palm on one side and only a few knuckles on the other. The way I measured it was the same way lol. Stick your hand in the gap between the cab and bed and make sure the same amount of your hand gets through on each side. Not sure if there are any other ways but that was a quick way for me.

 

After installing wheel spacers, I can tell that the bed isn’t perfectly aligned. I’ve done some poking around and this seems to be a problem with pretty much every brand of truck. I think I’m going to take care of it myself. My 5000 mile service took over 3 hours ._.

Does anyone know if loostening the bed bolts will cause rust? If so is there a good, easy way to prevent it.

 

Im so glad that Im not the only one! My shit is off by 3/4". Stealership said they couldn't do anything about it. I went to 2 different stearlerships and they both told me the same thing! Assholes! It has and still to this day annoys the hell out of me. My taco has had EVERY recall anyway...so F' me anyway! Bahaha

I will be doing myself after reading this thread! Thanks guy! Im a DIY'er when I can be! Gotta love TW!

 

Anyone done a write up on this?
Mine is off 1/2in or so.
Thanks

 

Sorry to dig this up from the grave. Just got my TRD Sport DCLB and i've got the same issue, approx 1/2". Has anyone just thrown a 1/4-1/2" spacer onto the driver side to even it out?

 

I am in process of installing wheel spacers myself. Mine is off 3/4” to passenger side. I measured from frame to wheel. I don’t think it’s my bed due to my bed is dead on and my bumper is also dead even. I was doin the 1/2 inch spacer on my driver side like you are thinking but I didn’t want to change out studs and I couldn’t find a hub centric quality spacer. Now, I have contacted bora spacers and they are sending me (1) 1 1/2 spacer for driver rear and (3) 3/4 spacers for others. All bolt on hub centric. Hopefully this will hide this flaw in Tacoma’s. My back wheels will stick out a smidge more then the fronts but any wider spacers in front I will get rubbing with my setup. My dealer says after saying my truck does look goofy “ it came from the factory like that so it’s right” And said they did that for stability, like Tacoma’s are built for nascar. I knew what I was dealing with there and walked away and never went back. Good luck and I will post a update when I get my spacers installed.

 

"Within tolerance" is a phrase you get super duper familiar with once you start workin' on autos.

 

so you were running the 1/2 spacer? were you using OEM studs and lug nuts? i've got TRD reps on mine, curious if i can go a 1/2" with the OEM nuts.