Did I just get a bad alignment?

This is the alignment I just got. Guy said my rear toe is out and they couldn’t adjust it. Also told me they couldn’t adjust front caster.

Tacoma is brand new 29 mi on the odometer. Got an alignment because I installed a lift the other day.

Any help is appreciated.

 

Welcome to The Forum!

 

That's bs, I'd take it somewhere that knows what they are doing.

The rear axle likely needs to be shifted. Also I always adjust caster on any tacoma lift. Period.

 

Can't adjust caster is total BS.

Not sure how many alignment shops will tackle the rear toe. I'm assuming the u-bolts/shackles would need to be loosened and then the axle could be slightly shifted on the centering pin (if possible). My rear toe was about 0.21 on the left side from the factory. I've left it alone.

How much did you lift?

 

This makes me curious about alignment results after I did a lift on the second gen. 2nd to 3rd not much different I don't believe. I do remember with certainty that everything except caster on the front right came into spec, and the alignment guy told me the amount it was out was negligible. The caster adjustment or not being able to get caster into specifications is where aftermarket upper control arms come in. Welcome to TW and someone may be able to add some links to helpful threads.

 

How high did you lift it/what kind of lift did you do? If you went too high then it is entirely possible that you have no caster adjustment left. I've run into this issue as well.

 

This was my factory alignment (before) and my alignment after requesting specific parameters from the shop. You can see both before and after were within acceptable spec, but I enjoyed the way the truck drove with the after numbers more.

My truck was lifted a half inch in the front only. Your numbers will ultimately be more limited if you lifted 2-3 inches front. You might not achieve the positive caster I have here if you lifted 3 inches front, for example.

Changing caster also affects camber (and toe), so it's always a trade off for what's most important to you. Positive caster will have the greatest effect on improving your driving experience (the feel). Your truck will track better on the highway and will have improved handling characteristics in turns. The tradeoff is slightly increased steering effort, noticeable at parking lot speeds.

As someone mentioned, if you can't reach the numbers you want then you'll need aftermarket UCAs. SPC are nice because you can adjust caster and camber.

 

This is true, but they didn't even put caster numbers on his spec sheet. Never seen a shop do that.

 

Truck is running king 2.5 front and rear with an AAL in the rear. TC UCAs. Honestly, didn’t measure exact lift achieved, just put the coilovers on as they came from king

 

Back to post number three

 

Odd, usually maxing out caster is only achieved by lifting the truck too much. Drive around a little bit, or just put some load on the front and break the springs in to get them to settle down a little bit. You should get some more adjustability when it comes down.

Also, what UCA's did you get?

 

What was the cost of the alignment?

 

I took TC for total chaos

 

If you have Total Chaos UCA, they should have some positive caster built into the arms. Regardless, the tech at the alignment shop can adjust your caster (and camber) via the factory adjustment bolts on the lower control arms. That's basic alignment work. Take it to a different shop. The one you went to sucks unfortunately.

He's right. ^^^

 

The tech was worse than a broken Harbor Freight ratchet.

Discuss options with the shop manager about correction and advise you want his best tech on it.

If they give you guff, request a refund and take your business to a competant shop. If they give you more grief, leave a 'dont go there' review on your local yelp/google stuff.

Gotta ask. Is this a big box franchise like Goodyear or Firestone?

 

spc’s

 

Betting this drives awesome.

 

$108

 

National Tire and Battery. I even called to make sure they would do an out of spec alignment and they said they would and then the mech apparently couldn’t adjust the caster. Definitely going to be talking to management about correction

 

The dude just drove it onto the alignment rack, threw the hardware on there and never bothered to do the steering sweep to read the caster. Run like hell from that place.