Uneven poke on rear axle

@bulalo any idea why it’s designed that way? Assuming that it is

 

I'm not discounting the bed being misaligned, but by measuring from the frame, one would think it should be the same on both sides unless there was some type of offset purposely put in by engineers when designing the chassis / running gear.

 

I got new tires and immediately noticed this problem. I checked with a body shop and he confirmed that Tacomas and others are sometimes crooked on bed measurements and alignments. I loosened the Torx bolts and was able to improve the alignment. When I go through parking lots, I’m now paying attention and I’ve noticed a few others that look off to the eye. I say loosen and move around to improve it and live with it unless you can prove something else is wrong.

 

Seeing you have an '18, I suggest you use a penatrant oil on the bolt threads from underneath, before attempting to loosen.
While your under there, you might want to check if you have any deterioration of the bed's composite gussets that sit on the frame mounts. Whose to say it hasn't already been aligned, but now is deteriorated to the point it's shifting. Although it's usually accompanied by noise from the bed floor lifting over a good bump. Then again, you have a tonneau, possibly a bed mat, not had a hard enough bump and only one month of ownership; you might not have noticed...yet.

Just wanting to help you make sure all the bases are covered.
Here's a thread explaining the deterioration. I suggest you read the whole thing.
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/tacoma-loose-bed-design-flaw-explanation.388873/

The fix is to use a shim/washer between the bed gusset and frame mount, with a hole that allows the metal sleeve to pass through, thick enough so the the top of the metal sleeve sits just below the surface of the bed floor.

 

I dont think it's a design. Tight tolerances are the enemy of production speed. Mines perfect, but it was luck of the draw.

 

@perterra are your wheels even to the outside of the frame rail on each side as well?

 

I can't take any thread serious that uses the term "poke".

Having said that, tolerance stack on leaf spring pads, center pin hole, u-bolts, leaf springs, frame mounts, bed mounts, bed bolts, etc. on a mass produced product results in variances like you see that are still well within acceptable tolerance. Fix it if you wish, but functionally it's a non-issue.

 

Lift, flatbed, and negative offset wheels is the solution.

 

Just a fyi, looking at this with your eye will not be able to tell if the thrust angle is off. You need to put this on alignment machine. Yes I have seen this before , but its not very common unless you do a lot of off roading or were hit in the rear axle shifting it..

 

I have 4R trail wheels on mine so both tires are proud of the of the wheel wells. Never looked at wheel to frame, it drives good, both tires look even in relation to how far they hang out. (SR, no flares)

 

@TACOTRDPRO1 maybe I’ll have that shop I stopped at check it when I have some time. From what I can tell it’s never been wheeled cause cosmetically it’s perfect. And it didn’t show any accidents, although that can’t always be trusted I hear.

@perterra if you ever do measure I’d be interested to hear the results, glad it all looks even for you though!

 

Here is the dealer report for my truck. Sorry. Been busy and didn't have time to update what the dealer said. I still need to measure to see if they actually shifter anything over.

 

Thanks for getting back to me @Coma4by , I asked my buddy with a ‘22 TRD Or MT and his has the same offset. I’m thinking it’s gotta be part of the design. Either way doesn’t seem like it’s problematic. Now I just need to figure out if I want to install a 1” wheel spacer on the one wheel with less “poke”. Currently they all have .75” spacers installed.

 

Loosen the 6 bolts and the bed moves with one hand. First thing I adjusted after getting this truck. At first I was thinking, since it had 15,000 miles on it, that I had bought a wrecked truck. But nope that bed is adjustable. 45T on the bolt heads if I recall...someone correct me because I can't remember what I had for lunch.

 

@CaptainBart45 i looked into that on mine, took a bunch of measurements and from what I can tell it’s pretty spot on already. I could try to shift it but it would be even more off alignment with the bumper than it already it.

 

Reviving an old post to say thank you. I bolted on methods with 0 offset and completely freaked when I saw the rear passenger stick out almost an inch more ! My truck has 15k miles so I thought I scuffed the leafs or axle with my icon add a leaf