stock tires rubbing after lift

Hey guys,
i lifted my truck (2023 sport) using eibach stage 1 and jba UCA. i got it aligned and after i made a tight u -turn i heard a thudding noise so when i got home i tried to full lock the wheel left and right and i saw the tires hitting the lower control arm.

i dont want to get spacers and i was advised to get new wheels with negative offset. i was thinking of bringing it back to the alignment shop and see if they can do something about it as i have a 1 year warranty on alignment.

stock tires and wheels, 265/65/17.

 

I am running Vision Manx 2 17x9s with +12MM offset and 275/70/17 KO2s with SPC UCAs and an OME-005 (Heavy) 2.5 in lift. Only minor rub at full lock and full stuff which rarely happens off-road and never happens on road. You may want to go back to your alignment guy (or take it to another shop) and tell the tech to crank the LCA adjuster all the way to move the wheel forward as far as it can go with the LCA caster adjustment. This will help. Then you fine tune caster with the UCA adjustment but not before the LCA is maxed out.

Edit: 5 degrees of caster seems a bit much. You may consider closer to 3.5 or 4.

 

moving the wheel forward by adjusting the LCA is basically going from 5degree to 4.5 degree caster?

 

Check out this page for an explanation of caster. it is a racing context but caster is caster no matter the IFS setup. As far as the angle itself, both the UCA and LCA adjustments effect caster but what you want is the LCA maxed out on the adjustment so the wheel is as far forward in the well as it can get. Then your alignment guy can get the angle right with the UCA adjustment. The purpose of maxing the LCA adjustment is to get as much clearance from the rear of the wheel well where tires will rub the cab mount. Some elect to do a cab mount chop (CMC) so they can run wider meats.



Head over to the suspension forum and do some searching for "caster" if you want to read some discussions and debates re: the <insert air quote> right caster angle. 3-4 is what I went with but some members run and swear by 2 degrees. I'll leave that to you to weigh the pros and cons. Hope this helps.

Edit: Okay sorry. Reading comprehension is not the strongest today. So you are hitting the LCA? Suggestions @AccuTune Offroad - I am out of my depth here.

 

The stock sport wheels have a +30 offset. I would have to assume that since you lifted the truck with all of that good stuff you intend on putting different wheels/tires on it anyway. Moving to a wheel that has a more negative, even 0 offset should remedy this situation for you.

 

Keep in mind most aftermarket wheels are 17 x 9s. That 9 inch width needs to be accounted for when calculating offset compared to stock which, IIRC is 17 x 7.5 ( <- double check that though).

 

You're correct! The stock wheels are 17x7.5. Both the width and offset has to be considered when calculating backspacing

 

Ok, lets take a step back.

The issue arised after the thud?

It's possible the arm ecentric came loose.

Famously the fronts come loose on these trucks if not torqued right and will flatten the "ear". Check all four, front and back.

 

I run 16x8 zero offset 285/75, no problems. 2 inch bilstein 6112,'s up front, camburg uca's just for reference.

 

no. i heard a thudding noise while making a u turn. i went home and did a full lock turn and heard the thud so i put on break, crawled under and that's when is aw the tire hitting the LCA. the thud is caused by the tire hitting the LCA.

 

-12 or -18 offset? is there a negative effect on going with a larger negative offset other than the wheel sticking out?
i intended to put 275/70/15 falken wildpeaks. i was on the fence on getting an aftermarket wheels, now i have to as i have no option.

 

how do i know i got the right offset? is there a computation/calculator?

 

I've lifted dozens of Tacomas and never seen a tire hitting the LCA. Those alignment cams are adjusted outside of the normal range. Caster is very high at over 5 degrees.

I'd get the alignment done again. If that shop can't get it right, might have to pay another, more competent shop.

 

can you please explain this a little bit. what should my camster alignment be? thank you.

 

Just to give you somewhat of a refernece point, I recently put SCS Ray10 wheels with Falken Wildpeak 265/70-17 on mine. The Ray 10s are 8.5" wide and have a -10mm offset. I had rubbing issues in turns, but not going straight. I'm not wild about cutting, trimming etc so I put a 2" spacer lift on the front and that cleared up all of my issues except for the front air dam so I trimmed the corners off of that. Taking the offset more negative moves the wheel/tire further away from the suspension but puts it closer to inner fenders etc in turns.

I've been thinking about your situation and it does seem odd to me that you are contacting the LCA with the stock wheels/tires. The steering stops will usually control that. Do you recall if you noticed the problem before or after the alignment was done? If before, I'd go back and recheck the work you did with the lift/UCAs. If after, then it's the alignment

 

2 Or 2.5

 

Have the alignment shop put the caster at 3* and check it while on the rack. Also if you plan on changing tire and wheel size and offset you’ll have to do it all over again.

 

went back to the alignment shop, the front tire isnt rubbing on the LCA when the truck isnt moving, there's about 1-1.5 inch clearance between the tire and the LCA. They had me go to the back and had me check it and i stuck my hand and there's a clearance. however, when turning while on a slow move that's when the tire hits the LCA. We did it at their parking lot with the tech watching it. they said there's nothing they can do with it.

is there a way to solve this?
thank you for all your help guys. really appreciate it.

 

Make sure nothing is loose. If you have that much clearance lock to lock when still but it moves that much when driving something has to be loose imo.