Alignment problems after installing Dirt King UCA's

Hello all!

I'm having alignment issues and I'm stumped on what I can do to fix it.

I had my truck aligned with my last set of tires a couple years ago at a local tire shop and ended up with negative camber which messed up my tire wear and tread life pretty badly.

So once I had new tires thrown on this past month, I went to a recommended "off-road" shop who supposedly knows what they're doing with lifted trucks. But after paying the most I ever have for an alignment, unfortunately the results are the exact same, and the tech said he can't make my camber any better than it is.

Suspension:
Dirt King Uniball UCA's
Maxtrac 4" Spindles
Bilstein 5100's set at 0" of lift

Im starting to think it's my UCA's that are causing my alignment issue, as it was able to align in spec before I installed them, but it doesn't make sense to me how upgrading control arms wouldn't be beneficial to getting better alignment numbers.

I haven't read of any guys having worse alignment numbers after upgrading UCA's, so any guesses to my problem are appreciated!

 

Looking at that alignment. Looks like they adjusted toe and sent it. Why so much caster? With the Maxtrac spindles you don’t need ucas. So do the ucas have built in caster and if so how much?

 

Also that before reading of the caster in green should not be, 5* caster is out spec.

 

If that's true, and they just gave me a toe job, then I'm 0 for 2 on alignment shops. You'd think for $175 they wouldn't screw me over like that.

And I looked all over and can't find the caster number from @Dirt King Fab , but a comment in an older thread mentions they may have +2.1 caster built in.

 

I believe DK uppers have an additional degree of caster. You may want to email them to confirm. The additional caster is not so much that you cannot reach factory specs using the stock LCA alignment cams, and 4.0 (slightly above stock) caster is easily achievable if you want them there to clear the wheel or for handling characteristics.

Looks like they just did a really shit job.

 

It seems high for just UCAs, but I have never been able to run a caster with less than 2 degrees on any setup once I added after-market UCA and larger tires. With smaller 285's I was running almost 3 degrees and now its closer to 5/6 degrees. That definitely seems off, but I expect you will have a higher caster setting than the stock.

did you take it to a shop that specializes in offroad parts? When I used to take my shop to a regular big box place there were only 1 or 2 guys that could align my truck. Anyone else would just mess it up and I would have to bring it back and ask for the right person. No longer have that option and need to take it to an offroad shop to get my alignments.

 

It looks like they did a toe adjustment and sent you on your way. We set our Tacoma arms with an additional 2 degrees of castor built into them, this is to compensate for the castor that is lost when lifting your truck via a adjustable damper. Since you have a truck that is lifted with a spindle and a strut set at 0 lift, your castor numbers will be about 2 degree higher than a stock truck. Regardless this should still be able to be aligned without an issues. I see your in Orange County, I would call Willys Automotive, they are great with the Toyota platform and specialty alignments

17532 Metzler Ln Unit C
Huntington Beach, CA 92647
(714) 842-3161

 

I work in Louisville, KY. I took my truck to have it aligned at an 'off road' shop a couple of years ago. I'm fairly confident they simply adjusted the toe, but everything was in spec.
The last time I had it done, I went to Senn's Collision Repair, on Cane Run in L'ville. I don't remember his last name but Mike is their alignment tech/specialist and he looked at my tires (which were wearing unusually fast on the outside tread), and adjusted everything, not just the toe in. The dude knows his stuff. My truck handles great and my tires are finally wearing well.
For anyone in the southern Indiana/Louisville, KY area, I would highly recommend them. (If Mike is still there).

 

Yes sir, OC House of Suspension was where I took it for alignment, which came recommended from a friend and the tire shop who installed my tires aswell. I was referred to them because they "specialized" with Oversized tires.

 

Yeah, everything I know about my suspension setup and how it shouldnt affect alignment led me to be so mind blown when two shops failed on the alignment.

But thank you for the recommendation on the shop! I'll give those guys a call.

 

Ahh well that’s a bummer hopefully the ship suggested helps

 

Make sure your LCA cam bolts are unstuck before you bring it in for alignment

 

Definitely recommend Willys in HB as well. They had no problem adjusting my spindle lift first try. I’ll be there next week to see how they deal with KPoffroad’s octagon cam tabs