doing an alignment on a MT...

OK, so the other day I was doing an alignment on a customers 2006 4runner with a MT and spidertrax. The truck was now wider than my alignment rack!
Anyhow, he wanted the wheels pulled forward cause it was hitting the fender. It was already maxed out. After moving both front and back on the right side I started on the leftside. Moved the rear first. Then went to the front. After I already started to loosen the bolt I noticed that the cam washer had moved up and over the tabs that hold them between the slots. By that time it was too late, the arm moved out and it was near impossible to put it back. I got it as close as I could and then tried to hammer the tab back but they wouldn't move. So I asked the head mechanic what to do and he told me to write down what happened and let it go. The guy had offroad the truck and this may have been the results? So, the owner get irate! Blames me for everything and then the boss takes over and gets in my face about it! WTF! i'm sick of customers blaming me for everything that is wrong with their car! The manager should have asked me what happen first before going off. I had no choice but to get back in his face to ensure my name was still good. I hope I never see another truck like that again! The shame of it all was that I was really excited to see his truck there. I loved the truck...owner on the hand......

 

If you cant do an alinement then don't. I get annoyed when i take my truck in and they cant complete the job. Was something broken or bent, if not then how would driving off road make it so it can't be alined.. Sounds like your head tech is lame, if it cant get alined something is wrong your a mechanic.... Right? If you work with pride you should have an easier time.. Don't get in an argument with a customer or even a co worker over anything.

Aloha,Alex

 

What would be wrong by saying we can't align the front.

 

^^^ If he said the tabs were mangled then that all would make sense.. Just cause it gets nocked out of alinment doesn't mean it can't be aligned.


If you all know how these trucks cant go offroad and be alinged then how do i beat the snot out of my truck even with LR UCA and not have this problem. I check my alinement about once a month and have never been unable to adjust it to whatever i want/need.


If he is saying he can't aline the front then he should be able to explain why, like jberry813 did that you might want to invest in gusseting up the cam bolt area. Which don't help aline it though so you still are not making any point of how or why it can't be aligned... Thanks for the kind pic. What were the #'s


P.S. Im just trying to show how to improve on your ability to explain your claims that it is imposable to align a MT 4runner . Otherwise i would take that as a sign that the shop is clueless..

 

If the alignment cams "pop" over the tabs then you wont be able to get them back into place without dissassembly. The weight of the truck will hold them pushed too far in or out (however they are stuck). So no for the simple cost of the alignment the tech would not be able to perform the alignment, you have to remove the weight off the arms, remove or totally loosen the cams, and then you can put them back into place

 

well, the sales tech sold him the alignment sometime in the past...so this was a warranty realignment. He didn't care what the numbers where he just wanted the wheels pushed as far forward as we could get it. So this was my first time doing this truck. come to find out the wheels are already as far forward as the cams would get them. Then I moved to the front cams. The right side was fine but the left was off. As soon as I loosened the bolt the arm moved. That's when I noticed the tab was bent flat and the cam washer was riding over it.
Didn't get into it with the customer. never talked to him. I let the sales team handle it cause that's policy. But that didn't keep the customer for going bat shit. Very easy to see how this happened as it's not the first vehicle I've seen this on. Happens to a lot of different cars as well.