Alignment, Caster, Clearance, and Driving Report with Light Racing UCAs

That's not making much sense to me. If you have a rear thrust angle like that you'd have to compensate with the fronts some how. Your front numbers are zero. That would mean the steering wheel would not be centered while driving straight ahead. Basically, your front wheels would also have to be / / to compensate for the rear.

What does this all mean? I don't trust your alignment numbers.

 

This thread will be very helpful!! I received my LR uca's in the mail and am waiting on my Icons to come in. I currently have 295 Grapplers with 5100's @1.75 and 4" Maxtracs. I have no clearance issues right now at all. I'm pretty much going to try and keep the same height as what i have now so hopefully it wont be too out of whack until i get it aligned. Was wondering if anyone here has Maxtracs with these and if that affected anything (different then normal UCA settings)?
Next Sat I will be installing all of it. I plan on setting it to the E setting and hopefully i will clear both front and back. I think I will take it to the 4wheel parts store for alignment since they should be familiar with lifted trucks with aftermarket parts. Thanks for all the info. Hopefully I wont be posting problems in a week.

 

Gonna look real good Rick! post up pics when you are all done.

 

...actually i think you did. Looks like your sig pic has some badassery going on in there

 

Haha thanks. I haven't put on the UCA or the icons yet. Should have them in a couple days. Can't wait!

 

So I had my new lift installed today. 2 inches all around. No new UCA(was told it was not needed by the installer). They took the truck to there alignment shop(different town from where I live) and the numbers are
Camber .2 .1
Caster 1.4 1.5
Toe 0 0

Steering feels a bit loose(need more caster?) Just wondering if I should tale it to my tire guy in town to see if they can do this without new UCA's?. Besides loose steering are there other issues that the low caster number will cause?

Thanks

 

Caster is pretty low. Won't harm tires, but it'll feel sloppy (especially at higher speeds). You could try another shop, but you might prepare to invest in UCAs.

 

Going to install my LR UCA's and icons tomorrow. Then have an appointment Friday at 4wheelparts store for alignment. For $150 for an alignment they better get me at 0,0,2.8

 

make sure you talk directly to the tech doing the alignment and tell him EXACTLY what you mentioned above^^^ I've had to walk out on a couple places because the tech wouldn't listen to what I wanted.

 

Got er done!! Haha. Took me like 5.5 hrs for both sides- Uca's and Icons. Now off to get alignment done. I used setting "E". So I should basically shoot for Toe=0, Camber=0, Caster=3.0 right? I see some people with lower caster and some with higher so just want to be sure. Thanks!

 

My truck with UCAs at "D" position. Camber adjustment on UCAs maxed to positive. Factory caster adjustment maxed for max tire clearance.
Camber .24 / .35
Caster 3.93 / 3.95
Toe .02 / .01

Girlfriends truck with UCAs set at "E" position. Camber adjustment on UCAs maxed to positive. Factory caster adjustment almost maxed for max tire clearance.
Camber .44 / .42
Caster 3.85 / 4.01
Toe .02 / .01

Both trucks drive straight down the road. No pulling either direction. The higher caster gives a nice ride too. Not twitchy or light. Doesn't wander or jerk one way or the other when hitting pot holes or other bumps. Very happy with the UCAs.

 

Ok well i was there for almost 2 hrs and the end result wasn't perfect but it rides perfectly imo. Caster wasn't actually too far of when i brought it in. Casters were 3.5 both sides. Toe was really off though -0.19 and -0.18
So end result is:
...............L Front........R Front
Camber......0.6.............0.6
Caster.......3.2.............2.8
Toe..........0.08...........0.08

Drives great on freeway, not twitchy over bumps or wandering or anything. Tracks real good. My UCA's are in the "E" position and I'm running 33's with no rubbing. Well, i haven't stuffed them yet.

 

Subd

 

installed my light racing UCA's with 285's on a 3"

Used the D setting, full outwards on top camber adjustment, then went about 80% towards max caster on the lowers to pull the wheel forward away from the body mount. I have no rubbing after removing the front/rear mud flaps. No other trimming needed. The key is centering the wheel in the well with the caster adjustments. Im running 3.4 caster appx and it drives great.

 

How is the Caster specified range that different from my Alignment specs today...?





Toe was waaaay off, and the Tech said he couldnt get any more Caster out of it.....Had no clue what a LR UCA was even after I told him how they work to add Caster......and he said the "Factory Caster setting is 1.67*....then I asked him why the Specified Range was so different.....got no answer...

 

Had to go up one setting to "E" on the UCA to get to 3*caster. One lower control arm cam was already seized after only 4500 miles on the truck. Toyota won't fix the cams now because of the lift. I'm surprised it seized so soon, but the alignment tech showed me how tight they were while he was working.
Any ideas? And how bad will this affect me putting on bigger tires down the road?
Should I think about doing something to the LCA cam bolts now rather than later?

 

Yeah most dont know anything about them. My toe was waaaay off too when i brought it in. I set mine UCA's up at home setting E (turned out to be both 3.5) and told them not to mess with the UCA and to get it all from below if they needed it. They didnt touch it and I ended up with 3.2, 2.8. No complaints on the handling/driving.

 

What did you set the uppers at when you installed them? You must be in the E or F setting on the upper if 2* is all you can get with the lowers maxed out. Your specified range is incorrect. Factory specs are not that high. Not sure whats going on there. Maybe he entered the wrong model or something..

I started with mine in the D setting and about midway caster setting on the lowers, this gave me around 3* caster, I then rolled the lowers towards max caster, about 80% of the way or so pullIng the front wheel forward more for clearance and about 3.4 caster.. my upper camber adjustment is full outwards toward the wheel. I have it like this in the full out position so I can easily reset it myself if it gets knocked loose for whatever reason..and it made my clearance good all around.

Steering is slightly heavier for turning with this much caster but it tracks real good for straight line stability and likes to center up straight real easy now. I doubt anyone would even notice, I just notice because I pay close attention to it when adjusting it. I could back off caster a bit but then I'd lose wheel well clearance. I'm happy with it. Drives 98% as good as stock with a lift and mud tires.. Can't expect much more than that.

 

Just got my truck back from Firestone and wanted to run it by you guys with the results.
2012 Prerunner on 5100's/stock coils set at 2.5 and stock UCA's. and 285/75/16's
I tried to tell the service lady to set it close to
0
2.5
0
but she insisted that they just only do to "stock"
If the steering wheel is centered and i let it go it always wanders to the right.

 

If it wanders to right then take it back and tell them. Those numbers--Damn! Might be hard to get totally in range with stock UCA and set @ 2.5. Sucks they wouldn't at least try to get it close to what you said. Usually if you want it to certain specs they just inform you that its out of stock ranges and maybe make you initial something. I would take it back, especially if it wanders.