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How to do an Alignment at Home

Discussion in 'Suspension' started by jberry813, Dec 7, 2012.

Page 13 of 20
  1. Sep 18, 2017 at 9:29 AM
    #241
    LTDSC

    #241
    LTDSC 32oz of fun

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    i can only get 2.85 out of mine.
     
    LTDSC, Sep 18, 2017
    #241
  2. Sep 18, 2017 at 9:30 AM
    #242
    Neodous

    #242
    Neodous Well-Known Member

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    Why would you want more tho?
     
    Neodous, Sep 18, 2017
    #242
  3. Sep 18, 2017 at 9:35 AM
    #243
    LTDSC

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    LTDSC 32oz of fun

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    more is always better with Caster. Helps higher speed steering feel and stability. Max that motha' out.
     
    LTDSC, Sep 18, 2017
    #243
  4. Sep 18, 2017 at 9:44 AM
    #244
    Neodous

    #244
    Neodous Well-Known Member

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    Will caster wear out a tire faster?
     
    Neodous, Sep 18, 2017
    #244
  5. Sep 18, 2017 at 9:46 AM
    #245
    Unchained 5150

    #245
    Unchained 5150 Rick

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    Nope Caster is the moving of the wheel more forward. I currently have 3.7 Caster with my JBA's
     
    Unchained 5150, Sep 18, 2017
    #245
    LTDSC likes this.
  6. Sep 18, 2017 at 9:55 AM
    #246
    jberry813

    #246
    jberry813 [OP] Professional Fluffer Moderator

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    ...too much shit to list.
    Positive caster helps the steering return to center faster and track straighter, but requires more effort with turn initiation. Aftermarket UCAs actually locate the upper ball joint/uniball farther back towards the cab which would give you even more caster. The thing about positive caster is that it does not directly affect tire wear, but indirectly it does. The more you have, the more the tire rolls over when turning. In a turn, your camber will increase (positive) and this wear the outsides of the tires. This is exacerbated with "aggressive" driving.

    Moral of the story...if you drive like an asshole or live in the twisties, yes increased caster will have a negative affect on tire wear. This is why I run slightly negative camber too. Helps balance out the wear.
     
    jberry813, Sep 18, 2017
    #246
    mcharfauros, Pportera, DavidM310 and 2 others like this.
  7. Sep 18, 2017 at 10:25 AM
    #247
    Neodous

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    Neodous Well-Known Member

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    Any idea on how much caster I can remove with stock adjustment?
     
    Neodous, Sep 18, 2017
    #247
  8. Sep 19, 2017 at 8:40 AM
    #248
    LTDSC

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    LTDSC 32oz of fun

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    just purchased some toe plates. That was the only thing i couldnt really get exact on my at home alignments. Thankfully being in flooring industry i have plenty of VCT tiles to make my 20* angle finger for caster.
     
    LTDSC, Sep 19, 2017
    #248
  9. Nov 4, 2017 at 6:15 PM
    #249
    zach101

    #249
    zach101 Mr.Ph1lip

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    Thank you for this awesome thread. Great info.
     
    zach101, Nov 4, 2017
    #249
  10. Nov 8, 2017 at 4:41 PM
    #250
    Fire252fighter

    #250
    Fire252fighter The guy that comments every now and then

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    Been working on the truck for a few days now. Started as a swap of struts and springs and install.(I have a spacer lift cuz I’m broke at the moment please spare me the spacers suck talk)
    This turned into seized cams/broken cams.
    Currently replaced lcas and all cams.

    My alignment question is does anyone have pictures of cam tabs after doing a 3” lift on a second gen.
    Just trying to get it closer than mimicking the old positions. (Beat struts and sagging springs to newer springs and struts + spacer lift)
    I went from base Tacoma struts and springs to Toyota bilsteins and springs off a newer thing 14 off road.

    Or after all this typing should I just put it to wear it was and drive it to the shop?
    Great write up and one day would love to try this myself but I just need to get this back on the road for work
     
    Fire252fighter, Nov 8, 2017
    #250
  11. Dec 6, 2017 at 7:28 PM
    #251
    jwiereng

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    jwiereng Member

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    I have heard that if you measure the camber change from 30 degrees turned in and 30 degrees turned out you don't need to multiply by 1.5.

    Can someone confirm? If correct, it would be easy to zero the digital angle finder when at 30 degrees out, then steer over to 30 degrees in.
     
    jwiereng, Dec 6, 2017
    #251
  12. Dec 6, 2017 at 8:07 PM
    #252
    jwiereng

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    jwiereng Member

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    Last edited: Dec 7, 2017
    jwiereng, Dec 6, 2017
    #252
  13. Dec 12, 2017 at 7:15 PM
    #253
    jwiereng

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    jwiereng Member

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    Bump?
     
    jwiereng, Dec 12, 2017
    #253
  14. Dec 12, 2017 at 7:37 PM
    #254
    jberry813

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    jberry813 [OP] Professional Fluffer Moderator

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    ...too much shit to list.
    Ok. You linked an article written by someone who has a bachelors of art who doesn't take into account Ackerman geometry in their article.
     
    jberry813, Dec 12, 2017
    #254
  15. Dec 13, 2017 at 2:37 AM
    #255
    jwiereng

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    jwiereng Member

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    This guy says that the steer angle is not critical when measuring the caster.

    http://www.hotrod.com/articles/ccrp-0910-diy-alignment-guide/


    “An interesting point is that the 20-degree turn-in and turn-out figure is not critical. The 20-degree figure is popular because the more degrees the wheel moves, the more accurate the measurement. What is important is moving the tire the same
    number of degrees in and out.”

    Makes sense to me, but I think that the multiplication factor (1.5) does depend on the steer angle used while measuring.
     
    Last edited: Dec 13, 2017
    jwiereng, Dec 13, 2017
    #255
  16. Dec 18, 2017 at 11:17 PM
    #256
    Clay7160

    #256
    Clay7160 Well-Known Member

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    @jberry813 I am planning on going with 2.5" lift on 18 tacoma, should it leave the factory alignment cams in the middle front and back and use the spc upper control arms to adjust caster and camber ?
     
    Clay7160, Dec 18, 2017
    #256
  17. Jan 6, 2018 at 8:10 PM
    #257
    Jon64l

    #257
    Jon64l Well-Known Member

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    Just did this, works great! Just takes alot of time.
     
    Jon64l, Jan 6, 2018
    #257
    jberry813[OP] likes this.
  18. Jan 9, 2018 at 1:06 PM
    #258
    nd4spdbh

    #258
    nd4spdbh Well-Known Member

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    Im also curious as to the 1.5 multiplication factor I simply started doing 20* Out, zero angle finder, then 20* in and look at what the angle finder told me, and compared to the other side. I just did an alignment at home and i am just about spot on to what i want (just need a smidge more caster on the passenger side to help get rid of a slight pull to the right).

    I actually might get things set exactly how they feel good, do a reading of all my measurements and take the truck in for a free alignment check to see what an actual computer tells me.
     
    nd4spdbh, Jan 9, 2018
    #258
  19. Jan 9, 2018 at 1:45 PM
    #259
    Clay7160

    #259
    Clay7160 Well-Known Member

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    I’m going to shoot for 0 toe , -.5 Camber and 3.5 castor. If I have to choose driver or passenger side, which one should have more castor
     
    Last edited: Jan 9, 2018
    Clay7160, Jan 9, 2018
    #259
  20. Jan 15, 2018 at 8:30 AM
    #260
    snowsk8air2

    #260
    snowsk8air2 how hard can it be?

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    Love my free alignments. Replaced steering rack and adjusted ucas while shit was apart and took it in today for the alignment. Told the shop to call me because I wanted to get about 4-4.5* castor or max it out as close to that, and last time they maxed it out at 3.5. They heard max it so I'll be running about 5.5* for a week or two lol. Probably too much, but they don't have time to redo it today so we'll see how she handles and go from there

    Edit: Woohoo they had time to get it back on the lift before I picked it up. Castor at 4.2 and 4.5 should be perfect
     
    Last edited: Jan 15, 2018
    snowsk8air2, Jan 15, 2018
    #260
Page 13 of 20

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