Alignment

Hope this is the right place to post since there is a sticky in this section about how to do an alignment. Anyway about 3 weeks ago I replaced UCA/LCA bushings, Upper/Lower Ball joints and sway bar link ends/bushings. Also replaced the front springs with 2881 to level the truck. Back in February I replaced both inner/outer TRE's and put Bilstein 5100's on the truck. After doing the bushings/ball joints I got an alignment. I asked them to try and max out caster after reading a bunch of posts here. Below are my results. I also just put new wheels and tires(265/75r16 Nitto RG's, 10ply) on before the alignment.



Now my slight issue. I am at 32psi front and 30psi rear in the tires(still need to check with chalk test). When driving in a straight line it almost feels like the front tires are over inflated and I have to just slightly adjust with small changes in the road. The steering and front end feel tight as expected with everything being almost new. Truck handles great in turns. Just that small adjustment when going completely straight. Ill bump to the right just slightly and then have to bump back left with imperfections in the road. Could it be from the slight positive camber riding on the outside of tires a little? Any thoughts?

 

10ply tires on a Tacoma are not really your friends to begin with, very stiff and very heavy. A little more caster would not hurt and should help your problem some. I never run over 30 in front and 28 in rear when bed is empty although I am a Reg Cab also. Passenger side caster should be slightly higher than the drivers side also. The alignment recommendations are all small things in relation to what you have but its sometimes the little things that add up to being perfect

 

What did you mean by max out caster. Looking at that sheet they just put caster in spec. If you wanted it at a specific setting you should have told them what you wanted it set at.

 

slight steering correction when going straight with all the new components you installed I would say more caster would help. If you went with most any of the aftermarket UCAs getting at least 3 on drivers side and a fraction of a degree more than 3 on the passenger side would help. Passenger side should be a little higher than drivers side

 

I knew the spec for caster was 1.3-2.8 and I just asked him to put it at the max positive he could knowing they would stay in the band. The guy stopped where he did because it was starting to add more camber as well. I'm still on stock UCA's so I think thats about all the +caster I'm going to get.

 

Drive and enjoy the new tires. It will take a while to break in the tires and rotate them every 5000 miles. I run 36 in front and 34 rear with 10 ply Nitto Trail Grapplers. My truck is a little heavier than yours. You can run that at the PSI you have and it should be fine. Watch for outside edge wear on the front tires. You may need to adjust the PSI up a little in the front depending on wear. I ran mine a while on the lower PSI and prefer the slight difference in handling where its at now.