2" Lift & Alignment Question

Ok so I have an interesting issue. It's bugging my OCD badly

Installed 5100s all the way around.
Fronts were assembled by Wheeler's with their 2" lift spring, new top hats and all that.
Rear has Icon Progressive AAL - professionally installed.
Installed the OME Carrier Bearing Drop Kit (just for peace of mind).

The issue is that the truck has been aligned twice now and the steering wheel will still sits approx. 5 degrees left while tracking straight. I measured the lift and it seems like I have a bit of "Taco lean" so I ordered a 1/4" spacer from Wheeler's hoping that will fix the issue.

Has anyone else had similar issue? Did the spacer install help? Does the alignment shop just suck?

 

Diff drop spacers are pretty much obsolete, they don't benefit anything and they allow less fluid to the pinion, we don't install them anymore since 2016.

It's the alignment shop, can you show the specs? I've aligned hundreds and hundreds of lifted Tacomas and Tundras and the only time I can't get a steering straight is seized components.

 

Truck is 2WD so no diff drop and I have the alignment sheet in the truck at home I should've snapped a picture of it.

I guess what I'm getting at is could the difference in ride height cause it to "lean" to one side and make the wheel "drift" left?

I'm coming from the Subaru world and have had my car 4 corner balanced so I'm kinda spoiled and could let that thing track straight down the street forever lol.

 

I think your alignment shop just sucks. I had a similar journey until I found a shop that knew what they were doing. My problem was the rear axle was not square to the leaves, so the thrust angle was off. They fixed that up and the truck drives perfect now. Most shops don’t touch the rear axle is it has no easy way to adjust.

You need to find a shop that isn’t just trying to get you back out the door after lightening your wallet.

 

Is it possible your roads are heavily crowned? I know some alignment shops take that factor into consideration.

 

I thought about that too. I got under the truck and measured the axle from a couple spots to frame locations to see if it was square. Looks pretty good but maybe just a bit off? How did they adjust your axle back to square? Just loosen U bolts and bump it back one way or the other?

 

I live in SoCal so no road here is perfectly straight or even but I've heard of shops doing something like that.

 

How your tires? new? worn, cupped, etc?

 

Truck only has 13k and tires only prob 10k on them. Lift has only been on a month. I haven't noticed any wear issues.

I suspect that the axle is off on one side and causing truck to crab or dog tracking whatever it's called.

 

I have the same "issue" steering wheel is always cranked one way while going straight on majority of roads. I chalked it up to our streets here in LA only because it tracks straight with the wheel straight on some streets and in my parking garage where it's more of a flat surface.

I think when I did the lift and got bigger tires it just became more pronounced. My alignment read-out doesn't show anything is out of wack.

 

Sorry read the carrier as a diff drop.

Ride height can be random and the truck should still track straight.

I would want to see the sheet. It's possible they suck. It's possible it's tires. I always try to rotate tires side to side in scenarios like this.

 

The tech at the counter suggest cross rotating tires if it still persists. I'll try to post up the sheet tonight when I get home.

 

Did you try any different fixes or just kinda learned to live with it as is?

 

Just learned to live with it. The truck drives smooth and and my alignment #'s are spot on so I don't want to mess with it. I just convinced myself it's the roads and the lift just made the issue more pronounced because I know it did the same thing when I was stock as well with just 2k miles but not as bad.

 

I hate to be that guy and say this. But I am old and gray haired. I am also very OCD about my alignment. I have learned my lessons about alignments after doing many, many lifts on Toyotas. I am at 14 and counting.

Take it to the dealer. They generally don't charge any more than the other shops. And they don't give me any grief about lifting a Tacoma, FJ Cruiser or my 4Runners. And a 2 inch lift should be easy for them to make the alignment numbers look perfect.

I have tried Firestone, Big O, NTB and everyone of them disappointed me. Some made the alignment worse than when i first came in. And some damaged parts that were not broken when they started.

 

I was thinking about this too cause I have my 15k service coming soon. My local dealership is cool too so I know they'd do right by me. One of the guys builds trophy trucks lol

 

Yes. That’s what they do.

 

The frustrating part of using a national shop first is then having to go to the dealer is that you paid twice for the alignment. On my last trip to the national shop, the Tech gives me the all green print-out. And I drive the truck and it obviously is not right. I go back and I have the Tech drive it again. He agrees it is not right but says he does not know what is wrong, it is all green. I drive directly to Toyota. And their before and after print-outs tells a different story. The dealer made it right and I took the receipts and print-outs back to the manager of the national shop. We had a very factual discussion and I got a full refund.

 

To be fair they aligned the front correctly the first time after I installed everything besides the AAL. After the AAL was installed I noticed the steering wheel issue and had them look again and they didn't obviously find a good solution.

I'll take it to dealer and explain whats up they should be able to sort it and yeah I'll have to pay a second time but it beats buying another set of tires lol. They can adjust the rear for me and get it all back to square while I go look at the TRD Pro in the showroom and laugh at the price.

 

Just a word of caution: I could not get my truck properly aligned at the dealer. They were the ones unwilling to take it to the level it needed. It wasn’t until I went to a specific alignment and frame shop (not a tire shop) that I found success and happiness. It was also a lot less expensive than dealing with my Toyota dealer.