Adjusting Camber at home

I have been fighting my steering wheel for some time now. My truck pulls to the right and its very annoying. My old tires wore out prematurely. The inside edge of the right front tire was worn flat and the outside edge of that tire had good tread left.

I after getting new tires I had Sears align it. They gave me a print out and told me they adjusted the toe (adjusted tie rod ends).
Driving away I notice that the truck still pulls to the right. Same as before! Sears employees keep telling me that they cannot make any more adjustments because all of the numbers are within specs. If they adjusted camber or toe it would be out of alignment.

After reading this article I have determined the problem to be the negative camber. The picture of the "Camber wear Pattern" looks exactly like my old right front tire. Maybe on a lift at a shop I don't have neg. camber but on the road at highway speed, I think I do.

Is there any way to correct my negative camber at home?

Here is a copy of the printout they gave me at Sears.

 

If an allignment shop can't adjust it, ....you're not gonna be able to do it at home.

I would start looking for some mechanical issues - worn parts, etc.

What kind of tires are you running? How many miles do you have on them?

If it pulls to the right, I'd start looking at the right side suspension & steering components. Jack the truck up and do some investigating.

 

Your tires wearing could also be due to a toe issue. Pulling usually persists with the caster. The best thing to do would be to take it to a different alignment shop. Stay away from the big places like sears. Find you an older shop that the guys have been doing it for a while.

 

i agree, find a small shop...if you can find someone with a pit that does big rigs, those places are usually very knowledgable...being slammed so much I have to use a shop that actually knows more about alignments then their computer and lasers can tell them at the chain places

 

Your truck was never wrecked right? Or you never smacked anything hard with the right front? You say you have been fighting the wheel "for some time now"...when did it start specifcally? Are you the sole driver of that truck?
Also, walk to the rear of the truck (on level ground) back off about 5' then walk from side to side and eyeball those front tires, how is one positioned within the wheelwell as opposed to the other?
I will tell you this-one time when Rosie took her Celica into a TOYOTA dealer-they had possesion of it for an awfully long time...we found out that they DAMAGED it in an accident, did not tell us, and got it repaired behind our backs. That person responsible for the coverup was fired. THIS WAS A TOYOTA DEALER!! I hope something along these lines didn't happen to you too- but I put it out there for you.

 

So you do have new front tires just to be clear correct? A slightly warn tire that is unevenly warn can cause these issues even when the alignment is dead nuts. I recently did 5100's on my truck to lift the front and level it. The camber was off and when I took it to be aligned the guy said afterword he had to take it off the rack three times to drive the truck and let the suspension settle. Perhaps they didn't drive it and then re-check. Take it somewhere else and hopefully you'll have better luck. Cheers

 

sears is definitely hit or miss, 90% of the time being a complete FAIL.

 

The truck was never in an accident. I am the only owner. Somewhere around 30k miles with the stock Rugged Trails I started to notice the pulling. At 40k miles the inside edges were worn bald. This is when I bought these new tires. The new tires still pull just like the old ones and I don't want them to get worn out...

 

OK well do the eyeball thing-if you can see that problem tire tucks differently into the fenderwell than the other-then you have something that will illustrate it to the shop. I am speaking directly from experience here-I feel as though something got bent. Or even shoved back. If you still had the original tires on the truck, I would suspect what is called "radial roll" which is the belts in the tire slipping to one side. You changed out those tires, which points me to something else.

 

A good alignment tech should know what a correct alignment needs to be with out a computer telling it certain specs. Sounds like you have negative Camber on that tire. The vehicle will pull in the direction of more positive camber. Since only one tire is having wear problems then it is a camber issue and not a Toe issue, Toe will wear both tires equally. Go to a better Alignment shop. Toyotas are a piece of cake to align.

 

Ok I just went over your print out again. Your Alignment looks great. Your truck should be driving straight down the road with no tire wear issues. Considering that. I think you have another issue. Possibly a bad ball-joint or a Sticking caliper. Something that would cause it to pull to the right and make you counter it with steering to the left. Which will cause tire wear. Shake down the front end for play in the ball joints or bushings, and make sure you dont have a caliper that is dragging.

 

Thanks for the advice. I checked the front brakes, both sides have the same amount of pad left. After 10k miles of dragging I think I would see a difference if this was the problem. Ball-joints and bushing have no "visible" problems. But just looking at it doesn't mean much...

I guess I just have to find a mechanic I trust. I have never taken my truck to a mechanic or the dealer (other than the Sears alignment and tire install). I have always done everything myself.

 

Thats Good. Doing the work yourself is usually the best way anyhow. If you get a chance just jack that side of the vehicle up (be sure to put a jack stand under there). Grab the tire by the top and bottom and push and pull back and forth to see if there is any play. There should not be any.

 

My truck is doing the same thing but mine is a toe issue. I did not have any problems with it until I had the TSB done now (@ 31k miles on my 08) both my front tires on the inside are worn down. I can see all of Abe's head jk, So I am taking it back to Toyota, if they do not do it for free I am going to a mom and pop shop.

Does anyone know if a life time alignment will still be honored if I put a lift on my truck? Just curious.

 

Oh also I know that GM designs their vehicles to pull slightly to the right, in the case you fall asleep at the wheel you avoid a head on collision.