Alignment Advice

Looking forward to your update.

 

Increasing the toe, from where yours was on the posted spec. sheet, should solve it. According to this link, on the last page, Fords seem to be a trick to align so your guy should easily get good results on the Tacoma.

http://www.spcalignment.com/PROD_DIR/SPCAlign_images/SPCFundamentals.pdf

 

Excellent, good info!

 

Ok, alignment appointment tomorrow morning at 9. The Ford service manager said he has a very experienced alignment tech and he should have no problem dialing it in to my custom specs, keeping my fingers crossed.

Didn't have any chalk at work today so I didn't get the chalk test done. I did change pressue again to 36/36, think it's a good compromise between decent ride quality and responsive handling. Might mess around with lowering the rear a little next, maybe reduce the understeering characteristics a bit.

 

Here's my update, I posted it in Joe B's thread as well....

Using seat of the pants as well as the chalk test, I determined that 36psi front and rear was the best setting for my 265/75R16 Bridgestone Dueler A/T Revo LT's. I took it to my Ford dealer this morning and requested that they try to set the Caster as close to the max allowed of 2.8* as possible, set the Camber at 0* and set the Toe to the max allowed of +.07*. The alignment tech was a cool guy, drove a lifted Ford himself and said he's worked on lots of lifted vehicles.

He called me back after working on it for over an hour and showed me the results. With the Camber set to 0*, the maximum Caster setting he could achieve was 1.6* per side. I asked him his advice, he said he would rather set the Camber up a few degrees which would give him some room to adjust the Caster. He also said he recommended setting the right side Caster a little higher than the left to compensate for road crown issues, if they were set exactly the same the truck would pull badly on any type of crowned surface.

So I left him alone and headed to the car auction, picked up a couple of Tauruses for my fleet and headed back over to check his progress. He was just finishing up after spending almost 3 hours messing with it and test driving and here's what he came up with...

Camber set to 0.4* on both sides.
Toe set to +.06* on both sides
Caster set to 1.9* on the left, 2.1* on the right.

He said that was as much Caster as he could dial in with the lifted shocks, it would need the modified UCA to achieve any higher setting. I thanked him, stuck a twenty in his pocket for his trouble, and headed out to the freeway. It tracked straight down the road, not affected by right lane crown, seemed more stable in a straight line than it had before. His final adjustment specs aren't significantly different than the previous settings from the Toyota dealer, in fact the Caster is a bit less, but everything is dialed in equally and the small amount of toe in seems to help. I'm also running slightly less tire pressure, had them pumped up to 40psi before. Haven't had a chance to put a lot of highway miles on it yet and it's not windy today so I can't say if the wind drift problem is improved or not, but all in all I think it drives at an acceptable level now.

Don't know how you guys that are setting the 5100's at 1.75 and 2.5" are getting your alignments anywhere close without new control arms, obviously the .85" setting makes a large difference in the adjustment range, the higher settings are only going to be worse. I'm sure each vehicle is slightly different and tires make a difference as well, but for anyone planning to lift it more than .85" I'd certainly recommend the modified UCA replacement.

Here's the new alignment spec sheet, as well as the previous Toyota alignment for comparison's sake...

 

Thanks sbeau1960,great write up and info.
It really seems like a lot of hassle for a .85" lift.I happen to like my soft stock ride and think I'll live with the TSB rake for now.
I don't want to fix what ain't broke and deal with the possible hassle.
I'm just going to go with the plus size 265/70-17 Michelin LTX AT2s.
Seems UCAs are very important and the way to go.
I'm probably going to sell the new 5100s still in the box from Downsouth along with the Toytec 1/4 Top Plate to even off the driver's side lean.
Thanks again,though.

 

You're welcome, glad to be a guinea pig. Like I said I'm sure everyone's truck is a bit different, but these are the results I've documented after much research and trial and error. I still think my extremely stiff LT Revos add to the problem and I may end up eventually swapping tires, but I'll live with it for awhile and see what I think after a couple thousand miles.

 

thats why its so important to get aftermarket ucas.imagine the guys running the 3"spacer lift with stock ucas.great wright up by the way.that is awsome.good job.

 

I'm painfully OCD and an ex-dealership Service Manager. Used to dealing with such problems and trying to make customers happy, always a bit different though when I'm on the other side of things trying to make myself happy!

 

I know about OCD.It's a bad disease.That's why I'm passing on the 5100s.

 

I've always said as far as mental illnesses go, I'm glad I got stuck with this one. Makes me very organized and I can attribute at least part of my success to being a perfectionist. I also never leave the door unlocked or forget where I left my keys.

 

Does anyone know the hassle-free way of evening out the taco rake? I was going to do the 5100s, but after reading all of this, I'm unsure if this is still the way to go. I was going to have my local 4wheelparts store do it with alignment, is that still a good way to go? I just want to eliminate the rake and I already got my rear suspension TSB done.

 

Ok, I've put a few miles on with the new alignment, here's some additional thoughts...

It tracks better in corners, holds a smooth line all the way through a curve without needing adjustment. Also can let go of the steering wheel on the freeway and it will drive straight. Still haven't experienced windy conditions and I expect it will still have issues with wind drift since it's a tall vehicle on big tires, hopefully it will be at least somewhat improved though. Drives great in the city, no nearly as darty and twitchy. I'm sure that's a result of the lower tire pressure as well as the revised alignment.

Would love to see what it feels like with different tires, hate to buy another $800 set and lose money on the new Revos though so I'll continue pondering that option.

 

Yeah but you do waste a lot of gas driving by the house the third time to make absolutely sure the garage door is down.

 

This is a great thread.

About OCD - it's not a disease - it's a skill. And don't let anyone tell you different!

 

4 yr. old thread. Can we get a new smiley to express the wholly chit I am feeling?

 

Haha. I'm researching TW for alignment info and this is one of the threads that came up.