Alignment Specs (heeelp!)

Better highway driving , wondering. Besides moving wheel forward. IMO. If it drives and tracks good leave it alone I guess

 

Did a shop really let you leave with 3 degrees of toe? My goodness I bet you were leaving black streaks down the road. That wouldn't impact drivability, but it sure will destroy your tires.

As for rideability, caster, caster and more caster. However it could come at a cost. Caster helps the track. Think of it like a wheel barrow. You put more weight in the front and it is much easier to balance, but you are all over the place following every stick or bump. Now put that weight a little further back and it is much easier to control, but it comes at a cost of increasing the weight back. Now 2 or 3 degrees isn't a lot, but it will put more stress on your steering and suspension components. It will also increase the chance of rubbing if you are close now because your tires will swing further back in the wheel well. I would like to see around 4 degrees of caster if you have the adjustment. Those big 35s have a mind of their own on the highway.

 

Appreciate everyone's insight. I will get with the alignment shop and see about adding more caster. The other alignment (questionable) shop I wasn't allowed to watch, and when I asked for a print out of before and after their printer was not working (ya right) after driving it I could tell something wasn't right so I took it to another alignment shop and they let me be a apart of the whole process, and when they initially saw the numbers they were like WTF

 

I need to get my alignment done but I don't know anything about calculating which specs I need. I see a lot of recommendations for others but it all another language to me and I figure everyones setup is different, maybe someone can help me? Im constantly traveling so I cant really just go to the same shop - was thinking of doing the lifetime alignment at firestone. Right now im in San Diego county for a bit. Should I just bring it over and let them do it or bring them specs? Thanks, Blake.

I have a 2019 dcsb
285/75/16 BFG KM3 Tires
16" 2020 pro wheels
Icon Stage 3 with rear substitution (Icon 2.5” extended travel coilover, Icon 2.0 remote resi rear shocks, Icon Tubular Delta Joint uca’s, Deaver U402 Stage 3 Leaf Springs)

 

As far as toyota allowing a free alignment under their 2 year toyota care....it only good for the first 12 months or 10k miles, which ever comes first. After that its out of pocket. So anyone that has a new truck and doesn't drive it enough to see the tire wear within a year...their sol...even after a day. Its up to dealer after that whether they will do it at no charge or not.

 

Update- Dropped the truck off at the shop Monday morning and just picked it up Friday afternoon: Complete steering rack replacement w/ES poly bushing upgrade and new oem outer tie rod ends, new OEM LCA w/Whiteline poly bushings, Poly performance "Taco Tab" Cam replacement kit, with final/finetuned adjustments made with the ICON Billet UCA's.

Drives/handles like a new vehicle! Will drive for a week to allow the suspension to settle, then take it back and put it on the alignment rack to confirm all is good, and retorque all fasteners to confirm torque values are consistent.

Ordered two new 35x12.50 18 Mickey Thompson Baja Boss MT's to replace the two damaged from the other two alignment shops neglect.

will be pulling my FOX 2.5 CO and rear shocks and sending off to Accutune Off-road (AccuTune Off-Road | Drive Like a Pro (accutuneoffroad.com) for a complete rebuild and custom valving tune along with weight/accessory matched Eibach coils for a full custom suspension setup.

 

Gonna revive this real quick.. just got an alignment done at a local shop. Tech knows his stuff, has SPCs on his personal Toyota.
Camber and Toe turned out perfect, but caster numbers are maxed out on the cams without serious effect on the camber.
Setup:
6112s, 700 pound springs, 6th notch, spacers for tacoma lean.
Camburg UCAs.
Rear new packs and add a leaf, 1.5 inch block.
255/85/R17s. Sits something like 5 inches higher than stock.
The caster is L -0.2, R 0.3. It drives better than before the alignment, Rubbing it no issue, should I leave it alone or start looking for SPCs to adjust more caster in? Thanks a million for all the info in here, read just about all of it before I took it in. Was hoping to see like 3.5 degrees of caster.

 

Can you take a picture of the lca cams on both sides? Are you having any issues with it pulling right or wondering on the road? If not you may in the future If you ever decide to run a wider tire.

 

@modifiedtaco Here's driver then passenger. I'm working to understand how exactly these are adjusted, but I don't just yet. Looks like the cam should be facing towards the inside to push the LCA forward and produce more caster, which these aren't.
It tracks straight, and seems to be compensated for road crown with the caster split.
I'm going to drive my dads third gen when I get home, his caster is right at 3° so I want to see the stability difference and decide if there is need to keep fooling with this.
Thanks for the reply.

 

The lca's have two cams each. If I was aligning it I would start by maxing the passenger rearward cam for positive caster by turning it inward then seeing if using the passenger forward cam can bring camber pack up within specs. Lastly I would adjust the driver side camber to match while attempting to leave a caster split to help compensate for road crown. If the correct caster split is not achieved then I'd return to the passenger side to tweak it a bit to achieve the best alignment possible.

 

I'm going to question the techs knowledge. Either that or I am going to question his work ethic. As shown in your pics, he didn't bother to touch the adjusters. You got a toe set which you badly needed, but your caster is terrifying. What I find odd is that you claim to have Camburg UCAs, but your caster is still bad. The UCAs should have built in caster. That is the whole point of getting UCAs. Honestly not familiar with Camburg's product line, but seems odd that they would sell UCAs with stock geometry. Swapping to SPCs only gets you upper adjustability which if the Camburgs didn't get you caster, they won't make any difference.

@modifiedtaco gets it. The challenge you run into adjusting caster is that camber is going to change as well. I would worry less about camber being out than having close to zero caster. You need caster. At zero it won't track straight and you are constantly correcting. Dangerous situation unless you can somehow constantly focus on the road and never have to take a hand off the wheel. Change a radio station, look in your review mirror, grab a drink, sneeze, etc. Anything like that happens and you can be in the ditch before you know it.

You should be able to get close to a degree and a half with some adjustment. Keep in mind as modifiedtaco stated that when you adjust caster, you run the risk of rubbing because it changes the position of the tire in the wheel well as well as the sweep when turning. It is a delicate dance, but you are better off hacking some plastic and running zero caster.

 

Whatever came of this? Did you end up CMC?