alignment tech/ help thread

Yup, which is probably part of he reason mine is so jacked up. At the shop right now, actually.

 

Installed 5100s, eibachs and set at 0.85, also installed a new bushing on the passenger side.

I just got my aligned yesterday, the dealer said they couldnt get caster better than this, said it was maxed out. They also said that caster was not a tire wear issue, and the other numbers are in spec.


Eccentrics

Front Passenger (This is the bushing that seized on me, had to replace it, what a pain)


Rear Passenger (This one is maxed out)



Front Driver


Rear Driver




Tire marks from the bad alignment, I was running on the edge of the tire...

 

Caster is not related to wear, no. However, say goodbye to your tires at the current camber settings.

 

is his camber even bad? mine is -1.8 and my tires have no wierd wear

 

What is wrong with the Camber?

 

At +.7, I got beveled outside edges. His are showing +1.1/+.9.

 

I had somewhere around .7 with m/ts. Kept em rotated, they wore even until I replaced em.

 

You most probably bent your lower control arm. As I have done twice now. it screws with your alignment really bad. Stock arms suck, so get some boxed in arms made for your truck

 

heres my -.6 side....other side is -1.8

 

Mine are at +.5 both sides now. Hopefully I'm good to go for awhile until I do UCA's.

The bent LCA idea has me wondering now...

 

my pasenger side is bent too.....it sucks

 

Should be able to tell from uhh KPI err SAI and Included angle?

 

Off roading beats those lower control arms to snitz... Look around the rivets on the LCA's and you should be able to see a deformation. On my last break before having custom boxed lower control arms fabbed I cracked the front side of the arm in 2 places, right infront of the rives where the sheet metal is bent with a press. And this arm was less than 1 month old. Alignment shops don't normally look for this. I have done my research and wasted my money on stock. People say companies use the thickest metal for their 4x4 vehicles, but they never thought you would acctually use it. If you bent it really bad, Your tires will wear really fast (with in a week) and your front bushings will disapear creating a major hazard!

Once this happens, your tire will start to toe in and out very quickly when you put pressure on the front of the truck(ie braking) and you will loose steering control. Think about holding a steering wheel straight and then when you brake holding the wheel in the same position the truck will dart into the other lane. SCARY!

Get rid of stock if you wanna off road with your tacoma. And don't wast money on OEM parts for suspension. It doesn't work we'll.

 

Also I am curious but I always have bent my passenger side. Has anyone bent driver?

 

I've not heard of many 2nd gens bending their LCAs. Mostly spindles/knuckles. That's why you have SAI and Included Angle though. IIRC both are fixed ranges and if they're way out you can tell you have a bent part. I can't remember for sure though, I know KPI is fixed, I'd assume SAI as well. I might be wrong about included angle. At any rate you can look it all up.

 

Not what I wanted to read on here this morning. I am going to look at them when I get home, and take some pictures. I was prepared for new UCAs, because I would like to get Caster under control, and I am assuming that Camber will get better with new UCAs too? Correct?

Camber is in-spec, I know that caster is ideally ~2.5, what is ideal for camber? 0?

I dont wheel mine hard, I have only really taken it out once, mostly on sand, but the previous owner could have done something, but considering it was nearly spotless underneath, and it was 100% stock when I got it, I figured it hadn’t been off-roaded hard. Not that it couldn’t have just been cleaned well, but it really didn’t show a single sign of being off-roaded.


Has anyone with a 2nd Gen bent a LCA?

Also, I do not have $1.5k+ to buy new LCA, so I am really hoping that is not the issue.

Also KPI and SAI?

 

I have a 1st gen and a 2nd gen. The 1st gen is the one I have bent the LCA's on. The 2nd Gen i have bent the shock tower causing the UCA bolt line to be off creating weird and different camber. UCA's are actually not as big or a deal interms of strength compared to LCA's. Get on some boxed arms and save your worrying.

 

Total Chaos makes a good stock replacement kit. I would put your pennies together and put it towards something that doesn't bent. And the longer you off road on stock suspension, the more your 2nd gen will fall apart. The front end on mine has hair line cracks on all support members and even the hood latch cracked free from the catch and flew up into the windshield at 65mph. This is after we reinforced it and welded it multiple times.

 

And for caster control you must be adding an adjustable UCA because most UCAs are not adjustable and are stock replacement. All your Camber and Caster are adjusted with your LCAs

 

And camber would be around 1.8 for 2nd gen.