Rear left wheel won’t align

We took our 2021 Tacoma (we are the sole owners) for its first alignment and the technician was concerned because the rear left wheel won’t budge from 0.34°. The right shows 0.01°. He is concerned because it’s a fixed rear axle and this issue should not exist. The truck has never been in an accident or hit anything. Why would this be? Could it have been wrong from the time of the vehicle was made? I am taking it to a Toyota dealership tomorrow but I really want to understand this. It is 23,000 miles on it.

 

Welcome to TacomaWorld

 

Welcome to TW!

 

First alignment? What does that mean lol. It's not a thing you should normally need to have done annually. Why are you taking it in to get aligned? Did you make any suspension changes or hit a excessive amount of curbs/potholes that upset the front alignment?

Solid axle w/ leaf packs does not have any adjustable parameters for aligning. The only way might be to loosen the axle from the u-bolts or the leaf packs from the truck and try to move it while on the rack but I doubt it would make much difference since it's kind of set in it's ways. This is pretty common on Tacoma's and seems like an acceptable amount of error per Toyota. That amount of toe difference should be able to be compensated for up front to get you a better thrust angle, the front is very adjustable.

 

It will never move. Don't worry about it so much, it's not a big deal.

 

You recall hitting a curb at some point, possibly bending the axle? Why is the tech concerned it will not budge, it should not be adjustable like IFS. He appears to know that as you also mentioned. He should be able to tell you the problem. A good alignment tech should be able to diagnose your problem.

Maybe find a new shop?

 

It's a solid axle. Toe on a particular tire does not matter and the technician should adjust the front to match the rear. What is total toe on the rear? As long as total toe is within spec you are good.

 

I have a 2017 and still rock the factory alignment.

 

Get your second opinion. It happened to me on a small bus that I sub-framed after it was in a bad accident. I knew everything was right on the money and the owner took it to a tire chain store for an alignment a year or so later, and they told him it was way out. He complained to me, which made me think the worst. When we re-checked it -- it was still right on the money. The shop admitted that they made a mistake setting it up on their rack. I was angry, but relieved cause I really felt the welds might have separated. Regards and welcome to a great forum !!!

 

Thrust alignment...
Take it somewhere that knows what they're doing.

 

Some alignment machines read wrong, sometimes they read right.

0.34 should be somewhat visible. That said, there's no real specification for the rear. It's just a tube with axles bolted to it.

Warranty is unlikely even if it reads the same on their machine. It's likely just a small deviation on the axle tube causing it.

Corollas are famous for this with their dead axles, none of them are straight, but being a dead axle, it doesn't really matter.

 

Well you have all made me feel better . I took it in because 1. I am likely out of touch and thought that vehicles need aligned on a regular basis like the old days 2. I saw it looked like wear on the outer edges of the tires and realized we had had the vehicle for over a year and not aligned it.

I’m taking it to the Toyota dealership tomorrow. Hopefully it don’t tell me something crazy like my axle is bent. I mean we have had no accidents so that would be kind of ridiculous but nothing surprises me anymore.
Thank you again! I am a huge Toyota fan ..
Have Owned Circle, Corolla‘s and a 2007 Sienna that I still have. I have always dreamed of a Tacoma and plan on keeping it for a good 20 years or more

 

I wouldn't expect the dealer to say much of anything seeing that it's still fairly new and under warranty.

My money is on a alignment rack sensor that wasn't properly hung. Try a different shop

 

On a stretch - your U-bolts could have been slightly loose causing the center bolt to shear - but that is something you would see and also, not a hard fix.

 

I had a center bolt shear on a 85 Toyota. It was very noticeable. It would also affect alignment on both rear wheels.

 

Is this alignment place you used a big box (Firestone/Goodyear etc) per chance?