Taco Tabs Front Alignment Kit

110

 

Thanks. I ended up doing 110 rear 150 front and I think it's plenty.

 

Thats what I torqued to as well. Nothing has budged in 250 miles

 

I may be over thinking it, but I think it even bent one of the frame tabs where the bolt goes through. Not enough to do anything about it, but I think it looks different than the other side.

 

Take 20 minutes and disassemble it to check your inside washer

 

Hey all! I'm Andy, the General Manager at Poly... thought I'd check in here and first off thank all the customers who've bought into this idea! Never thought we'd sell as many kits as we have so far. We developed this on my GX470 first. To be honest, aside from this thread, you'd be surprised how little feedback we actually get given the number of units in circulation, so I welcome the questions, critiques etc.

I'll try to answer some of the questions I see posted:
1) Torque specs: these are based off recommended torque values for the replacement bolts we used and spec'd for this kit. Lower should be fine as long as it exceeds the factory spec for the bolts, as many have pointed out. I'll get the instructions amended to a more reasonable torque value for future kits, as the 250ft/lbs number is a bit high. I've not had any issues with my personal setup, nor our shop truck (06 Tacoma), however both trucks do have the Total Chaos cam tab gussets and Whiteline bushings installed. I suspect that is helping hold a higher torque value without deformation, there's a LOT of extra material there when these mods are combined. Also, I weld on the cam tab gussets OVER the existing factory cam tabs (I just grind off the up-turned ends) so that there is as much material there as possible.

2) RE: 3rd Gen Tacoma: to my knowledge, these are the same lower setup as the 5th Gen 4Runner. Different sized cams are used on the 150-series platforms; the front is a size that doesn't exist in a standard bolt. We have a solution in the works, but between COVID shutdowns and the demand surge the whole industry is seeing right now, it's been hard to get this one completed and over the goal line, we're busy enough just trying to keep the usual stuff in stock and shipping.

3) Alignment settings: I've seen this talked about a lot and I hope people don't over think it...Since the factory cams are infinitely adjustable within their range and our kit is a 'Pick 1 of 3 settings' you're either going to have to pick a happy medium or do what many people do and run the rear cams fully out board (max caster setting, max forward on wheel position for body mount clearance), and then fine tune the rest with the front cam. Of course, the easiest thing to do is match your existing cam settings to a tab configuration as closely as possible. Most of the vehicles we get in for leveling systems seem to arrive in more or less neutral settings from stock. Sounds like at least a few of you are comfortable doing driveway alignments, which is good! The concept shouldn't be unfamiliar to most experience alignment techs, as many vehicles use similar solutions depending on their design (my 02 E-Class Mercedes for instance, has a 'standard bolt' and then a '+/- bolt' with a flat machined into it available to properly fine tune an otherwise non adjustable lower control arm).

4) Uppers: ANY upper arm works, treat these no different than a factory cam because we operate within the same range (the factory slot size). If you're running an adjustable upper, great! I'd probably run the front cam in the neutral position and the rear cam in the 'Max' position; you will still align per the upper arm manufacturer's instructions.

There is some bit of deflection that occurs with the factory mounting tabs when clamping down, the vehicles I've worked on are all spaced a little wider than the bushing itself, presumably to make installation of LCA's easier. At some point, we all have to be real with ourselves that this are light duty Toyotas and built as such. With the level of suspension components, power and modern driving confidence many of us have, it's easy to out drive what these frames are capable of withstanding, especially in the long run. I was amazed how fast I could hit some of the sections at our local dunes with a relatively bolt-on ICON kit. Just because you can hit whoops in 3rd gear pinned, doesn't mean you should in an un-caged vehicle. Draw that out over time and mileage, and that's a lot of fatigue cycles.

FWIW, I've yet to see those deformed plates before reading this thread. If you still need help, please contact me directly and I'll make sure you're taken care of.

 

Good to hear! Fun fact: I installed these and immediately went to Death Valley afterwards...only thing that shifted in 250mi of dirt was my roof tent by about 6".

That was almost 2 years ago, haven't touched the front end since. Been to Baja, 6 Western States, and several trips to the Sierras since then as well as lots of local dirt roads since then. I haven't been keeping tabs too well, but gotta be over 1000mi on dirt alone since then, including about 20 miles towing a teardrop trailer down a Jeep road to camp a few weekends ago.

 

Big thanks to the team at Poly Performance! James called me last night to inform me that the are sending replacement plates and hardware.

After Moab I'll be reaching out to them for the TC cam tabs. Maybe @Andy@Poly can offer some insight on welding tabs on tabs. I wouldn't mind some thicker sections at the subframe.

Thanks again!

 

My plates don't look deformed on the side I did torque to 250 before backing it off. I did however install the cam gussets at the same time. I'll take it apart one of these days to check, but everything looks fine.

The guy who did my alignment was pumped to not have to mess with cams. Set toe and then adjusted camber via SPC UCA's. Said it was cake.

 

Sure, pretty simple really. TC's instructions suggest you drill out some spot welds to entirely remove the stamped piece that acts as the locating tabs; nothing wrong with this method, I just hate drilling out spot welds. What I did was simply grind down the lips of the tabs flat, then weld the gussets over them. You'll want to make sure that your welds penetrate the actual frame material, not just the factory locating tab (which is only held in place by the mentioned spot welds), as that wouldn't be very strong.

That's awesome news! I made a really conscious effort to try and make the instructions as clear and straight forward as possible.

 

The install was a breeze, easiest part of my LCA refresh project. Finally got a good alignment too. It was always off since my lift. They would never quite get it right, pulling this way or that. Now it tracks nice and straight.

Also kudos for actually getting on here and having a conversation. Some companies would never. Goes a long way IMO.

 

Appreciate the feedback! I've been on forums since the early dial-up days, so I've seen my share of companies live and die by the sword of public opinion and debate. The only way to move forward is open communication with your customers, them and the business are both better for it.

 

Another question for you guys. Anyone running the dirt king uppers with the moog ball joints? Dirt king said they built them with 1.2 degrees of caster compared to JBA with 3 degrees. Like the idea of locally sourcing ball joints being in Canada.

 

No first-hand experience, but the Dirt King stuff I've seen looks to be acceptably well made. Our tabs preserve the same overall range as the stock cams, so I wouldn't foresee any problems, whatever Dirt King lists for alignment specs should be correct.

 

Perfect! Already ordered mine and installed a set on a buddies truck with JBA uppers. Just looking to lock down the alignment on my truck so the alignment can’t be thrown off on the trail. The adjustable SPC uppers are going for something that can’t move.

 

@Andy@Poly, any feedback from users with SPC UCAs installed? I want to get my alignment *perfect* because tires are expensive, but I'm fed up with the garbage OEM alignment cams.

 

Can’t imagine having any issues. My current toyota cams are maxed out into the position that the poly cams set them. So much adjustment with the spc uppers that you have tons of room.

 

Good to know. Taco Tabs in conjunction with SPC UCAs seem like an ideal way to eliminate the LCA cam failure point, even for a vehicle that rarely sees dirt like mine.

 

Well the total chaos cam gussets will be the fix to prevent flattened cam tabs, the poly cams will help keep the alignment.

I have the spc uppers, tots chaos cam gussets and I’m adding the poly cams to avoid my alignment from screwing off on the trail. My last drive home looked like this on the highway.

Also the cool thing about the poly cams is they are cheap compared to toyota cams, and appear to be extremely durable!

 

I'm not concerned about flattening my LCA cam tabs. My truck is my daily driver, so I'm not going to beat on it like a lot of guys here. I'm really only interested in eliminating failure points.