SO.. I lifted my 08 4Runner with the old daystar kit. 2.5/1.5. It was easy....got it on an alignment machine and the guy says he can't get the caster to spec. He got the toe and camber but not the caster. Does this sound right? I understand the lift will affect adjustability. Just wanted to see if it was right. I will post up my specs later.
Take it to a different shop. I took mine to 3 different places. Finally, the last place got it right. I got mine life time alignment so never worry about to pay for it again.
Did they say they just couldn't get it to factory spec, or that it just has no caster left? As you lift it, with the factory UCA's, you lose caster. It's not a serious problem with only a 2.5" lift, but when my coilovers were cranked to about 4" I had absolutely no caster, which isn't the best idea.
If you simply just lost some caster, then it's no big deal. I am uncertain what exactly they told you though.
ok...I just had + caster I believe. They said the lift makes it kinda hard to get it back to factory specs for the caster. Toe was at like .23. They got most of it back to specs. Will post up specs for you guys to analyze. Thanks a million!
They should be able to get the caster a little better. If they can't and you're satisfied with the current drive quality it's not that big of a deal.
The slight caster deficit you have makes the T4R easier to steer. With a low caster value it may have a tendancy to wander a bit more, it may want to follow seams in the pavement etc. There should be no appreciable difference in tire wear, in fact the tires will scuff a bit less in turns.
It comes down to how the truck feels. If it drives ok to you now, then don't worry about it. Caster will have the least effect on tire wear.
If you want it back to spec, you can go with a set of aftermarket uca's which have more caster built in (such as total chaos or camburg) or are adjustable (light racing, icon).
thanks guys for the info. I think I'm happy with it. I'm going to give it another day or so...see how it feels. So far...it's fine. Nothing weird. It does tend to go towards teh right more...but it was like that from day 1.
It comes down to how the truck feels. If it drives ok to you now, then don't worry about it. Caster will have the least effect on tire wear.
If you want it back to spec, you can go with a set of aftermarket uca's which have more caster built in (such as total chaos or camburg) or are adjustable (light racing, icon).
If Caster is the target, Camburg is supposed to give you the most out of all of the brands.
Also, they are coming out with a new design, that will be much cheaper than the $500-$600 UCA's because it utilizes some of the stock parts. Everything is done on it, they just need to kick it into production. Possibly within the next month.
On a level road it shouldn't pull. If you mean on a crowned/angled road and that it has a slightly greater tendancy to follow the crown then that's to be expected with a slightly lower caster value.
If it's truly pulling then get it looked at.
Finally, I am 44 years old. I drive an average of 18k/year from the age of 20 or so. I have NEVER left a tire shop/alignment shop with correct inflation. I have always found the tires to be off a couple of pounds. It's as if they were targeting a value and gave up when they were within 3psi or (more likely) two or three different tire gauges get used. I figure there's 2 guys doing it and maybe one of the tires gets set by the internal gauge on the tire machine. The worst one was a RR tire that was 6psi lower than the highest pressure tire. That's certainly enough to effect the tendency to wander/pull.
I say make sure all the tires are inflated evenly. If the vehicle has the sun on it that'll goof you up. Even though you haven't driven before checking the pressure the 'sun' tires will show 2-3psi more than the shade tires many times.
