Alignment question...

F

FattyHunter

Member
Recently got my 4Runner lifted 3 inch with Light Racing upper control arms, 285 KO2 tires, the thing pulls right before and after alignment. I went to Tires Plus locally to get it aligned, after the first time it still pulls right so i brought it back but their jack is not working so they sent me to firestone, they aligned it but still pulls right. According to the spec sheet, anyways i can tell them to fix it? So in the sheet, the before measurement (Top) is by TiresPlus, the current measurements (Bottom) is by Firestone. Thanks guys

 
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If it were me, I would have them raise the caster on the right front tire slightly above the value of the left tire to start with. I would also have them raise the camber on both sides but try to keep camber higher on the left slightly. Drive it and see if it still pulls. If it does, add more caster to the right again.

You may also want swap the left and right tires to rule out a tire pull.
 
Thanks definitely will try all that, the alignment guy said 3.8 was the closest he can get to 4* though, is that just BS? Guys on here with LR UCA get 4* or more just fine?
 
Your specs look fine. I would test drive on different roads. If it still pulls, I would cross rotate the front tires and note any differences.
 
Been driving city and highway, all pulls right at different speeds. Steering wheel doesn't look straight. Guess I'll get tires rotated and see.
 
FattyHunter said:
Been driving city and highway, all pulls right at different speeds. Steering wheel doesn't look straight. Guess I'll get tires rotated and see.
Click to expand...

Steering wheel not being straight and pulling are two different symptoms and are not necessarily related.

Your current alignment specs really couldn't be much better. Chances of both alignment machines at both shops being out of calibration are slim to none. Since it pulled before and after all three instances (after lift, after first alignment, after second alignment) the only constant here is the tires. Or the steering wheel is off and you're holding the wheel straight and the truck is steering right. But again, the chances of 2 shops not setting win toe properly for the steering wheel is pretty slim.
 
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Thanks for all the feedbacks guys, still pulling right. Probably gonna talk to the alignment guys again and see if they can help.
 
So I called Firestone, they told me I'm maxed out on caster at 3.8*, should I bring the UCA instruction with me when i go back?
 
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I took the SPC instruction sheet to the alignment guy at the dealership and he told me afterwards that was a big help otherwise he wouldn't have be able to give me that extra caster. Some alignment guys are not familiar with these UCA's and how to adjust them.
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^ so I went yesterday to Firestone again with the instruction sheet, tech said he knows about them so didn't look at it. They got my truck driving straight more than before however I can somehow feel it pull slightly but might have been the road. So good for now I guess. Just have quick question though, on the top of the ball joint, can they loosen the nut and move the UCA in or out for some sort of adjustment? Picture posted, I noticed both sides aren't same position.

Passenger


Driver

 
stop going to big box stores! Find a local 4x4 shop that knows what they are doing or pick up the phone and call HITECH
 
FattyHunter said:
^ so I went yesterday to Firestone again with the instruction sheet, tech said he knows about them so didn't look at it. They got my truck driving straight more than before however I can somehow feel it pull slightly but might have been the road. So good for now I guess. Just have quick question though, on the top of the ball joint, can they loosen the nut and move the UCA in or out for some sort of adjustment? Picture posted, I noticed both sides aren't same position.

Passenger


Driver

Click to expand...

Now this is starting to make a little sense. While your specs for the alignment are in line, I did not pay particular attention to your rear alignment. The reason your rear toe is out (impossible to make adjustments on a solid rear axle) is because your front end is tracking straight but isn't inline with the rear axle.

In your second picture, the upper ball joint is adjustable to get camber in spec. I'm willing to bet that your lower control arm eccentric bolts do not look similar to each other. Can you take a photo of what those look like? They are the bolts that hold the lower control arm to the subframe.

The proper way to align our trucks with LR UCAs is to start with the lower ball joint as far forward as possible by only using the lower control arm eccentrics. Then get the upper control arm adjusted so that the desired spec is obtained while only using the lower control arm adjustments for fine tuning.
 
Perfect! Now get a pic of the front ones. They are just out of the frame in your pics. Once I see those, I'll be able to help with more feedback.
 
Ok. I'm going to try and explain this as easy as possible. They aren't that far off but nevertheless, here's where the starting point should be for all alignments that have adjustable uppers.

For reference on a clock, we'll be looking at your eccentric bolts from the front of the truck.

The head of the bolt for the drivers side should be as follows:
front bolt should be at 9 o'clock
rear bolt should be at 3 o'clock

The head of the bolts for the passenger side should be as follows:
front bolt should be at 3 o'clock
rear bolt should be at 9 o'clock

This effectively moves the lower ball joint as far forward as possible for maximum caster. But it will adversely affect the camber position. At this point, all the adjustments should be made using the upper control arms. The majority of camber should be completely taken care of by loosening the upper ball joint (large nut) and moving it in (negative) or out (positive).

This is assuming the LR upper ball joints were correctly installed using the LR guide for +2* caster (for most of us). The SPC logo on the flat part of the ball joint place should be facing the tire. You can get more extreme by having the logo face the front of the truck. But that's +4* on top of the factory specs.
 
I understood everything else except the head of the bolt part, so using pictures from post 18 for reference, driver is facing 3 o'clock and passenger is facing 12 o'clock currently, right?
As far as SPC logo facing out to the tires, i've confirmed that it is.
 
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