New Parts and Alignment Woes

[Rockdawg84]

Well as some of you know I just went through a massive upgrade upgrade in the front of my Runner. front Diff with 4:88's, Taco LBJ's and OTRE, and Total Chaos Upper Control Arms as well as New front Drive Axles. It all went in sweet and smooth but I have had it aligned twice in the last couple of weeks and am having a problem. Let me say first that previously I have had zero problem getting everything well within spec. But now I can not get my caster anywhere near good. So here are the specs from the last alignment.

Left Front Camber -0.2• Right front Camber -0.1•
Left Front Caster 1.1• Right Front Caster 0.9•
Left Front Toe 0.04• Right Front Toe 0.03•
Total Toe 0.07•
Steer Ahead 0.01•

So I am happy on how my tires will ware but the steering is too quick and the Runner doesn't Track worth :toilet: The cam bolts are turned all the way out on both sides. My real question is Did I get a bad set of TC UCA's or is this the result of the Taco LBJ and OTRE's? Any thoughts would be great thanks Guys.

Sam

 

[Rockdawg84]

Really no thoughts?

 

[Drcoffee]

Its not the ball joints. They mount exactly where the T4r LBJ mount. probably related to the control arm.

 

[BigFishAllDay]

New Ball joints should have no play, so I wouldn't think they'd affect your alignment.

The Tie Rod Ends could easily be adjusted to spec, even if they were a bit longer/shorter than the 4Runner parts. The toe specs don't look too bad to me, but could be cleaned up by adjusting the TRE's.

I definitely don't think your problem is related to the Tacoma LBJ's/OTRE's. The fact that both of the LCA adjustment cams on both sides are cranked all the way out makes me think you need to get a second opinion on the alignment. Did you use the same shop for both alignments? Same tech? If so, I'd try another alignment shop.

The caster/camber are controlled by the LCA adjustment cams. If I'm picturing it right, front cam in rear cam out should increase caster angle, while increasing camber. Rear cam in, front cam out should do the opposite. When I have mine done, there is usually some variance in the adjustment of the two cams from front to back on each side.

 

[Rockdawg84]

::I agree with both of you. I simply listed all the new parts just in case I was missing something. It has to either be the upper control arms or a bad tech at Firestone. I have lifetime alignment on both my wife's and my runner. And the tech has always been good. This is the first time that I have ever dropped the runner off and not stayed to watch the alignment happen. I did call the shop where I got the uca's but haven't heard back from them yet. I did find a site that claimed that the total chaos arms have 4 degrees of extra caster built into them. That is what is really throwing me off. With an extra 4 degrees it should align out great. I guess it is item to go back and watch and make sure the good tech is the one who works on it and still watch them. I will let everybody know. But any other thoughts are welcome