Pulling Right after lift, UCA's and several alignments

[Scott@Hightech]

I got a call today from Allen at SPC. He is a very knowledgeable guy and teaches alignment classes to new techs. He said from looking at my info sheets, and the large inconsistency in SAI, it is more than likely a lazy tech, or an alignment machine that has not been maintained. The numbers he sees point to a right pull more than anything, not a left pull like the Firestone tech told me (maybe he was dyslexic?) Considering the age of the vehicle, he highly doubted it is a bent or loose part. His biggest bet is on the plates on the machine not being maintained and sticking during the alignment process.

I will be taking it in to Eurosport in Norman OK tomorrow morning. These guys have an amazing reputation with working on high end exotic and modified cars and have some of the best equipment in the industry. They are the go to place for guys with lowered and racing suspension for alignments so I'm hoping they can handle a lifted 4runner no problem.

Here's an example of what they put up on their alignment machines

Thank you for everyone's help in this thread. Hoping tomorrow we can finally but an end to it. Fingers crossed.

Good idea!! However keep in mind that they probably have not worked on this suspension at all. Be sure to mention that the LCAs are adjustable and that Camber can then be corrected VIA the UCA ball joint.

Ask them to set it to these specs.
+4.0 degrees of caster
+.15 degrees of camber
+.18 degrees of Toe (about 1/10")

 

[alexb]

Well great news! The guys at Eurotech in Norman got it all sorted out. It took them 2 hours to fix all of Firestone's mistakes but it is good as new now. Caster is at 4* and tracks nice and straight.

The Firestone numbers were so far off it was scary. Their machine must not have been calibrated in years. Ill be stopping by this evening to give them a few words and get my money back. I ought to get them to pay for the alignment at Eurosport too. Cost me $190 for the 2 hours it took them to fix everything.

I'll post up my final numbers tonight. Thanks for everyone's input while I sorted this out.

I highly recommend Eurosport for anyone needing alignment work in the future.

 

[Scott@Hightech]

Well great news! The guys at Eurotech in Norman got it all sorted out. It took them 2 hours to fix all of Firestone's mistakes but it is good as new now. Caster is at 4* and tracks nice and straight.

The Firestone numbers were so far off it was scary. Their machine must not have been calibrated in years. Ill be stopping by this evening to give them a few words and get my money back. I ought to get them to pay for the alignment at Eurosport too. Cost me $190 for the 2 hours it took them to fix everything.

I'll post up my final numbers tonight. Thanks for everyone's input while I sorted this out.

I highly recommend Eurosport for anyone needing alignment work in the future.

Glad to hear!!

 

[nevada]

Well great news! The guys at Eurotech in Norman got it all sorted out. It took them 2 hours to fix all of Firestone's mistakes but it is good as new now. Caster is at 4* and tracks nice and straight.

The Firestone numbers were so far off it was scary. Their machine must not have been calibrated in years. Ill be stopping by this evening to give them a few words and get my money back. I ought to get them to pay for the alignment at Eurosport too. Cost me $190 for the 2 hours it took them to fix everything.

I'll post up my final numbers tonight. Thanks for everyone's input while I sorted this out.

I highly recommend Eurosport for anyone needing alignment work in the future.

glad you finally got it.

this is the difference between a $200 lifetime alignment at firestone, and a quality alignment. you just cant expect too much when paying so little. but most people are cheap, and don't want to PAY a mechanic for anything...

we do alignments here at the shop, but we use OLD antique equipment, all manual, it gets the job done. we don't have the customer base to pay for a new machine at $100 a pop. it would take 30 years...

 

[thebwlife]

Well great news! The guys at Eurotech in Norman got it all sorted out. It took them 2 hours to fix all of Firestone's mistakes but it is good as new now. Caster is at 4* and tracks nice and straight.

The Firestone numbers were so far off it was scary. Their machine must not have been calibrated in years. Ill be stopping by this evening to give them a few words and get my money back. I ought to get them to pay for the alignment at Eurosport too. Cost me $190 for the 2 hours it took them to fix everything.

I'll post up my final numbers tonight. Thanks for everyone's input while I sorted this out.

I highly recommend Eurosport for anyone needing alignment work in the future.

Good to hear!

 

[alexb]

So here are my final numbers after my alignment at Eurosport yesterday. So much happier now. And I went back to Firestone to get a refund and they didn't hesitate to give me one at all. Almost like they weren't surprised. They claim their alignment rack is calibrated once a month. I'd say the kid working the counter was just feeding me BS.

Anyways, what do you guys think? Car handles perfectly now. The only thing the tech was concerned about was the rear right toe. He said it may cause some excessive tire wear. Is there anything to adjust this? Would a track/panhard bar extension help out in this situation?

 

[gm350reratliff]

Those numbers look much better.

As for the right rear toe, it is out a little more than I would like to see but not near as bad some of the trucks I've seen. It's is pointing out while the left is slightly toed in. Those two give you your thrust angle. Ideally the thrust angle would be 0° but that usually is never the case with a solid rear axle vehicle. There is no adjustment for any angle on the rear axle unless you go with aftermarket rear control arms. Then you could dial in the trust angle (split the difference between the left and rear toe if you wanted). Individual rear toe is not really adjustable.

I would just watch for tire wear on the right rear. I betting there will be little to no wear as long as you keep up with the tire rotations.

 

[alexb]

Those numbers look much better.

As for the right rear toe, it is out a little more than I would like to see but not near as bad some of the trucks I've seen. It's is pointing out while the left is slightly toed in. Those two give you your thrust angle. Ideally the thrust angle would be 0° but that usually is never the case with a solid rear axle vehicle. There is no adjustment for any angle on the rear axle unless you go with aftermarket rear control arms. Then you could dial in the trust angle (split the difference between the left and rear toe if you wanted). Individual rear toe is not really adjustable.

I would just watch for tire wear on the right rear. I betting there will be little to no wear as long as you keep up with the tire rotations.

Cool man, I figured there wouldn't be much to be done since they are not adjustable.

 

[SheppyMach]

Cool man, I figured there wouldn't be much to be done since they are not adjustable.

Quick question alexb, Are the lower control arm adjustment cams still in the same spots Scott recommended putting them in when you were trying to get it close on your own? If not, are they rotated in similar positions on each side? Thanks, Shep

 

[alexb]

Quick question alexb, Are the lower control arm adjustment cams still in the same spots Scott recommended putting them in when you were trying to get it close on your own? If not, are they rotated in similar positions on each side? Thanks, Shep

I haven't taken a look to see where they are at. I know the guys at the shop that did the alignment reset everything to the neutral position recommended by SPC, then set the camber and caster using the UCA's as close as possible. Then he used the lower arm bolts to fin tune things. I don't think he adjusted them much from their neutral positions.

 

[Vulgarian]

Encouraging read. I just had my lift put on and my truck has a slight drift to the right too. Big-O said they can't get caster anywhere near 4. So I called Icon and they said take it to So Cal Super Trucks where they get thier trucks aligned. I'll let you all know.