Alignment and/or possible bad thrust angle

First of all I have a 2014 Tacoma DCSB Prerunner with a 3/2 Rough Country spacer and block lift.

So last week a buddy of mine pointed out that my tires (stock 265/65R17 Rugged Terrain) were cupping on the outer tread. We established that my camber was off.

Took it to Toyota on Friday for an alignment. Afterwards the steering wheel sat cocked to the left while driving straight, when letting go of the steering wheel it will straighten up and drift right. It was on the rack 2 additional times that day and two technicians drove it. Claimed it seemed fine. It drove straight before they aligned it.

Brought it back yesterday and they said that the problem is in the rear end. The thrust angle is to the right and the toe in is off on Both back tires and possibly due to the installation of lift blocks. Was in a hurry to get to school and didn't feel like arguing with them. Noticed at school that with the steering wheel level that the front tires still had a slight angle to the right.

I ordered new UCA to correct front end alignment issues besides the ones stated here. Also ordered an add a leaf to replace the blocks in the back.

Will the add a leaf fix the rear end shift possibly due to the lift blocks? Also any other insight you'd like to add is acceptable. Will post pic of alignment specs after I put the RC Lift on and any specs/info I have on the alignment I had done on Friday, after work as soon as I can.

 

there ain't no toe on the rear. it can dog track and that is about it

find a new shop to do the alignment


blocks ain't gonna fix a thing in the rear unless they are manufactured wrong or way out of whack....

frame lift it,

loosen ubolts, jigger the rear axle so it is aligned (you need to have something set up so you know the rear axle is exactly centered and straight) and then crank them ubolts back down. drop it to the floor, lift it again, remeasure axle alignment, it has to be perfect
you can do a little bit of thrust angle adjustment this way but not much. so how much is is off ???

If the thrust angle isn't zero after loosening and tightening yourself....on many solid rear axle vehicles, a trip to a frame straightening shop is required to return the rear axle to its original location.

The underlying cause of a thrust angle may be rear axle shift, a bent axle housing or anything that causes rear misalignment (bent trailing arm or lateral link, worn trailing arm bushings, bent rear axle spindle)

To eliminate the thrust angle, realigning the rear axle is necessary. If bent or damaged parts are responsible, these must be replaced. Realigning the rear axle on a rear-wheel drive car is usually not possible without structural repairs (frame straightening) though offset trailing arm or leaf spring bushings can be slightly adjusted.


go get an alignment sheet done and see if you thrust angle is fixed

 

The spec sheet is from the same week I installed the lift back in June and the screen shot is from this past week. I will have the spec sheet from him hopefully tomorrow.

How easy is it to bend the frame or something on the frame that would cause this problem.

If after removing the blocks and replacing with AAL and the problem is still there I will have to go bring it to a shop for inspection.

 

I doubt your frame is geetered. .2 thrust is not great but not horrible either. mine was .14 and my tires are fine. it is not easy you bend the frame you'd know it if it happened, you'd get slammed around

loosen ubolts and knock the axle to be perfectly square (again, you'll need to figure a way to measure this accurately) there should be enough slop to allow for a .05 movement...

I think your tires scalloping is something else though

 

Thanks guys, I removed the lift blocks yesterday and added the Revtek 1.5" AAL in their place. The centering pins on the lift blocks seemed to be off a little bit compared to eachother. From the looks of the rear end with the AAL it seems to have straightened out (no telling until I get it on the alignment rack). Once I install my new UCA's this week or this weekend, I will be bringing it back to Toyota for a realignment since they said they would redo it if I got things fixed.

I'll make sure to have them get it as close as possible to ideal spec and post the spec sheet and any info as soon as I have it done.

 

It's been a while but this is the latest update after fighting with toyota for 2 months they did not want to redo my alignment. Got refunded for the price of the alignment. Replacing the blocks with AALs have helped a little in the back but does not make up for Toyota's mess up in the front. Decided to wait until it's time for new tires (since I have the money for new rims and tires anyway) to install the new UCAs and then bring it to somewhere other than toyota for an alignment.

But you guys were of great help, I appreciate it

 

Did you get it fixed after all? Mine is dog tracking too

 

Shoot your thrust angle is better than mine. This is mine just from today. Had to replace a tie rod before they would touch it they said. So I did that crap myself and drove it down to big o this morning. Easiest way to get this stuff fixed?

 

Here's my frame recall truck with wheeler's 3-leaf AAL:

I'm not sure what to do. The alignment shop had an employee that fixed it before I put the lift on with loosening the u-bolts and using some light straps. They guy is gone and they wont even touch the rear axle now. You can visually see the axle's dog legged.

 

I forgot I had posted this until I was doing a search for the same issue and stumbled across it.

So no I haven't gotten the problem fixed and it just came back up after I installed my LR UCAs and just got new 265/70R17 Cooper Discoverer STT Pro's and an alignment. The vehicle is still tracking to the right and they didn't touch the UCAs for the camber and caster so the camber is still out.

I think this is still due to the fact that my axle is shifted to the right. I will have to build something to shift it back to centerline and see if it works. If not I will have to file on my extended warranty.

 

Never want a bad thrust angle. Could lead to an unwanted hospital visit.

 

Subed for outcome

 

I ended up removing the revtek add a leafs and installing Toytec Deaver 3 leaf progressive mini pack which actually helped my thrust angle.

I removed the 3 inch rough country spacer lift and installed Toytec Ultimate Coilovers. They seem to be a 2 to 2.5 lift but my center hub to fender measurement is at 23.5. Odd.. Got an alignment tonight and he got my toe to 0, camber to 0, and caster at 2.8 Driver Front, and 3.2 (for road crown) Passenger Front without having to touch the LR UCAs this time.

On the way home I let go of the steering wheel and it instantly shoots to the right still. Its odd because all the alignment is correct and the thrust angle is .14 now I believe.

 

Wow, that is way more caster than I have... I need to make firestone adjust more in for me. I think you may have too much?

My thrust angle was over .30 on my last alignment.

I loosened my U bolts and used a jack under the axle to compress the leafs about 1/4th of the way. The axle has a very small amount of play on the center pins front to back. I used ratcheting straps to hold the axle as far forward as possible as I torqued everything to spec. We will see!

 

FSM Specs

 

The higher caster is to account for the little bit bigger tires I have so they dont rub on the back of the fender by the mudflap and for better handling and bump steer. 2.5 to 3 is a good range to be in.

 

Good to know. I am running 265/70/17s now. I could definitely do with more caster. Mine is very low.

 

That's what I have. Discoverer Cooper STT Pro. At one point they had mine at 4/4.5 which was a little excessive but at what I am at now is good, no rubbing. I did remove the front flaps in the front of the front tires though cause I was hitting those on full lock.

 

I just installed my LR uppers last weekend and aligned it. I'm running 0 camber, and 3.2/3.5 caster and it's much better now. Before, it wanted to slowly drift to the right and I had to hold the steering wheel to the left, which made it crooked. Now the wheel is almost perfect and doesn't drift to the right most of the time.