Truck wanders on freeway after alignment

Hello, I am Hoping to get some opinions on my 04 Tacoma double cab prerunner/off road v6 AT w/ approx 220k miles on it. I just replaced the rear leaf springs, shocks all the way around, as well as a thorough refresh of the front end (new bushings for U/LCA, new OEM ball joints Upper/lower, new OEM tie rod ends inner and outter), and I also did the tack weld mod as I had a fair amount of slop in the steering shaft. Anyways, I took the truck in for alignment and they did an ok job I guess but it looks like they didn’t bother to adjust the caster angle…. It is WAY out of spec and the truck is a bit squirrelly on the highway. It tracks straight on even surfaces at lower speeds but it wants to wander on the freeway. I am trying to decide if I should take it back and request the shop redo the alignment or if I should make an appointment at a local dedicated suspension/alignment shop and have them try to align it to the proper specs? See attached pic of alignment specs.

 

They set toe and rolled it, get your money back.

 

Did they give you an explanation as to why you were so close to negative caster? Why they didn't adjust it? Negative caster is going to be a PITA on the road/handling. More positive caster, more solid handling.

As mentioned above, tech did a 'toe and go'. He put the toe in spec and sent you on your way. Get a refund and find a different shop, one that will do it right. May take some shopping around to find a reliable and skilled alignment shop. When you do, stick with them.

Watch this and you'll have an idea about proper caster and why it's so important -

https://youtu.be/MdM2f9G65QY?si=LnROHjZ9mvuTiGO1

https://youtu.be/-TYKvsuwbF8?si=0s-CGi1idqAYh6lx&t=139

https://youtu.be/EBYY_eWtfdA?si=vmL6WmG90ekUHL5a

 

Is this truck lifted? Provide a little more detail to your description of "wandering" on the highway. You say the control arm bushings were replaced? So, you had the alignment adjustment bolts out of the arms then?

Depending on circumstances, this may be as good as this alignment can get (without additional parts), but more information will be needed to determine if that is the case here.

 

Yeah this is what I kinda figured happened…. I was not happy about it… I took it here because it is right next to my work and the suspension shop has a week+ wait time and after doing the tie rods it desperately needed to have the toe done, but I am just pissed they didn’t even bother trying to fix the caster angle issues…

 

Truck is stock height…. I figured the list of OEM parts would imply that everything was stock. To be honest I put the HD springs from Dayton/husky/general springs in the back and it did lift the rear up maybe 1-2 inches… but the front is stock height. I was actually considering replacing the original coils to try and level the truck out a little, it has a slight stink bug stance, but not too bad. It does have a camper shell on the back, which is why I opted for the HD springs.

 

I just added a photo showing how the truck currently sits.

 

In that case, the next consideration would be the position of the cams on the lower control arms. Do they have additional adjustment available, or are they maxed out? If the cam lobes are maxed, further adjustment may not be possible. You'd have to put your head under there and take a look.

I agree that the alignment tech didn't make any effort to change them, but depending on their current position, that may have been intentional. Have to see them to be certain.

 

Lifting the rear will reduce Caster in the front, but you should be able to get it in spec.

I’m surprised they didn’t attempt to get Caster in spec.

 

the cam lobes are no where near maxed out…. I had to replace mine with new ones so I just tried to set them as close to they where as before and tried to get the camber as close to 0 as possible… the little indent on the outside edge of the. Cam lobes is sitting at approximately the 2 o’clock position if you were to superimpose a clock over the area in the correct orientation. I guess it would be 2 o’clock looking from the front side and 10 o’clock looking from the back side.

 

I am not all that surprised… it’s damn near impossible in my experience to get a decent alignment anywhere but at a specialized suspension/alignment shop…. But those places generally have a week+ wait time. I suppose that I am just going to chalk up the $125 for the shityy alignment as a necessity to not ruin my tires… I made an appointment at the suspension shop for next Thursday. They are very good at what they do and he said they should be able to get it taken care of no problem!

 

Then your caster value can definitely be improved. You know they move, and you know they are not maxed out. So, the alignment tech didn't do their job properly and you should either bring it back to be redone or demand they refund the cost and go elsewhere.

These trucks do require an experienced tech to get the alignment right. While some vehicles have specific adjusters for each value, that is not the case on the Tacoma (and the other Toyota trucks for that matter). Those cams will influence camber and caster at the same time, albeit at different rates depending on if the front or rear one is turned. Not all techs have the skill set necessary to understand how this works. It took me many years to master doing these and I probably shipped more than a few with less-than-ideal settings before getting the hang of them.

 

I wasn’t aware that the HD springs were going to lift the rear end higher than stock until after I got them and put them on. I was under the impression that they would lift it less than an inch and with the camper shell they should ride just about right. I actually have left the old springs in the bed of the truck in an attempt to weigh it down a little more and get them to settle… I actually don’t have a problem with the way the truck looks right now, I just want it to have a proper alignment and get it to where I dont have constantly fight with it to keep it from wiggling around my lane on the highway…. It does ok on nice smooth pavement but any sort of uneven surface and it likes to wander, also on it’s difficult to keep it tracking straight while turning, constant battle to keep it even while turning.

 

I repeat this a lot on here, but always ask to talk to the floor manager and ask for 0* Camber, maximum Caster with still correcting for road crown, and proper toe.

You can also do 1/2 their job for them and max out your Caster right before you take it in.

 

I think I will just try to plan any suspension work accordingly and book an appointment at the suspension shop ahead of doing any work on the front end…. They know what they are doing and I have never had an issue with their work other than the fact that you have to book an appointment a week or two in advance and I always seem to just get gung-ho into repair once I have the parts and find some time to do it and then find myself needing an alignment asap. To be honest I should be good to go in terms of front end work for a good long while unless my steering rack decides to poop out on me, which would not be to far fetched considering it has 220k miles on it. Currently it is not leaking though and I have been pretty good about refreshing the fluid, also cleaned out the screen in the PSP recently.

 

I appreciate the advice and quick responses! This forum is a real boon for information to anyone who owns one of these trucks and wants to do their own repairs/maintenance!

 

Not banging on you… did you tell them it wanders at highway speed or just say I did a bunch of work and she needs an alignment? If you said the second they just rolled it in the shop and put the machine on it.

 

I mean I didn’t really have a point of reference for how well it was driving because after doing the tie rods the alignment was off pretty bad. I tried to count threads and make match marks but it still ended up being pretty off once I got it all put back together. I did specifically ask them to check the caster and camber due to having removed the LCAs and replacing the cams bolts…. But I guess they just set the camber to be in “spec” and point the toe straight. What really annoys me is that they didn’t even do that great of a job getting those close to the actual specs. They just got it into their rather large range of “in spec” and called it good.

 

Actually they didn’t even touch the camber…. I guess I got it close enough for them to just send it… but I did ask them to check both when I dropped it off.

 

Also, one would think that if you told them you had just rebuilt the front end and had it all apart they would roll it onto the machine and do a proper alignment which starts with getting camber and caster into spec and then adjusting the toe position to spec. At this point I can confidently say that they fucked off and didn’t perform the service that I paid for properly I just don’t think it’s worth the hassle to go back there and ask them to do it again because I have zero confidence that they will get it right the second time…. So I made an appointment at a local specialty suspension/alignment shop and I’ll just take the L on the $120 for the first alignment. On the bright side I won’t ruin an $800 set of tires that were just purchased in spring of 2023, so in the regard it’s not the end of the world. The specialty shop can’t get me in until next Thursday, and I need my truck to get to work.