Wheel Alignment and Lifted Truck

I was thinking about getting the alignment checked on my Tacoma as it has been at least 10 years and I just recently replaced the lower ball joints and the outer tie rod ends. My truck has been lifted 3" or so and I am running with 33"ers vs the original 31" tires. Does this alter the factory alignment specs? And, can I go to any shop with an alignment rack, or do I need to seek out a shop familiar with lifted trucks? For example, I recall reading that on some other 4x4 vehicles the toe-in increases as the tire size increases and the caster needs to decrease.

 

How long have you had the lift? Have you noticed weird tire wear or funny handling?

But yes, when you lift it, you should get it aligned. And, depending on how careful you were with measuring before and after doing the tie rods, I would suggest getting it aligned too.

Tire size has nothing to do with the alignment. It's the lift to acomodate the larger tires that alter the alignment. When the wheels move up and down, the angle changes. So when you lift it, it now sits wih the wheels at a different angle, so if left un altered, you’ll get bad tire wear.

I would suggest going to a shop that does 4x4, but really, any alignment shop *shop* should be able to handle it.

 

I have had the lift 10+ years. No, never aligned it. I have never noticed any wierd tire wear or handling. For the tire rods, I just counted # of turns.

 

Absolutely needs an alignment. As jbrandt said tires won't affect it but replacing many IFS parts will require some alignment. When you are lifted, you will never have it locked in true unless you take it to a specialty shop, which is what I did after getting aftermarket UCA's. They were able to get it extremely close to stock specs.

 

OK, along with the lift 10+ years ago I installed a Donahoe coil over and Total Chaos uni-ball UCA. But, back to my original question - are all the book alignment specs the same as a stock truck?

 

To my understanding no, I had to take it to a specialty garage for a performance alignment. Once you start throwing in coilovers and control arms it totally changes the suspension geometry and adjustments need to be made. I have a chart they printed out for me to see how the old specs compare with the new ones.

 

Thanks Yotatank, that answers my question - I need to seek out more of a specialty shop