New guy here and need some some guidance on Alignment!

Hello guys. I have a 2020 TRD Offroad Premium (My first Toyota, haha) and could not stand the sloppy, body roll ride. I installed the Eibach pro level kit (2 3/4" front lift) poly sway bar bushings and 1/4in spacers on the driver side. I just rode about 200 miles to settle the springs and I am ready for an alignment. I also have 285 Faulkens and SCS wheels so I know I am looking for about 4 degrees + caster BUT what about camber and Toe???? I have factory UCA's as well.


thanks!!

 

My personal preference is 0 or slightly negative camber; 0 or slightly negative toe; and then caster around 4 or more if they can get it there (I usually find anything at 2.5 or higher to be tolerable; which with stock arms might be about where you’ll land).

 

Welcome to the forum.

 

Welcome from AZ.

 

I'll piggyback on this.

It will be impossible for you to get 4 degrees of caster with stock UCA's and a 2.75" lift in the front. You can ask them to max out the caster as best they can with your lift, but as kbp states above, you'll most likely get something below 3 degrees. You can try that and see how it rides. If you like it, leave it.

Or you could put aftermarket UCA's on now and get back to 4 degrees of caster (or more with certain UCAs). It will certainty tighten up the steering.

 

Thanks guys, much appreciated. I cant afford uppers at the moment, to many projects going on. So I will have to do with what I have. I will let you know how it goes and thanks for the welcoming. I have a lot to learn about these trucks

 

Camber and toe you still want at stock spec, lifting it doesn’t effect where you want throes set. Caster you definitely want higher than stock to make it handle normal at highway speeds after you raise the center of gravity. You definitely need caster corrected upper control arms.

 

I understand, issue is I dont know what stock settings are and want to make sure it is done right. Also what makes a steering wheel "twitchy" over bumps??

 

Welcome from FL. A lot of good advice here.

 

Every alignment machine will have the stock specs in it.

 

It annoys the hell out of me when the alignment guy will look for green and say it is good without looking at numbers.

 

welp, as usual I get piss poor service. Went to alignment place to get the 4runner aligned and check the balance on 2 front scs wheels. After telling them about the 3+ degree's caster and waiting 4 freaking hours, I get this alignment specs due to that is the best they can do.....


Front:
left:
Camber 0.2
caster 2.0
Toe: .08

Right:
Camber: -0.1
Caster: 1.5
Toe: .08

REAR:
Camber: -0.3
Toe: -0.23

Right:
Camber:-0.3
Toe: 0.13

The 4Runner rides funky and pulls to the right when I brake, I hate relying on other people to do a proper job. And it gets better! I yelled at the tech for using a 1/2" air gun to put the shield bolts back on and this morning I find a row of brand new wheel weights on my driveway!!

 

Oh man, that's rough. Sounds like it's time to find a new shop.

To maximize caster, you pretty much need to move the front cam bolts just about as far as they can inboard, and the rear cam bolts just about as far as then can outboard. Then the tie rod ends will need to pushed out longer to make up for the negative toe. Though again with stock arms, there still might not be a ton more of room for improvement.

 

That sucks, i think we pretty much have to find a good off road shop to get the work done, and even that is b*+$&# to find.

 

I'm not going to defend their work, but they probably don't have much to work with on a 2.75" front lift and stock UCA's.

You'll get the best alignment and ride with new UCA's.

At least you know to take it to another shop for installation and alignment.

 

Hi guys, thanks for the info. I just dont understand why so many purchased the Eibach kit and stated if you install it with the lowest setting you wont need UCA's. I really did not want to spend the money but want to do it right. Have you guys had any experience with Freedom Off-Road UCA's?? I am looking at JBA or Freedom UCA's.

 

Some people (like me) just get the Eibach struts and use our stock coils. With my stock coils, I wen't up to the 3rd notch on the Eibach struts which gave me 1.6" of lift. From this, I'm still able to get 3.6 degrees of caster with stock UCA's. The higher you go in the front, the harder it is to get your caster number higher with stock UCAs.

If you have the 2.75" lift coils and set the struts on the lowest setting, then you can still get get your caster is spec. It'll just be at the lower end of spec. That's fine for some people because they don't even notice the difference. It sounds like it bothers you (as it would me) so your solution is to get a set of UCAs.

JBA makes a good UCA but double check their fitment requirements first. I don't have any info on Freedom UCAs. Another good UCA is Dirt King.

https://dirtkingfabrication.com/collections/4runner/products/ball-joint-upper-control-arms-dk-812901

 

Ok guys, UCA's are installed. I torqued them down to 85 ft lbs with load on suspension. I am going to a new alignment shop tomorrow, am I looking for factory specs with 3+ pos caster?

 

I would ask for closer to 4 degrees caster.

 

Hello everyone, I want to thank you all for recommending UCA's. I got the alignment done with 4 deg aster and the 4runner drives alot better, it was well worth it. Now I got work on my shaky faulken wildpeaks and the truck is done for now Thanks again!

 

Nice! Glad the UCA's and alignment worked out Gnfanatic!

As for the tires, go and get them Road Force Balanced and make sure they fall within spec for that balance. If the techs can't get them in spec, have the defective tires replaced (under warranty) for new ones that do fall within spec.

 

BTW, what UCA's did you end up going with?