lessons learned about alignments

[troyboy162]

short story...check your cam bolts for tightness.

i give my truck alot of leeway when it comes to noises and alignment, because it has a tough life of my errors and learning. well turns out a recent issue with steering alignment changing often was actually inflicted by the alignment tech. apparently i had a cam bolt loose for quite some time. not finger loose so it was holding in one position for along time but lately it had worked to sloppy.

check those cam bolts if anything changes...the front ends will not bend or easily come out of alignment as i had chalked this up to

as a side note steering rack bushings are a pain in the butt. mostly because you have to drill out a space in the energy suspension kit. takes 6 hours if you work slow like me. a bonus is if your stock bushings are trashed they slide out easy

[slosurfer]

I don't know about 3rd gens, but I know the torque specs on the cam bolts on 2nd gens is pretty high and I know tire store techs don't torque them to the specs. I got mine done and then once I got home torqued it to spec and it lasted way longer than it used to....

[troyboy162]

that sounds like solid advise right there. ive heard its upwards of 100 foot pounds on 3rd gens

[YotaFun]

Troy,
I am having some alignment issues myself.
I can't get mine to align lol....

I was wondering, If I could get a pick of what your cams are set at?

[YotaFun]

And FYI,
2nd gen Cam bolt torque specs are 146 ft lbs
3rd gen Cam bolt torque specs are 96 ft lbs

[troyboy162]

Troy,
I am having some alignment issues myself.
I can't get mine to align lol....

I was wondering, If I could get a pick of what your cams are set at?


do you have allpro upper arms? if so ill snap you a pic cause they should be similar. any other arms would likely be very different on the cams

[YotaFun]

Yes I do Sir!
wow what a stroke of luck

[troyboy162]

nice! ill be right back.

[YotaFun]

You Rule!

[troyboy162]

here they are all viewed from the front. both sides look to be all in the same spot so id guess nothing is bent. hopefully this works on your truck too, but it should be darn close

[YotaFun]

Troy Man You RULE!
At least it will be a pretty damn close start.

I am on the wrong coast
you guy rule,
You help so much and your not even on the same coast lol!

Thanks again Troy I really appreciate it!

[troyboy162]

no problem at all. you already know the torque values so your already better off then the mechs at pep boys :)

[YotaFun]

I have the whole library of Toyota Repair at my figure tips lol
Yeah.... pepboys.....

Never trust those guys

[YotaFun]

Looking at your cams there, looks like your caster wasn't off much,
just camber which is typical with lift.

But at the same time it also looks like they hardly touched the rear.
If I where you and I had the means to, I would either take it to a Toyota dealer or a Tire Shop you can trust....

Tires are so expensive these days, I know I am crying right now with mine being out of spec and being stuck driving it cause my DD decided to blow up lol

[troyboy162]

yep it didnt take much. really all it needed was LR to be in the right position. you can see from the pic it has shifted around and damaged the guide on the left that the cam slides on. this was exaggerated by messed up steering rack bushings....fun times but now i know better then to just let it ride lol

[YotaFun]

yeah I hear you...
dumbass me forgot to put locktite on the bolt for the upper control arm,
good thing I caught it before I left work cause the nut disappeared and teh bolt was coming out YIKES!
that could have been nasty if I was going down the highway at 60 miles an hour

[troyboy162]

haha mine fell off too! came back from wheeling one day and the bolt and washer were sitting on the frame stuck with grease to that weird foam thats also glued on the frame

[YotaFun]

LMAO!
reminds me I have to regrease those tomorrow..
good times lol

[Scuba]

4Runner owners... they neglect things.

[troyboy162]

lol i suppose i should raise my hand. i admit it, taking a weekend off from wheeling to work on the truck for me is the worst!

[YotaFun]

yeah I guess I should too....
then again I haven't driven mine religiously since...
shoot almost a year,
I mean yes here and there just to air it out but after the diff broke it was just depressing to drive....

I can't wait to align the truck once I get some 35s to put on it

[slosurfer]

And FYI,
2nd gen Cam bolt torque specs are 146 ft lbs
3rd gen Cam bolt torque specs are 96 ft lbs


Yeah, I knew the 2nd gen was pretty high. I remember I went as high as my torque wrench would go and then I just had to PFT it.

[YotaFun]

Yeah its insane how tight they have to be, heck I think lug nuts are that high as well as other suspension and even some engine components

[Scuba]

Yeah its insane how tight they have to be, heck I think lug nuts are that high as well as other suspension and even some engine components


Lugs are like 84 or 90. Can't remember.

[YotaFun]

Hey Troy, could you do me one more little favor.
Take a pick of your ride height from the center of your hub to your lower wheel well?

Also do you have a body lift or no?

[troyboy162]

Hey Troy, could you do me one more little favor.
Take a pick of your ride height from the center of your hub to your lower wheel well?

Also do you have a body lift or no?


this is with one inch body lift
http://i723.photobucket.com/albums/ww234/troyboy162/P1030315.jpg

[Scuba]

Should I save one of my center caps for you, Troy?

[troyboy162]

i have one now from the rims i bought off Sean. oh and dont get one step color match paint...aparently metallic is impossible to match in one step. passenger side does not look as nice as it does in the above picture

[YotaFun]

Thats cool
I should have clarified,
I was wondering if you could have taken a pic with a measuring tape from the center of the rim to the bottom of the fender?

I want to make sure my coil overs are adjusted right, I think they might be too high.

[Seanz0rz]

i learned that lesson too, my passenger tire has move all the way in, and is now wearing badly on the outside of the tire.

to correct involves taking off the skid plate, which i hate doing.

[YotaFun]

Ah Sean why did you have to remind me,
I have to weld two mounts back in for my skid....

[mastacox]

Perhaps these lessons learned should be compiled into a wiki article! :angel:

Make an "alignment problems" wiki, and people can add in their .02 about specific problems and likely causes... The beauty of a wiki is rather than having 1 person write 100 sentences, we can have 100 people write 1 sentence each!

[YotaFun]

Good Idea,
I need to learn how to use the Wiki though...

[mastacox]

Good Idea,
I need to learn how to use the Wiki though...


If only there was a person around here that could help out with that... someone who knew how to use the Wiki and stuff... a Wiki guru if you will :headscratch:





Any one know someone like that? :chair:

[YotaFun]

yeah yeah yeah
smart @$$ lol!!!!

I guess I should get to PM'ing you soon on a tutorial huh?

[YotaFun]

To continue the saga, I move the cams and it actually visually looks in line,
Toe is way off.

However I will not be able to do any more cam adjustments till I figure out how to fix the tab that's been pushed down due to the right rear cam being loose.
No wonder it didn't align before, the cam kept jumping the little tab that's suppose to hold it in place...

Pics to come later

[CJM]

Oh boy, not good Avy..

[YotaFun]

Well,
Thanks to the help of troy on the pic,
me adjusting the coils to be right,

the truck was almost dead in spec.
I have the toe adjusted,
but this is what got me, the camber is only a hair off, and its not even the side with the bad cam gear tab!

I drove it home and it felt like my old 4runner again.

I am still going to fix the tab and tweak it a little more,
but the steering wheel is straight the truck goes straight and its stable down the road, I am happy!

[CJM]

Good for you man!

Now come to my house and figure out why the fark my T100 keeps blowing upper drivers side balljoints...

[todd54tacy]

manual observation is very effective in alignments