99' Taco alignment issues (1 Viewer)

[Climbingnut]

Need some help here.

My Tacoma has 216K on it, and at about 200K I was getting some cupping on my tires so I took it into get an alignment, only to find out that the ball joints were going.

Being that it had 200K on the clock, I replaced the rod ends, and ball joints with 555 parts, the massive wheel bearings with Beck/Arnley units and also did the steering rack bushings with energy suspension bushings. I through new shocks on for good measure and VOILA! It drives like a new truck. After an alignment and tire rotation to flatten out my newly cupped tires all the world was right. For a time...

Now I'm finding the perfectly flat tires I rotated up front are cupping too, though not nearly as bad and there's no vibration or anything else to accompany it. My question is, could this be the result of spring sag or is something else to blame?

Help appreciated!

David

 

[fsusteve]

what kind of air pressure are you running in them.

 

[Climbingnut]

Thanks for the reply Steve. I run about 30 psi up front. The cupping is on the inside of both tires, not all across the tread. Correct me if I'm wrong, but typically this would indicate camber problems. I had the vehicle aligned only a few months ago and they straightened everything out and given the replacement of all steering components, I'm a bit at a loss...

 

[KayakPanic]

Could also have to do with tires/rims. What size tires do you have on what size of rims?

My Tacoma cups tires fierce on the inside of the front, but I am running 31" x 10.5" tires on FJ60 rims (15x7 i think) which is part of my problem...I also have front end parts ready for replacement as well which is the other part of the problem.

I have experimented with higher tire pressures which seems to lessen the wear a tid bit, and I have instituted a random tire rotation pattern to make the tire wear as even as possible which includes having the tires turned around on the rims occasionally before any of them get too out of whack.

 

[Climbingnut]

I have 31"x10.5 R15 Yokohama Geolander AT's on factory 15x7 rims. All my front end parts have been replaced and alignment is solid. I've thought about having the tires pulled off the rim and flipping them around so the inside is on the outside. However, my tires are pretty chopped. Tire guys say they are now out of round because of the wear pattern.

I really don't want to replace them as there's probably 40% tread left on the tires. Any ideas? Someone said the tires could cause damage to my front end parts, but I'm not sure I entirely agree. Thoughts?

 

[fsusteve]

possibly have another shop check the alignment, I just had mine done after I replaced the rack and the guy got it fairly straight but not like it was prior to the repair. I'm going to another shop I trust a little better, I'm sure I have some component wear but nothing too bad plus it was straight as an arrow prior to me replacing the rack, I doubt it took a s*** after that.