Alignment completed, looking for advice now. Looking for possible en route alignment shop between Little Rock, AR and St. George UT (4 Viewers)

[TeCKis300]

On the short drive back to the laundromat where I left my wife, completely out of her element, it does drive much better. Not perfect, still a slight pull to passenger side when applying power.

Idk if it’s bushing or if a perfect alignment isn’t possible given the weight, build, and use case of my cruiser. It’s also completely possible that this is how it drove when I got it new after all the modifications and I have forgotten. What I do know is that once the alignment went out the first time I’ve been chasing the dragon ever since.

How would I best test this bushing theory?

It's hard to test bushings without pulling arms to directly examine. With bushings, it's really more a degree of wear. And how much compliance is normal versus too much.

The pull on throttle is likely normal to your setup because of lift. Remind me, how much lift do you have?

With lift, the panhard is at a steeper angle displacing the axle to the driver a bit. This also causes a thrust angle. If you look at your rear alignment, it shows a thrust angle of .53 which means that the whole axle is pointed to the passenger side slightly. In straight ahead driving, it's always crabbing to the passenger to some degree.

When accelerating, the rear will squat slightly, reducing the thrust angle, and this minor rear steer causes you to feel some pull to the driver.

If you're lifted 2-3", I would recommend a panhard correction kit (PCK) to fix the rear thrust angle and rear steer. Using an adjustable panhard is not the solution so many reach for because it's less about axle displacement than it is the sagitta of the panhard causing thrust angle to change when the rear axle height changes due to load/accel/decel/bumps.

 

[04UZJ100]

@Artie are your front UCAs stock?

 

[UPR LC]

Yeah, I was a little surprised to be greeted by the owner of the place with the first words out his mouth being “are you still under warranty?” Then describing the bushings. He said the same thing you did, “these usually don’t need replacing until 130k plus.”

I’m looking at my camper parked in the overflow of a hotel and it’s 85° and I’m about to hitch up. If I don’t die from exposure I’ll report back with the driving characteristics.

If you have a lift and had suspension work done, it is possible the suspension bolts at the bushings were torqued with the suspension extended (on a lift) instead of on the ground with the weight of the vehicle on the tires / suspension.

The bushings are "pinned" at the bolt and at the control arm interface and the rubber is twisting when the arm is moving relative to the mount. If the bolts are tightened when the suspension is drooped, just at ride height the bushing is being twisted instead of at its static position. Add further compression (towing heavy and squatting the suspension) the bushings are being twisted even more. This can lead to premature wear.

 

[Artie]

If you have a lift and had suspension work done, it is possible the suspension bolts at the bushings were torqued with the suspension extended (on a lift) instead of on the ground with the weight of the vehicle on the tires / suspension.

The bushings are "pinned" at the bolt and at the control arm interface and the rubber is twisting when the arm is moving relative to the mount. If the bolts are tightened when the suspension is drooped, just at ride height the bushing is being twisted instead of at its static position. Add further compression (towing heavy and squatting the suspension) the bushings are being twisted even more. This can lead to premature wear.

This is good to know and entirely possible given my history with alignments. First one didn’t torque to spec leading to cam tab issues later on. The next shop did 2 alignments but came recommended by fellow mudders and their work seemed skilled.

Next was having my cam tabs welded by a Toyota specific shop near me and they aligned at the same visit. I’m wondering if this could have happened then. It was only a couple thousand miles ago but I’ve had this issue since and had assumed it was due to the castor numbers they claimed to have put into the alignment. However, the before measurements yesterday did not match what the previous shop said they were at. This has me leaning towards their quality of work not being as good as I had hoped.

All the other suspension work was done when the vehicle was new and done by a reputable Cruiser shop.

 

[AcmeSys]

cross caster is higher than it needs to be. only takes ~15' on most rigs and you can always ask for them to set it to near zero if you are trying to control the variables and diagnose problems. rear end is reading off but I'd throw it on a different machine to confirm it before throwing parts at it.

 

[Artie]

cross caster is higher than it needs to be. only takes ~15' on most rigs and you can always ask for them to set it to near zero if you are trying to control the variables and diagnose problems. rear end is reading off but I'd throw it on a different machine to confirm it before throwing parts at it.

Making notes I’ll add your cross caster info on my sheet.

I didn’t think a stock rear end was adjustable. I do have the dr. KDSS track bar adjustment bracket with the panhard on the lower hole.

 

[AcmeSys]

the rear isnt really adjustable outside of mechanical damage or bushing wear - I'd check it on another rack before doing anything with it.

paint pen or torque seal your adjustment cams/bolts after adjustment so you can see if they spin. The LCA cam bolt torque spec is like 200 ftlb so don't be afraid to put a breaker bar on them and put some ass behind them yourself and make sure they don't walk.

 

[woody]

All the other suspension work was done when the vehicle was new and done by a reputable Cruiser shop.

I swear by SuperPro bushings. Run them on my 80, zero complaints.

I also swear by Pro Auto Care in St George, the only shop we trust with our Toyota/Lexus vehicles. @fj55-100 is on the forum.

 

[TomEf]

If you venture north enough to hit SLC, I'll send you to the best alignment guy I've ever dealt with.

 

[Artie]

If you venture north enough to hit SLC, I'll send you to the best alignment guy I've ever dealt with.

We are going to be very close to there. Regardless, send that info to me anyway as I keep a folder on Gaia with reputable and recommended shops.

 

[TomEf]

We are going to be very close to there. Regardless, send that info to me anyway as I keep a folder on Gaia with reputable and recommended shops.

https://alignmentsonly.square.site/

Russ is the man.