Alignment with lift? (1 Viewer)

[wingshooter8800]

After a search of this topic, i cant seem to find any help with what an alignment spec should look like after a 2" lift? My local Toyota dealer says he cant get my caster past 2.75 degrees, without pushing the camber out of wack. The ride is still a bit squirrely on the highway and especially with wind or with towing. I have read where the caster should be out at least 3 degrees and some push it to 4?

I have a Dobinson 2" lift w/ C59-547 springs in the rear, which push the lift more like 3". I have installed the Dobinson UCA's which supposedly give you a 3 degree caster built in.

What other parameters have to give in order to achieve good tracking? Does the camber or toe have to be outside the "Toyota spec" to achieve the most caster?

Appreciate any input.

Joe

 

[WCDAVE]

Similar boat. My alignment was done by a local shop who installs what they sell, but is not really a mechanical shop. I made an appointment with a known 4x4 shop a little further afield from me, but they did not have an appointment until mid September! Hopefully a good sign. I will make it a point to get and post here the pre and post alignment printout. I too have a Dobinsons 2" lift, but with SPC UCAs. It is obvious that camber is positive significantly and the LCA cam bolts are adjusted such that the diver's front is inset over 1" more than the passenger front wheel. For all of that it drives straight and I like the overall ride of the suspension, but going around turns is an adventure. I still have stock tires on while I am waiting (and waiting) for the KM3s I ordered, so the tires are not the issue (at least not yet).

Here's a video from the shop I am scheduled with:

 

[TLC2013]

These alignment specs worked great for me after my 2" lift and UCA. I dont tow so I honestly havent noticed much differnce in driving when the caster flucuates between 2.7 and 3 degrees. I take this alignent printout with me and have the shops duplicate this or get close to it. So far so good.
I'd reccomend finding a dedicated aligment and frame shop and have them dial things in. With your UCAs you should have no problem getting above 3 degrees of caster and neutral or negative camber.

 

[wingshooter8800]

Similar boat. My alignment was done by a local shop who installs what they sell, but is not really a mechanical shop. I made an appointment with a known 4x4 shop a little further afield from me, but they did not have an appointment until mid September! Hopefully a good sign. I will make it a point to get and post here the pre and post alignment printout. I too have a Dobinsons 2" lift, but with SPC UCAs. It is obvious that camber is positive significantly and the LCA cam bolts are adjusted such that the diver's front is inset over 1" more than the passenger front wheel. For all of that it drives straight and I like the overall ride of the suspension, but going around turns is an adventure. I still have stock tires on while I am waiting (and waiting) for the KM3s I ordered, so the tires are not the issue (at least not yet).

Here's a video from the shop I am scheduled with:

Thanks Dave, very informative. The local Dealer told me that they just could not get the caster to go any higher, not sure why, hopefully nothing is seized with the cam bolts. I am going to a local Schwab Tire shop who claims to have a Hunter machine and experience with lifts, fingers crossed.

 

[wingshooter8800]

These alignment specs worked great for me after my 2" lift and UCA. I dont tow so I honestly havent noticed much differnce in driving when the caster flucuates between 2.7 and 3 degrees. I take this alignent printout with me and have the shops duplicate this or get close to it. So far so good.
I'd reccomend finding a dedicated aligment and frame shop and have them dial things in. With your UCAs you should have no problem getting above 3 degrees of caster and neutral or negative camber.
View attachment 2742983

Ya i would be good with this!

 

[dcs111]

I need to look at my last alignment report as I am in similar boat...

 

[Lester did that]

Good chance you need adjustable UCA's. It gets difficult or impossible to get your alignment numbers with out them after a certain point of lift which I think you hit.

If you have a 4x4 mechanic in your area I would highly recommend taking it in to them. They are used to working on lifted vehicles and know about some work arounds with getting the alignment perfect. Dealers and regular mechanics just don't have this kind of specific knowledge. It's an art.

 

[wingshooter8800]

Good chance you need adjustable UCA's. It gets difficult or impossible to get your alignment numbers with out them after a certain point of lift which I think you hit.

If you have a 4x4 mechanic in your area I would highly recommend taking it in to them. They are used to working on lifted vehicles and know about some work arounds with getting the alignment perfect. Dealers and regular mechanics just don't have this kind of specific knowledge. It's an art.

I have installed the Dobinson UCA's which supposedly give you a 3 degree caster built in

 

[FerrisBueller]

You should have been able to get the caster you want. With my Total Chaos UCA (with some similar amount of caster built in), NTB put the caster at +4.8 and said they couldn't go any lower... but when I checked out the cam bolts I saw they were just being lazy - and in fact they had them set to the maximum possible caster. They only wanted to adjust one single bolt to make both sides symmetrical. So I manually adjusted the bolts to get the caster down (and tried to make the toe even) and took it back in. That time around my caster was at 2.4 degrees (which is technically in spec) and they got everything "green".

This just goes to show that:

• the alignment folks can sometimes claim something just because they're lazy, and
• quite a wide range of caster should be available to you (and getting around +3.0 should be easy)

My caster at 2.4 actually isn't squirrelly at all. When it was at 4.8 it was a bit squirrely, and felt fairly rough. I think your 2.75 should be okay, so maybe it's one of the other dimensions that's out of whack?