LC200 Alignment Question (9 Viewers)

[Mingus Dew]

There are a ton of threads about alignment in the archives and lots of helpful information out there, but it’s a bit hard to parse for me as someone that doesn’t know much about proper alignment on these vehicles.

This could also be a useful place for general alignment questions and discussions.

My vehicle was drifting VERY slightly to the right previously (honestly it may have been the natural slant of the road) and an alignment was on my list of post-purchase maintenance items anyways.

Spec sheet below. The drift is maybe still there but it’s super faint. Smile and drive or should I ask the alignment shop to correct some stuff?

Edit: to clarify, no lift, stock suspension.

 

[Mingus Dew]

So the more I look into this (going down the rabbit hole of course…), it seems like my thrust angle and rear toe are way too high.

Hoping this doesn’t indicate something wrong with suspension components…

 

[Artie]

So the more I look into this (going down the rabbit hole of course…), it seems like my thrust angle and rear toe are way too high.

Hoping this doesn’t indicate something wrong with suspension components…

I’m probably the last person you want to have chime in on alignment as I believe I’m the most unlucky alignment recipient on the forum.

That being said, I also have a higher rear thrust angle and I mostly feel the pull to that side while under acceleration.

How is your drift manifest? At all times or more when accelerating?

I’ll add that you have more caster on the right side before and after alignment and this can cause it to pull.

 

[Mingus Dew]

I’m probably the last person you want to have chime in on alignment as I believe I’m the most unlucky alignment recipient on the forum.

That being said, I also have a higher rear thrust angle and I mostly feel the pull to that side while under acceleration.

How is your drift manifest? At all times or more when accelerating?

I’ll add that you have more caster on the right side and this can cause it to pull.

You are exactly the person I want to hear from given your recent experience. Appreciate you taking the time.

Drift seems to be at all times. Like I said it’s very slight and not something you’d really notice unless you were specifically testing for it.

Noted on the caster, although a few of the threads I read suggested that you want 0.3 to 0.5 more caster on the right than the left. Not sure why admittedly.

P.S. I hope that you are through the worst of it with your troubles and you’re back to enjoying your rig in its fully glory. Seemed like that from the last post in your thread and it was cool to see the community step up!

 

[Artie]

You are exactly the person I want to hear from given your recent experience. Appreciate you taking the time.

Drift seems to be at all times. Like I said it’s very slight and not something you’d really notice unless you were specifically testing for it.

Noted on the caster, although a few of the threads I read suggested that you want 0.3 to 0.5 more caster on the right than the left. Not sure why admittedly.

P.S. I hope that you are through the worst of it with your troubles and you’re back to enjoying your rig in its fully glory. Seemed like that from the last post in your thread and it was cool to see the community step up!

Again, I know enough to just get myself in trouble. Looking at your before and after numbers, it looks like the only thing they corrected was the toe… also known and the “toe and go” alignment…

Since you have the same issue as before my gut tells me it’s the caster. While your cross caster allowance of .3-.5 may be correct, I’ve also been told to aim for as low as .15 or even square them up. The reason for the difference has been explained to me as correcting for the road crown but I’ve also heard that this is not necessarily true either.

Since you’re going down the alignment rabbit hole may I suggest grabbing a tape measure, or even using your hand, and seeing how the rear tires square up to the bumper or rocker panels. If one side is close to the rocker or bumper than the other than this could cause your cruiser to crab walk which would make you correct with steering input.

I’m sure more wiser than me will chime in and you and I with both be taking notes. A big issue mine was having was solved and it definitely came from help I received on here. I’m still having some pull to the right and I believe it’s due to my rear thrust angle. We just got home today so I have plenty of maintenance that’s now due so I’ll be under there this weekend doing fluids and checking over things.

 

[LCH21]

I have had my LC aligned five times as it pulls to the right. Done this since I bought it with two miles on the odometer. The first three times were under warranty at two different dealers. I don't remember where the fourth was done. It was some independent shop. The last alignment was done at Les Schwab a week ago and the alignment guy told me that he has recently seen three other LCs with the same complaint: pull to the right. He said that he put in a "left split" in my alignment and did not want to go any futher as that would cause tire wear. He told me that he thinks it could be a manufacturing issue / defect. It's better, but still has a slight right pull. On long drives, it will drift right if I'm not giving it constant attention. Really annoying.

 

[Boston Mangler]

Unpopular opinion here, but numbers vary by region if you want no “drift”

Example, here in SoCal, are roads and freeways sre crowned more than many other places I’ve driven.

So if you drive on a flat airport runway, you might be straight as an arrow. If you drive in the right lane of a SoCal freeway, you’ll probably drift slightly right, if you drive in the left lane here, you’ll probably drift left, because of the crown of the roads for drainage.

They’re usually pitched 2% here

Hard to compensate for when most “techs” just go off their computer numbers.

We have a few OG alignment shops in town that get it to “spec” and then tweak a little for road crown. Some people think I’m nuts (which I might be) but it makes a difference

My random .02 of the day

 

[Sandroad]

I also have a slight drift to the right. Knowing it can be caused by tires, I rotated and it didn’t make a difference. My local dealer has left the steering wheel off center after every alignment and I don’t know any independent shops where the tech would be familiar with an LC. Since tire wear is excellent, the suspension is ok, and the drift is so slight, I’m going to leave it alone on the premise that messing with things can cause more problems.

 

[Boston Mangler]

I also have a slight drift to the right. Knowing it can be caused by tires, I rotated and it didn’t make a difference. My local dealer has left the steering wheel off center after every alignment and I don’t know any independent shops where the tech would be familiar with an LC. Since tire wear is excellent, the suspension is ok, and the drift is so slight, I’m going to leave it alone on the premise that messing with things can cause more problems.

Find a 2 lane road, preferably in middle of nowhere and drive on the other side of it for a minute, obviously make sure no one is around. I’ll bet it drifts slight left due to crown

 

[Artie]

I see several saying that a slight pull to the right is just a quirk of this platform. It would then make sense that Toyota has you rotating the spare on the right side only as they would have a slightly larger diameter from less wear which would cause a slightly leftward push.

It’s also completely plausible I’m grasping at straws here as I’m only one cup of coffee in so far…

 

[AcmeSys]

snip....

Since you have the same issue as before my gut tells me it’s the caster. While your cross caster allowance of .3-.5 may be correct, I’ve also been told to aim for as low as .15 or even square them up.

15' (minutes) is 0.25 degree

Find a 2 lane road, preferably in middle of nowhere and drive on the other side of it for a minute, obviously make sure no one is around. I’ll bet it drifts slight left due to crown

the reason I prefer zero cross caster is it can conceal issues and for the reason noted above - not all roads are crowned to the right ditch and cross catering generally annoys me when I drive

 

[Mingus Dew]

Thanks for all the replies everyone. I was less than impressed with this alignment shop so I’m going to just leave things alone for now. I plan to go to Palm Beach Toyota early next year to do a full fluid replacement on the truck (tranny, power steering, transfer case, differentials, coolant) and will ask about the alignment (and especially the caster) at that time. Supposedly they have some master techs that are familiar with 200s. Fingers crossed.

In the meantime, I would be interested to learn why the thrust angle on my and @Artie’s truck is so high. My understanding is that normal angle is between 0.0 and 0.2. And I’ve definitely seen other alignments on here that achieve that (including with lifts).

I know there is not much you can do to adjust rear alignment outside of replacing suspension components so it is what it is I guess.

P.S. I think we have a lot of road crown in South Florida as well. During the summer the streets flood after every afternoon storm.

 

[LCH21]

For what it is worth, here are the last alignment numbers for mine:

It has a 1.2 split to the left.

 

[AcmeSys]

the front end is basically all 100% xk50 tundra- there is no LC golden calf wizardry living in there- if they can align a tundra, they can do a LC. your last shop did a s*** alignment. find the place that the SCCA and track or semi trucks guys use. I prefer actual frame shops. their guys actually know the angles and how to measure/tune since they are hydraulically straightening bent frames.

fun question for alignment shops- how accurate is their system and when was the last time it was calibrated with a jig? how is a bubble level spindle tool better than the $75k rack and magic laser? take the $100 bet - drive the rig for 10 minutes and put it back on the rack and see if it reads the same chassis angles (+/-)

 

[Mingus Dew]

For what it is worth, here are the last alignment numbers for mine:

View attachment 3933379

It has a 1.2 split to the left.

I’d say you have a high thrust angle as well, although not as bad as Artie and me. Another data point.

 

[Mingus Dew]

the front end is basically all 100% xk50 tundra- there is no LC golden calf wizardry living in there- if they can align a tundra, they can do a LC. your last shop did a s*** alignment. find the place that the SCCA and track or semi trucks guys use. I prefer actual frame shops. their guys actually know the angles and how to measure/tune since they are hydraulically straightening bent frames.

fun question for alignment shops- how accurate is their system and when was the last time it was calibrated with a jig? how is a bubble level spindle tool better than the $75k rack and magic laser? take the $100 bet - drive the rig for 10 minutes and put it back on the rack and see if it reads the same chassis angles (+/-)

You are not wrong. They did the bare minimum as far as I can tell. Live and learn I guess.

 

[Artie]

You are not wrong. They did the bare minimum as far as I can tell. Live and learn I guess.

Don’t beat yourself up, I did the same thing with my first alignment, it lead me to needing my cam tabs welded. I’d be more concerned with that shop properly torquing the LCA’s to spec, it’s worth checking. 207ft lbs.

 

[Mingus Dew]

Don’t beat yourself up, I did the same thing with my first alignment, it lead me to needing my cam tabs welded. I’d be more concerned with that shop properly torquing the LCA’s to spec, it’s worth checking. 207ft lbs.

Will have to figure that out. Fun stuff.

 

[Mingus Dew]

Well the cam tabs are not ****ed at least so I’ll take that as a win. I will figure out whether they were torqued properly next week.

Dumb question - all 4 bolts get torqued to 207?

Luckily this is my second car at the moment so I’m just going to avoid driving it until I can confirm.