Since it seems difficult, in many cases, to get an alignment done on these trucks that won't wear out tires, I've decided to create a thread to act as an alignment database.
In an effort to keep this thread clutter free, post alignment questions that are not answered here in a separate thread.
If information gets posted in that thread that isn't here yet, I'll link to it. I'll post up my recommendations for stock, lowered, and lifted trucks here in a single post, then people can post where they found a good (or bad) alignment shop. List the city, state, name of the shop, address, and phone number if possible.
For the most part, we want the tires to stand up straight and point ahead. Generally speaking, camber and toe affect tire wear, while caster affects steering return, pulls, and can cause the vehicle to follow ruts or imperfections in the road surface.
Zero camber means the wheel does not lean in or out when steered straight ahead. From the front, the wheels will look perfectly vertical. "| |" Positive camber means the wheels are closer to each where they meet the road than at the top. "\ /" Negative camber means that the wheels are closer together at the top than where they meet the road. "/ \" For most vehicles we want the camber slightly positive when on the alignment machine. Gen2 Tundras that are stock or lifted generally fight having too much positive camber. Lowered trucks struggle with having too much negative camber. (unless the front was lowered using drop spindles, in which case factory geometry is retained) Camber tends to creep negative over time due to fatigue of bushings, natural sag of springs, wear in moving parts like ball joints and wheel bearings, etc. Gravity works against camber. You can set camber at dead zero (straight up) then drive the truck around the block, recheck the camber to find that it is now -.1 degree.
Caster is best described by relating it to the front forks on a motorcycle. The invisible axis between where the wheel bolts on and where the tire meets the ground leans to the rear which makes the vehicle drive straight ahead with no effort or input from the driver. Caster is what makes your steering wheel return to center after making a turn. For stock trucks, achieving factory specifications for caster while meeting our goal for camber should be no problem. For lifted or lowered trucks, caster will be harder to achieve because we will use up most or all of the adjustment in the eccentrics to get the camber we want. I focus on camber first because poor camber wears tires. I let the caster basically fall where it wants. (within reason) I usually recommend that people ask for as much caster as allowed by the eccentrics without affecting their camber readings. Don't sacrifice camber to get more caster unless there is so much cross caster (the difference in caster from one side to the other) that it causes a pull. Typically the limit is no more that .5 degrees cross caster with less on the left. Vehicles pull to the side with the least amount of positive caster. We want less on the left to compensate for any road crown pull.
Toe is where the front tires point directionally. If they both point to one side, the vehicle will drive fine and not wear tires, but the steering wheel will be off center. If they point away from one another in the front they are toed out and the vehicle will wear tires on the inside and it may wander. If they point toward one another they are toed in. If you have too much toe-in the vehicle will wear the outside of the tires, especially when combined with too much positive camber. IMO, Toyota wants too much toe-in on these trucks. Between their camber specs and toe specs, many Gen2 trucks wear the outside of the front tires from the factory.
Remember...The numbers I'm posting are recommendations only, based on my alignment experience in general. I am not the "be all, end all" of alignments. Every vehicle does not react the same and sometimes the alignment specifications need to be altered for specific vehicles in order to get them to drive decent and/or not wear tires. Alignments numbers for stock, lifted, or lowered vehicles aren't really that different. The difference is what it takes to get those numbers given factory adjustment limitations. For stock and lifted applications, these numbers are within toyota tolerances. (I just narrow down their window of what is "acceptable")
So.......here's what I recommend.
STOCK TRUCKS:
Camber: +.1 degree camber on both sides.
Caster: As much as possible without sacrificing +.1 degree camber or causing a cross caster pull.
Toe: +.12 degrees per side for a total toe of +.24 degrees. (some guys have had to drop toe to +.04 to +.5 per side/+.08 to +.10 total toe)
LIFTED TRUCKS:
Same As Above ... BUT if you have wheels that have more negative offset than foctory wheels, increase the camber to +.2 degrees. (or even +.3 degrees if they just can't get there with the amount of adjustment allowed by the eccentrics) Adjustable upper control arms are available for cases where there just isn't enough adjustment left in the eccentrics to get a decent alignment. Although they are expensive, most guys with lifts have a lot of $$$ invested in tires so you need to make a judgement call.
LOWERED TRUCKS:
Guys that lower trucks tend to want it to handle the road like a Lambo so I'll give two recommendations. One for improved handling and one for improved tire wear.
Emphasis On Handling:
Camber: 0 to -.1 degree (watch for inside tire wear)
Caster: As much as humanly possible. Caster causes the front tires to lean into the turn. Installing adjustable upper control arms to increase caster can really make it stick in turns. High positive caster can make it follow ruts/imperfections in the road and cause it to creep toward "full lock" after turning half way to the locks.
Toe: +.12 per side for a total toe of +.24 degrees.
Emphasis on tire wear:
Camber: 0 to +.1 degree.
Caster: As much as possible. It won't affect tire wear and we tend to have a hard time getting good caster unless we use drop spindles.
Toe: +.12 degrees for a total toe of +.24 degrees.
In an effort to keep this thread clutter free, post alignment questions that are not answered here in a separate thread.
If information gets posted in that thread that isn't here yet, I'll link to it. I'll post up my recommendations for stock, lowered, and lifted trucks here in a single post, then people can post where they found a good (or bad) alignment shop. List the city, state, name of the shop, address, and phone number if possible.
For the most part, we want the tires to stand up straight and point ahead. Generally speaking, camber and toe affect tire wear, while caster affects steering return, pulls, and can cause the vehicle to follow ruts or imperfections in the road surface.
Zero camber means the wheel does not lean in or out when steered straight ahead. From the front, the wheels will look perfectly vertical. "| |" Positive camber means the wheels are closer to each where they meet the road than at the top. "\ /" Negative camber means that the wheels are closer together at the top than where they meet the road. "/ \" For most vehicles we want the camber slightly positive when on the alignment machine. Gen2 Tundras that are stock or lifted generally fight having too much positive camber. Lowered trucks struggle with having too much negative camber. (unless the front was lowered using drop spindles, in which case factory geometry is retained) Camber tends to creep negative over time due to fatigue of bushings, natural sag of springs, wear in moving parts like ball joints and wheel bearings, etc. Gravity works against camber. You can set camber at dead zero (straight up) then drive the truck around the block, recheck the camber to find that it is now -.1 degree.
Caster is best described by relating it to the front forks on a motorcycle. The invisible axis between where the wheel bolts on and where the tire meets the ground leans to the rear which makes the vehicle drive straight ahead with no effort or input from the driver. Caster is what makes your steering wheel return to center after making a turn. For stock trucks, achieving factory specifications for caster while meeting our goal for camber should be no problem. For lifted or lowered trucks, caster will be harder to achieve because we will use up most or all of the adjustment in the eccentrics to get the camber we want. I focus on camber first because poor camber wears tires. I let the caster basically fall where it wants. (within reason) I usually recommend that people ask for as much caster as allowed by the eccentrics without affecting their camber readings. Don't sacrifice camber to get more caster unless there is so much cross caster (the difference in caster from one side to the other) that it causes a pull. Typically the limit is no more that .5 degrees cross caster with less on the left. Vehicles pull to the side with the least amount of positive caster. We want less on the left to compensate for any road crown pull.
Toe is where the front tires point directionally. If they both point to one side, the vehicle will drive fine and not wear tires, but the steering wheel will be off center. If they point away from one another in the front they are toed out and the vehicle will wear tires on the inside and it may wander. If they point toward one another they are toed in. If you have too much toe-in the vehicle will wear the outside of the tires, especially when combined with too much positive camber. IMO, Toyota wants too much toe-in on these trucks. Between their camber specs and toe specs, many Gen2 trucks wear the outside of the front tires from the factory.
Remember...The numbers I'm posting are recommendations only, based on my alignment experience in general. I am not the "be all, end all" of alignments. Every vehicle does not react the same and sometimes the alignment specifications need to be altered for specific vehicles in order to get them to drive decent and/or not wear tires. Alignments numbers for stock, lifted, or lowered vehicles aren't really that different. The difference is what it takes to get those numbers given factory adjustment limitations. For stock and lifted applications, these numbers are within toyota tolerances. (I just narrow down their window of what is "acceptable")
So.......here's what I recommend.
STOCK TRUCKS:
Camber: +.1 degree camber on both sides.
Caster: As much as possible without sacrificing +.1 degree camber or causing a cross caster pull.
Toe: +.12 degrees per side for a total toe of +.24 degrees. (some guys have had to drop toe to +.04 to +.5 per side/+.08 to +.10 total toe)
LIFTED TRUCKS:
Same As Above ... BUT if you have wheels that have more negative offset than foctory wheels, increase the camber to +.2 degrees. (or even +.3 degrees if they just can't get there with the amount of adjustment allowed by the eccentrics) Adjustable upper control arms are available for cases where there just isn't enough adjustment left in the eccentrics to get a decent alignment. Although they are expensive, most guys with lifts have a lot of $$$ invested in tires so you need to make a judgement call.
LOWERED TRUCKS:
Guys that lower trucks tend to want it to handle the road like a Lambo so I'll give two recommendations. One for improved handling and one for improved tire wear.
Emphasis On Handling:
Camber: 0 to -.1 degree (watch for inside tire wear)
Caster: As much as humanly possible. Caster causes the front tires to lean into the turn. Installing adjustable upper control arms to increase caster can really make it stick in turns. High positive caster can make it follow ruts/imperfections in the road and cause it to creep toward "full lock" after turning half way to the locks.
Toe: +.12 per side for a total toe of +.24 degrees.
Emphasis on tire wear:
Camber: 0 to +.1 degree.
Caster: As much as possible. It won't affect tire wear and we tend to have a hard time getting good caster unless we use drop spindles.
Toe: +.12 degrees for a total toe of +.24 degrees.
