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another leveling nightmare

5K views 33 replies 13 participants last post by  BigNuge 
#1 ·
so- I HAVE RESEARCHED a bit, but couldn't find a definitive answer.

here's what happened-
2008 DC 4.7, 2x4

did the Rough Country 3/1 leveling kit.
followed ALL directions and everything went fine.
had Toyota do an alignment and thats when things went bad.
I also installed 20" Pro Comp 6066 rims and new 275/60/20 Cooper ATP tires- they were road force balanced and the rims were checked for run off specs.

Toyota tech that aligned it has been doing alignments for over 16 years- they actually told me wait until Monday so that he could do it.

steering wheel was pointed left slightly, didnt make a big deal, but then I found the truck drifting to the right.
after about 3 days the wheel was tilted even further left, and the truck was drifting right even faster.

I took it back to Toyota and they saw everything was in spec except for the steering wheel being tilted left.
they corrected it as much as they could without going out of spec too far. the tech was baffled- he blamed the tires, but then I had discount check them again after leaving and things were perfect.

here it is several days after the second alignment and it has again shifted the wheel left further than what it was before and it is still drifting right.

any ideas?????
 
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#2 · (Edited)
By some chance tightened something in a bind? Tie rods normally are what changes the steering wheel alignment. Hard to believe it is in spec and drifting.
 
#4 ·
Its been talked about here MILLIONS of times. Toyota doesnt know how to align lifted trucks. They go by toyota specs and they cannt. Find a true alignment shop that knows what they are doing. I lifted mines 6in and ask the guy about OEM specs and he said if he put it with in OEM specs i would be back to him before I got home. They have to know what they are doing and the toyota tech dont care just as long as everything is green on the screen.
 
#5 ·
thats where I agree, but dont agree. the tech at toyota is the tech that installs and aligns the lifts for the Tundras they sell from the dealer here pre-lifted. he is their MAIN alignment guy- even the other Toyota dealer here sends people with lifted toyotas to him to do the alignment.

I thought I looked good, but guess I missed it or just didnt find a solid answer.

would there be any other reasoning behind why it would drift right but the steering wheel be turned slightly left?
 
#6 · (Edited)
If they install lifts pay the tech to recheck the install for you. I would not think it would be more than a hour labor. It only took me a 1.5 hours to install mine. Sometimes a little money spent is better than having a screwed up truck. It still make question their ability if they blame it on wheels/tires (that could of easily been checked by a rotation anyways). Also you could get a second opinion and have it fixed and bring the bill back and question it. I don't know how much you paid. I paid less than a $100 for a reputable tire dealer that specializes on lifts and do the alignments also.
BTW did they give you a print out?
 
#7 ·
they had the print out, I didn't get it though. But yeah- I might give my truck over to Desert Rat here in Abq- they do most everyones lifts here. theres also 4 wheel parts here,

They did a rotation at Toyota too, that changed it slightly (according to the tech) but yeah- I am not a rookie with a wrench- I am very seasoned with mechanics, not necessarily the tundra, and not necessarily with trucks- Im more a luxury performance car guy myself- have a 650hp IS300 with a full 2jzgte swap.

but yeah- I think I'm going to take it to a seasoned off-road/lift shop and have them take a look.
 
#15 ·
#9 ·
Here's a simple do-it-yourself check for alignment. Get a helper and a spool of mason twine. Have the helper hold one end of the string tightly on the tread of the rear wheel right at the center and you hold the other end on the front wheel tread at the center. assuming all tires are the same brand the string should touch or nearly touch at 4 places on the sidewalls. By nearly touching I am talking maybe 1/16" inch.
A good alignment tech will have lasers or mirrors to do this with a bit more finesse. He should center the steering wheel first, lock it in position with a special tool that clamps on the steering wheel and has a padded adjustable foot to rest on the driver's seat. This holds the steering wheel tight while he adjusts the tie rods to bring the tires to the desired setting. Done properly by an experienced tech the steering wheel will be exactly level.
Like the man said take your truck to an independent shop that does a lot of this type work. They will furnish you a before and after print out of the alignment.
A steering wheel should never continue to "drift" out of position. There is a problem somewhere.
 
#10 ·
Thanks Dan-

that was a lot of good info. I'm just not really into alignment stuff. I usually get it close using the string technique prior to taking it to a place for the alignment (mostly on cars when installing coilovers) but never really took too much interest in the alignment side of mechanics.

I will ask toyota for a refund as they still havent gotten it right and take the truck to an off-road shop. Have them reinstall the kit and align it.
 
#11 ·
This is all too common. Sounds like your alignment guy was either confused or in a hurry. It's way simpler than it seems:

You can check his work yourself. Use a 'level' to see if your tires are standing straight up and down. Use a tape measure to make sure that your tires are toe'd in 1/8".

If all of the above is right, then you just need to rotate the tires and center the wheel. To center the wheel, just adjust the appropriate tie rods in order to steer the wheels towards where the wheel points in order to drive straight down the road. Give a call for further explanation.

Having the wheel not centered will cause the truck to pull and to wear the tires. Then, when the tires wear, the tires will cause pull and will compound with the pull of the wheel not being centered.
 
#12 ·
It never fails, the biggest frustration is alignment after lift /level. ESPECIALLY if they don't know what to do other then "in the green" as stated before. I had mine done 5 flipping times before taking specs to an alignment ONLY shop and said do this. And they came perty damn close!!
 
#16 ·
yeah- didnt get the specs from the tech-
i am more than believing he actually did work on it as when I took it to them it was not in alignment and when I got it back the first time it was pretty good. the second time wa sbetter.
I am scheduling it with a place that I was referred to by one of the best off-road shops in Abq. they were honest and said they don't like doing tundras, and so they send them all to this certain shop.

The thing that worried me the most was how the steering wheel got more turned to the left after driving for a week. Why would it tilt more????
 
#17 ·
I went through this.

I now have a properly aligned truck, and one really really worn out fuggin tire.

One tire is sooo worn it won't stand on it's own, it is that rounded.
Not sure how it is just the one, but it is.

This was all with a sheet that showed within yota's specs.

The shop I went to after that took two tries, likely because shiz was soo fubar'd.

First time too much off center wheel, they just thought it was straight, but after adjusting everything threw off wheel center.

Second time now wayyyy better.

Factory specs are really wide, and can have a shitty alignment but still be within specs.

You can also have a perfect alignment, but wheel off center.

Many shops will blame road crown.
 
#19 ·
If the wheel isn't straight, when u go down the road you have to hold it straight. This makes 1 side have positive camber and the other negative. Then the truck pulls towards the positive side. You steer against it and wear the tire. The tire wear causes it to pull even harder. And the snowball makes your tire bald and the truck drives like azz.

Super important that the wheel be nearly perfect centered.
 
#21 ·
update- Toyota totally screwed everything up:

Albuquerque Tire checked it all out- moved the tires, and showed me the old v new alignment.

Toyota had the toe pointed in on each side at .35 and .39!!!!!!!!!!!!!

needles to say ABQ Tire set things right, and everything is perfect now. My caster is out of spec due to the lift, but caster doesnt have a big issue on tire wear and only slightly impacts handling; so it is fixed!!!!!!! and drives straight, true and best of alllllll- the steering wheel is straight!!!!!!!!
 
#26 ·
I might be echoing this post.

If we are taking our trucks to an alignment shop, what do we tell them as the correct tolerances?
Toe, caster...

I have read dirtydeeds post stating 1/8" toe in and everything else will fall in place.

But what exact advice and numbers should we take to an alignment shop? Thanks!
 
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#29 ·
@silverdemon ... Sorry I didn't see this thread earlier, but in the future, go to Danny at action alignment. He's a straight up guy and knows his stuff and is super fair with his prices.His shop is down on Edith and Comanche ... He aligns all my stuff from the BMW to my hot rods, I've levelled my truck and two of my buddies and he aligns them perfect every time.
 
#34 ·
Really interested in the results! I think my drivers side wheel is going out...it just looks tilted out a bit, and I know the cams are maxed out.
 
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