Alignment Help on Gen 3 Bronze Beauty...please!

Hey fellow forum members. I apologize for the length of this but for some who may be in the same boat and could gain some perspective on solutions and for those who can offer some help, please consider digging through this. Thanks in advance...really.

Here's the background. I have had the pleasure and frustration of of recently installing (second time) a front lift (Toytec Alumas replaced 6112's), new UCAs (TC) and sneakers/wheels (Nitto RG 285/75/17 & Icon Rebounds). This forum has been invaluable for helping me through the process--especially as a "weekend wrencher". All in all, the coil overs, which are set at 2.5", were a fairly easy install as well the UCAs. I recommend a helper for the UCA because of that long ass, 14" bolt. The new wheels required a little work on the front liner on the driver's side. Not so much on the passenger though. I had to remove the front flap, push the liner up. There was no need to cut anything. I just removed the screws and marked a new location for the innermost 10mm screw on the underside of the liner, drilled a new hole, pushed it forward and reattached. Then, since I still had a little bit of rubbing at full lock to the right, I used a heatgun and a softball to roll/reshape the liner where the tire was making contact. Voila! Again, the passenger side didn't really need anything but I still did the same thing to match sides--just in case.



My previous stock tires had taken a beating. Yeah, I know, I should have rotated them but was in the mind set that new UCAs and with my soon to be installed wheels, I lost all love for my stocks. As you can see from the pic here, the outer edge of my fronts were taking a hit.


Fast forward to today. I scheduled an appointment with Firestone for lifetime alignment thinking they will be able to help with the issue. Believe me when I say that I have read just about every thread on alignments trying to prepare myself for the process. Yup, I know, several have stated to find a decent 4x4 shop and others to stay away from Firestone and other chain shops. However, a number of members have suggested all has been good to go with the aforesaid. A 4x4v shop is hard to come by in my area. With that out of the way, this is where I am looking for some input. Below are the spec sheets as well as a pic of my cam bolt setting. According to the tech, the settings are maxed out. Pic is below. Forgive my ignorance, but I am at a loss in this arena. He said that in order to have the bottom of the tire pushed out, he would have to make other adjustments that would cause drift and likely make caster worse. Help! Take a look. Is he correct? Are there some recommendations? Do I need adjustable UCAs? Oh shit, almost forgot, the only thing he did was "straighten" my steering wheel. Which by the way was not off center IMO. I had no pulling nor drift on flat roads.

 

At 2.5”, you should have no issues getting the truck aligned properly. With that being said, those techs have no clue what they’re doing. They are just trained to hunt for green. They don’t understand how changing camber affects caster and vice versa.

With that being said, your alignment is shit.

Try and find a shop that does chassis and suspension work. You don’t necessarily need a 4x4 shop, you just need a place with experienced trained mechanics that understand suspension geometry.

Camber should be 0-0.2 and equal on each side.

Caster is ok. Depending on how your roads are, sometimes adding a few tenths more on the right helps the truck track straight if your roads are highly crowned.

Toe is just screwed up. Toe should be equal on each side with no more than a Total Toe of 0.15 and def not positive on one side and negative on the other lol.

 

Thanks. I agree the alignment is shit. Kinda knew that going in and even as a layman, can see the numbers are off. But...what the hell do I tell the tech to do???

 

Added...since I am being told it's maxed out.

 

You’re not maxed out at 2.5”. Your techs knowledge is the only thing maxed out.

 

This was the general consensus that I've always read on here. Our trucks(with lifts) are evidently ok on adding caster, as long as the other two are in acceptable numbers here. ...... anyone else can chime in if you have experience otherwise

 

Agreed! I took my truck to Les Schwab.

 

This is where I need some help. Based on what he showed my on the cm bolt, there is no more adjustment outward. So, what would need top happen with other adjustments to allow for movement of the cam bolt I pictured above?

 

Thanks. I'm on a +25 offset, have an 11.2 width on the tire and mostly drive back roads but definitely drive highway at least several times a month. The problem is that the tech is stating he cannot make the adjustment. Anyone out there with experience on "how to" make the adjustments would be awesome. I'd like to go back and have them fix it.

 

I’m running the toytec radflo at 3” in the front w same wheels and 315/70r17 ridge grapplers. I had toytec in colorado do mine and they nailed it. I can send you my alignment specs if it’d help any but Iv got the spc uca just because of the adjustability of the arm.

 

Yeah, looking at those as this reply came through. I was hoping to avoid buying another set of UCAs -- especially since so many folks suggest they aren't needed. They ain't cheap but neither are these tires! Anything you have to share is welcomed and appreciated. Many thanks.

 

Csuviper has total chaos uca’s on his and we have almost an identical lift. He might be a good source as to what he did to get the alignment on. It could also be the shop, we got lucky to have toytec just around the corner. I’m at discount getting balance and rotate and will send my specs sheet as soon as I’m back on it.

 

Sounds good. Thanks

 

Wow this thread concerns me. I just put on 6112’s at 1.9” with 1 shim per side, stock UCA’s and I’m waiting on the same wheel and tire size combo. I wasn’t expecting alignment issues or plastic trimming with that setup.

Hope you get it worked out.

 

Im running the same setup. Find a knowledgeable mechanic and you’ll be fine.

 

That's the same setup I replaced...6112s 1.9" with 1 CB shim on each. I had it aligned at the stealership immediately after. I brought in SoCal specs (I think that's who it was) and asked them to have at it. I was so new into the game I stupidly just assumed all was good. Nope! Outer edge wear big time. This is why I went with the TC UCAs. At least for now, I'm at a loss. Hoping for someone who actually cracks a wrench with alignments can give some direction. There seems to be successes and issues across the board for our trucks. Even with identical setups. As for the liner, it's really no big dea . All in all, minus research time in this forum and YT videos, it took 20 minutes.

 

I gave you specs to shoot for above.

The dealership probably didn’t use the specs you gave them. The outer wear was due to too much toe.

 

Thanks. It's not so much the specs but rather how to make the adjustment when the cam bolt setting is maxed out. As the pic shows, there is no more adjustment outward for the camber in my layman understanding. Speaking of camber, I was under the impression it was that it is too much positive camber which causes the outer wear not the toe. I thought the toe refers to the angle of the wheel on a vertical axis??? As in the wheels being pointed inward or outward from the front/rear vs leaning in/out. Am I wrong?

 

You're not maxed out though. You just need a knowledgeable person haha.

These trucks are designed for small amount of positive camber. Too much Positive Camber can cause wearing issues but it wouldn’t just be the outside edge and it would occur over the life of the tire, not within a couple thousand miles. If you have too much toe the wheels are pointing out so the outer edge of the tire is scrubbing the ground. These trucks in a lifted application with wider tires need to have the total toe brought in to less than 0.15. So 0.5 to 0.7 per side.