gregbreakseverything

After I installed the lift on the truck, I could definatly feel the alignment was out. It was alot easier to steer, and If one wheel hit ice, the whole truck would swerve to the side. A few days later I installed brand new 265/75 studded winter tires and got the vehical aligned with the new tires.

The truck handled better but I had my doubts that the truck was aligned right. The steering wheel isnt exactly straight, and it will pull slowly over the road hump.

So today I went back to the shop. The guy who aligned the truck came for a test drive. He made one critical mistake, he said his sister owned a 4runner, and it was the worst vehical he has even seen. I am in a area with maybe 10 toyotas in a land of domestics. Second, he says the vehical is probobly all over the road from the oversized tires. He read on my door where it says the stock tires are 225/75/15 or whatever, And I couldn't convince him that the stock tires were actually 265/70/16's. Anyways, after dissing toyota's and comparing it to loose ford and chevy front ends he tells me he didnt even touch any settings. Everything was perfectly on spec. By then I just wanted him out of my truck and I was pissed.

I took the truck to another shop and explained how I lifted the truck, put new tires on it and what the other shop said. He agreed that after lifting the truck, there is no way the truck can still be aligned perfectly, so he is going to take a look at it on wednesday.

The alignment print out from the shop seemed good, so I am not sure if they just didnt know how to take the measurments. I am wondering if anyone else's truck was magicaly aligned after lifting, or if there was always some adjustment on the alignment?

Thanks for letting me rant, this has been steeming me all day. By the way, its a 99 4runner SR5.

KyleT

nope, mine was waaay off when i lifted, had it done and its as close to perfect as you can get.

d0ubledown

mine was off too post lift, but the alignment fixed it. any shops out there specialize in 4X4's or medium duty trucks? take it there. dont go to some chain shops. usually the smaller independant ones will have the more knowledged techs...

UNR.Grad

Everything you could want to know about aligning a 3rd Gen.


https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f123/alignment-issues-cant-get-your-rig-aligned-after-lift-info-81538/

CJM

If you have one in your area use an STS, they are independantly owned and perated since the employees bought out the company. I have been to 3 different ones in my time and each one was run super wel and they alinged my camry and the t100 perfectly.

The guy also diagnosed my brake problem (I did have a clue it was the caliper) and even offered to check thealingment for free after it to make sure they got it right (another mech did the caliper work).

Failing that find a 4x4 or truck shop, or call around and explain the siuation. You will find someone who knows thier stuff.

MTL_4runner

Yep, mine was off too when I lifted it even just 1.5"

Hope you didn't take it to crappy tire.

gregbreakseverything

Ya, I ended up taking it to crappy tire. I knew it would be a mistake, but I walked into thier trap anyways. In this small town, there isnt much more than canadian tire and kal tire. And the kal tire guy was booked for a week. Hopefully this will all be figured out soon.

Thanks for verifying that the alignment will change with lift.

Whitey13

A friend of mine worked at Firestone during the height of the tire recall days. They used to manipulate those computer print-outs all day. They'd throw the car up on the lift, one guy would push the tires in or out manually until it was in "spec" on the computer and their boss would pront it out. Hard to trust people these days.