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caster maxed out on 97 4runner

Old 12-07-2004, 05:06 PM
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caster maxed out on 97 4runner

I went to get aligment for my modifed vheicel saftey check other wise known as Recon here in Hawaii. And the guy told me that I wont pass because my caster is maxed out How do i correct this so that I can pass the check. I was looking at come new control arms to fix the problome, will this work? Or am I barking up the wrong tree?

this is my setup 3"revtek, 2" 4crwaler body lift, 16x10 welds, 305/70/16 BFG TA Kos. The aligment guy said that the lift is whats causing all the problomes. Once my digtail camera come back to me,I'll post pics of my rig.

Thanks for the help with this guys.
Old 12-07-2004, 06:26 PM
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HEY MAN,

IF CASTER IS MAXED OUT ITS MAXED OUT.........ALOT OF THE TIME LIFTED VEHICLES CASTERS ARE MAXED OUT. IS YOURS NEGATIVE OR POSITIVE? IS THE CASTER ANGLE SUCH A BIG ISSUE IN HAWAI'I ?

GOOD LUCK
Old 12-07-2004, 09:47 PM
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Do you have diff drop spacers with your lift? I'm trying to picture whether this would help or not with the caster, but its too late at night. At a minimum, it'd help with your CV's. I think new control arms might be the way to go, but it seems odd that you're the only one that run into this with so many of us running 3" lifts. Maybe try bringing it someplace else?
Old 12-07-2004, 10:15 PM
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Thats what the aligment guy said. Here in hawaii your caster has to be with factory specs to pass the Recon check. As for the CVs I gots 2wd, so thats not an issue. I was looking at new arms, what company do you guys sugest? I was looking at the tacoma ones on AllPro
Old 12-07-2004, 11:16 PM
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caster in no way effects the vehicle other than it might make it pull a certain amount... and the fact that it wont pass because of that? sounds liek crap to me...... i used to do alignments... and hell 90% of cars on the road today have caster that is out of speck and half of those cant be adjsuted to within spec... its something you have t odeal with.... caster can be out due to a ton of reasons... has your truck ever been in an accident? a bent frame will easily screw caster to beyond adjustable limits...
Old 12-08-2004, 12:13 AM
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acutally yes, the truck has been in a accident but supposedly never recived any frame damage. The only reason that it wont pass is on the aligment sheet it shows that the caster is maxed out. And the Recon station wants the caster within stock specs. I dont like the laws, but have to abide by them. So will thoes new control arms fix the problome. The station is also complaing that my tires are sticking to far out, I agree. I gots to make some wide fenders for the truck. Anyone know whre I can get thoes really wide fenders they make for the older toyotas for my year?
Old 12-08-2004, 12:25 AM
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hanneman fiberglass.... glassworx i believe.. there are tons of places that have baja fenders....

also replacing the control arm is only going to help if your current control arm is what is bent....
Old 12-08-2004, 12:28 AM
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Thanks thats what I need to know. I dont need new arms to clear the tires, so Im safe with that. Where can I contact thoes places that make thoes baja fender flares. If you dont mind digging up the link, thanks man.
Old 12-08-2004, 12:44 AM
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http://search.yahoo.com/search?p=fib...gle=1&ei=UTF-8
Old 12-08-2004, 04:23 AM
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I think I would have told them to, [cartman voice] "...suck ma bawlz!!" [/cartman voice] Or is this something you MUST pass before you can get a new registration?
Old 12-08-2004, 06:40 AM
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He's talking about aftermarket upper A-arms which are longer than stock.

Last edited by Mad Chemist; 12-08-2004 at 06:42 AM.
Old 12-08-2004, 06:42 AM
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You might also have the frame checked for damage because it is rare to have the caster maxed out like that for no reason unless you have an extreme lift on your vehicle and nothing to correct the angle.
Old 12-08-2004, 07:46 AM
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You got to rember Im having firestone doing my aligmenet. I while back i purchased the lifetime aligment, so I figure I get my monies worth. There is a place here that specificly deals with lifted and lowered vheicels. I might check them out and see what they can do. I tracked the links down on top yahoo and found that they only make tacoma flares, once again 4runner owners are in the cold. I'll get my frame checked out when my mechanic has time, I hope theres no damage there. Thanks guys.
Old 12-08-2004, 09:30 AM
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hey man last resort is talk to the alignment tech and have him input a "custom" spec for your vehicle, so that your caster is in spec, your custom spec and the guys at the inspection place might not even know. unless they have every vehicles alignment specs memorized.

good luck
Old 12-08-2004, 10:15 AM
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Assuming you have a spacer lift, you have now done this: \ / to your wheels (although not as extreme as that) when they need to be like this | | You have to get longer LOWER control arms to correct this problem, or take out your spacers. I have this same problem with my 87 runner (though its torsion bars) but anytime you push down the top of the springs, you need to adjust the bottom out.

As a side note, a con of spacer lifts like that is with the wheels angled in, it will rapidly wear the outter edge of the tread, with minimal inner tread wear.
Old 12-08-2004, 12:50 PM
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The only way I think I could get a custom aligment spec is if Mr. Andrew Jackson did the talking. So what compaines do you guys recomend for the arms. I was looking at total chaos, the all pros, or camburg eng.
Old 12-08-2004, 04:37 PM
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Originally Posted by DeathCougar
Assuming you have a spacer lift, you have now done this: \ / to your wheels (although not as extreme as that) when they need to be like this | | You have to get longer LOWER control arms to correct this problem, or take out your spacers. I have this same problem with my 87 runner (though its torsion bars) but anytime you push down the top of the springs, you need to adjust the bottom out.

As a side note, a con of spacer lifts like that is with the wheels angled in, it will rapidly wear the outter edge of the tread, with minimal inner tread wear.
actually your talking about camber, caster is the forward or rearward position of the upper ball joint to the lower ball joint when looking from the side, caster is not a tire wearing angle but it can affect tracking, after i lifted the taco i took it in to get it aligned and the guy couldn't get caster in spec, the reason being that to get camber in spec he had to push my lower control arm out just about all the way with the eccentrics, thus he couldn't get caster in spec because Toyota didn't put that much adjustment in the eccentric holes
Old 12-08-2004, 04:38 PM
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Originally Posted by Bigkahuna808
The only way I think I could get a custom aligment spec is if Mr. Andrew Jackson did the talking. So what compaines do you guys recomend for the arms. I was looking at total chaos, the all pros, or camburg eng.
I wonder if it wouldn't be easier & a lot cheaper to remove the spacers, get your registration, re-install the spacers
Old 12-08-2004, 04:47 PM
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Not when Im running 33x12.5s it be imopssible to drive. Plus the alingment is required to get Recon for my lift. Everything has to be installed that I plan on running.
Old 12-08-2004, 05:54 PM
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I stand corrected...i was talking about camber. Are you sure there as no frame damage from the accident??

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