KevinInSac

It's obvious the camber is off a little in the front of my truck. Say you're looking at the front, my tires do this: \ /, which causes the outer edge to wear quickly. Of course the angle depicted is exaggerated, but you get the idea. I need to rotate my tires some time to keep them from wearing completely away. Is there anything I can do in my garage, or do I need to take it to an alignment shop?

olharleyman

Check S.D.O.R.I. there is a good wright up about doing your own at home Alignment and I believe it covers the camber and caster as well

Matt16

Caster angle (below) is not adjustable, but that is steering related more than anything else. I've never been able to consistently find that write up on SDORI and unless pictures were added since I was last there, it was beyond my comprehension at the time. Caster angle is what you're trying to modify.

KevinInSac

Oh boy. I think I came across something like that once before. If I remember correctly, it required a lot of measuring and tons of string...

Whoops. Thought it was called Camber...

Matt16

I should have picked a better picture, these are alignment terms:

Noltz

Woah... little misinformation above. Let's get our terms right!

Camber, Viewed from the front of the vehicle


Caster, Viewed from the side of the car


Toe, Viewed from the top of the car
http://www.autowarrantybroker.com/_i.../art_ToeIn.gif

Yes Kevin, the camber is adjustable, but I'd strongly recommend getting it professionally done. It's just not worth the hassle.

elripster

http://www.sdori.com/SDORI_4WD_Align...ions_Main.html

Everything you need to know to align your truck....

Frank

Matt16

Those instructions are going to have to be clearer before I ever buy BJ spacers (which I hope to someday, just can't afford an alignment too). I'm reasonably mechanically inclined, but I can't quite follow what you're saying in there as it seems like some little steps are left out.

I'll add specific questions when I have a change to plug in my laptop.

abecedarian

hmm...
yes you can adjust your own camber... and caster too.
the lower control arm has adjusters fore and aft which will let you move the lower balljoint accordingly, and which will affect your camber and caster depending upon how those adjustments are made.

personally, I'd focus on getting the front tires looking vertical (not leaning in or out at the top) and getting both front tires pointing parallel, then I'd take it to a shop for a proper alignment.
I wouldn't drive it more than the distance to a proper shop whether I trusted my adjustments or not.

KevinInSac

I'll leave her for now. Rotated the tires to keep them lasting a bit longer. The front had begun to show quite of bit of wear on the outer lip. Once I can get back from hosting and be a server (broken collar bone), I'll be able to afford an alignment.

Matt16

I didn't there were provisions for caster adjustment. It seems to be the least critical to have adjustibility as in order to tweak it, you'd have to do something pretty harsh. I'm assuming Toyota wasn't planning on compensating for saggy springs with caster adjustment- they would just replace the springs.

These adjusters move the lower BJ relative to the A-arm then?

abecedarian

if you adjust the rear lower a-arm adjuster inwards, it will pull the lower ball joint towards the rear and somewhat inwards.
if you move the forward lower a-arm adjuster outwards, it will push the lower ball joint outwards and towards the rear.
moving the lower ball joint towards the rear, or towards the front for that matter, will affect caster.

think about the triangle formed by the lower a-arm adjusters and the ball joint.

using both lower a-arm adjusters, you can move the lower ball joint around in nearly a circle.