Wheel Alignment and Camber

Okay, need some advice before I replace my tires again.

I raised my front 3" with a spacer, rear 1.5" with a block and shackles, put on 34.8" Nittos and got it aligned. Little over a year later the front camber is clearly off as the outside of the front tires are severely worn into the sidewall (like wouldn't pass inspection) and feathered but the rest of the tire is fine. They are worn bad enough that I bought replacement tires and am getting ready to put on the new ones and get it aligned again. My mechanic (different one than I used before) said he may not have enough camber but will see.

Question: How far can you raise your stock front end with only a spacer before you have to get something extra to address the camber problem? I don't want to ruin a new set of tires and thought 3" was pretty safe. If 3" requires something else besides alignment, like a kit for the camber problem, what do you all suggest I add?

 

It may be a lot of toe-in causing your uneven wear as well, or a combination of the two.

At 3” lift, you may or may not run out of adjustment to keep camber and caster happy enough, your caster will almost certainly end up at the low end of spec at best.

There are a number of aftermarket upper control arms (UCA’s) to correct for the lift, I have no personal recommendation as I am too cheap, and too chicken, and left my 6112’s at the 1.9” setting to avoid this.

 

@landphil thanks for the response. Hopefully, I won't need to replace the UCAs, just to avoid additional cost. From everything I read before I lifted it, 3" was certainly a limit and may give me barely enough for alignment, but it seemed the norm minimum for most, with little effort, was a 3" front, 1" back. I added the shackles to the back for a better ride vs just riding on the block which gave me a little more than a 1" back, but my stance and rake are perfect, just sucks to ruin a $1k in tires in a year, so definitely want to get it dialed in this time. Thanks again.

Anyone else think I am looking at this wrong and have suggestions?

 

The problem is that the lower control arm bolts/eccentrics seem to come loose and the alignment goes away.
I have the 3/2 leveling kit on mine and the Toyota dealer aligned it at the time.
40,000 miles later my RF tire was cambered out and completely shot.

After installing the 37" BFG's I had it aligned again but at an offroad shop instead. They managed to get the camber to 0.0 but couldnt get enough caster adjustment with the stock upper arms. The caster was just a tad over 0 degrees. It drives just fine and at least the camber and toe are perfect so it wont eat $2k worth of tires prematurely.

In addition... after the last alignment was done... I tack-welded all the lower A-arm eccentrics so they dont move again.

 

@Dragracer_Art thanks, I did get new tires and and got it re-aligned and the toe was way off. I went to a different shop this time and they will recheck the alignment for free anytime I want as part of their warranty and I will probably do it no matter what every 6 months... they did get it to 0. I did since then find an offroad shop and will head to them next if this still falls out of line. The only comment they made to me that bothers me is that the recommended camber is invalidated with the lift. I have to look that one up, I only put in a 3" spacer. It is amazing how many times I look at my tires now and am hyper sensitive about any odd vibrations... to be expected when you have to replace expensive tires a year after mounting them.

BTW, wow 37" BFGs with a 3/2 leveling kit, did you have to do a body chop to get them to fit?

 

This is the way. I had to tack weld my eccentrics too.

 

I'm not sure if this part adds more camber adjustment, but SPC makes really good parts to solve problems like this. Might be worth a phone call to ask.

https://www.spcalignment.com/compon...Tundra&year=2017 - 2017&from=USAFrom&to=USATo

 

Yeah I chopped the mounts for clearance.
Camber should be 0.0" and that's where mine got aligned at. The upper arms just wouldnt allow the lowers to be pushed forward enough without making alot of positive camber.
I have a set of upper arms for it that ive been sitting on for almost 3 years now. lol
I will be installing a set of Bilstein 5100's in a week or two... so the upper arms will likely go on at the same time.

The biggest thing to keep an eye on is the eccentric washers on the lower arms. Take a magic marker or a center punch and mark them so you can just eyeball them occasionally. It only take one good pothole to knock them loose. Thats why I tack-welded mine. lol

 

They’re so complicated to use though.

 

Camber and toe are the one that eat your tires for breakfast. Most shops do toe and go because it’s easy and fast. Camber and caster takes a good while to do.