Dilemma, Camber out on 120 series front left

[mgreen18 Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close mgreen18]

Hi Guys,

I just has some new suspension and a bar added through an ARB store to my recently purchased 120 series and after having a wheel alignment it has come back that the front left end is out.
Readings before alignment were positive 1.6 and fully adjusted it came back at just below positive 1.

Now where should I start at trying to find the problem.

I have just recently (2,000km ago) brought the truck and haven't noticed any pull to the left or any thing outside of normal in the steering. Has been driving perfectly.

Is there anything common item that may caused the front left to be out that much after being aligned to its maximum ?
shims, bent steering arm, cv joints, bent sway bar or anything along those lines ?

Or would it possibly be a bit deeper than that ?

I have no idea what may be causing this, the tyre bloke said nothing appears to be out of the ordinary without measuring it all up and the arb shop couldn't pin point any reason for it being out by positive 1 after being maximum adjusted.

To the best of my knowledge it hasn't been involved in any accident and all paintwork is original.

Any help or places to start muchly appreciated.

Thanks guys
Matt

[Steve M Addicted PP Member Find all posts View Profile Close Steve M]

What size lift did you have added ?? Mine is only a two inch lift technically, but it went up over 50mm both front and back. My camber adjustment is also at its max (I think they said 0.6) but within the specs. This was after I decided to have it checked the second time about 700k after the lift. I didn't trust what had been done so wanted to double check for myself at a different place. It was out 2mm prior to them starting so they told me (2nd wheel alignment place). I could get one of the spacers taken out and replaced with a smaller one to bring the front back down a bit this would also give me more camber adjustment BUT there all saying nothing to worry but Im still thinking about dropping it back down a tad in the front. I will need airbags in the rear this time as I find when Im towing the front comes up more then what my other two prado's did with OME and I never had bags on either of them.......Next time I will go back to OME again. I find the what I have a bit floaty I doubt your issue would be with the lift especially if you only went 50mm lift. I imagine they would have used HD (on the front especially) having a steel bar fitted as well although I had steel ARB winch bars on both the front of my 90's but only had medium rating.......What was the drivers side ??.....Cheers Steve

[Steve M Addicted PP Member Find all posts View Profile Close Steve M]

Should also say mine is measuring 795/797mm on the front and 820 at the rear. This is measuring from the lip at the bottom of the rim coming up through the centre of the hub to the under edge of the guards front and back.......Cheers Steve

[mgreen18 Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close mgreen18]

Thanks for the reply Steve.
The details are OME 50mm lift but the guys did say that it was slightly higher.
Springs were 885 in front.

Currently only have bar + compressor fitted so far so she is running a bit light at the front as I am yet to add in duel battery and winch.
Car has only travelled 50km since bar has been fitted but will rack up the 500km this Wednesday then go back to ARB.
Would you expect the suspension to settle once the extra weight is added and give a better camber on the treads ?
Cheers
Matt

[mgreen18 Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close mgreen18]

The extra weight or just get a few km's under the belt for it to settle in ?

[matt150 Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close matt150]

I always recommend when lifting a 120 to throw on some old tyres on the front and just drive it for about the first 2500 km or three weeks. Then once the front springs settle down, go back for another alignment and start the caster game, trying to get it back closer to stock. All Australian RH drive 120's wear the LHF tyres on the outer shoulders anyway, they are a bugger to get right generally. After 8 years if owning a lifted 120, this is the best advice I can offer..

[Turtle60 Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close Turtle60]

Camber issue

I always recommend when lifting a 120 to throw on some old tyres on the front and just drive it for about the first 2500 km or three weeks. Then once the front springs settle down, go back for another alignment and start the caster game, trying to get it back closer to stock. All Australian RH drive 120's wear the LHF tyres on the outer shoulders anyway, they are a bugger to get right generally. After 8 years if owning a lifted 120, this is the best advice I can offer..

I am certainly no expert but had a lifted 120 VX. All OME undercarriage. Everything was good but steering was not right. Just was skittish and would just want to deviate left and right (not grossly) but enough that wife refused to drive. 2 alignments, suspension all said OK but camber maxed out. I have since upgraded to 150 and intend to lift. But will not do a 2" inch lift but instead do a 1" lift and OS tyres. This will have the effect of 2" lift, allow proper shock travel and not bugger up camber. Am I wrong?
Research now shows aftermarket adjustable control arms that will give you total control over camber beyond that of spec. Stumbled on this searching fj cruiser parts and mods sourced from the US. Had I known about this would have had a crack at these. For around $700 bucks plus fitting.it would have been worth every penny. 120 and fj all the same stuff BTW.
Trouble with the McPherson strut is they don't like lift but we do it anyway because we'll you just gotta do it! Good luck.
Cheers

[Turtle60 Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close Turtle60]

Forgot. My proposed setup should get the pesky diff another inch higher too win win. Correct me if I'm wrong but 2" is max legal all up. Unless you get some engineering report. Try fjclub.com.au for castor correction control arms.

[Turtle60 Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close Turtle60]

http://fjclub.com.au/adjustable-uppe...or-fj-cruiser/ Try that.

[Peterpilot Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close Peterpilot]

Dilemma, Camber out on 120 series front left

Those UCAs are also available in the Pradopoint store: http://store.pradopoint.com/wholesal...-control-arms/

There is a discussion thread here: http://www.pradopoint.com/showthread.php?t=28477

[mjrandom Out of control poster! Find all posts View Profile Close mjrandom]

Matt you need to post your heights for us to work out where your front suspension is. Measure from the bottom of the rim to the top of the guard. Should be somewhere between 795 and 805 plus or minus 10. I am guessing that you are right on the top end at 815 or more and that will be what is causing the issue. Big lifts needs adjustable UCAs to get camber under control. You also need to have a look at the front drive shaft angles and see how much they are running up hill. As Matt (Mr 4x4) has said you can get an alignment once the springs and suspension settles and it is usually ok but if you are high you will struggle.

[mgreen18 Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close mgreen18]

Sorry guys, been offline for a bit.

My heights are as follows measured at 800km after fitting,

front right: 810mm - no change
front left: 800mm - was 805mm at fitting
rear right: 820mm - was 825mm at fitting
reaf left: 815mm - no change

Does anything look suss with these numbers ?

I have since done a Nullarbor trip but haven't had the chance to re-measure this, only the 800km after being fitted.

Will be going in for a wheel alignment next week also.

thanks fellas