- Thread starter
- #1
I'm hoping some of you with more experience with the 4thgen Tacoma steering system can give me some ideas about what's going on with my truck.
I have a 2025 Tacoma TRD Off-Road, 4x4 Double Cab, 6-ft bed, completely stock, currently with about 7,700 km (4780 m) on it.
The steering rack was replaced early in the truck's life around 3000km . An alignment was done afterward. I get the truck back but the steering wheel is off to the right, i brought it back to get fixed and nothing changed still the same. I then went away for work for a while and my wife was driving the truck. When I came home, at around 7,000 km, I noticed the steering wheel was quite noticeably off-center. Like 2 Oclock off center. I go back for a 3rd alignment and no change.
My Toyota doesn't have their own alignment rack, so they send the truck to a different outside alignment shop for the 4th time . I had another alignment done, but afterward the steering wheel was still crooked.
The new shop has the newer Hunter equipment. They selected the proper 2025 Tacoma 4x4, rear coil spring, Type A/Type B without TRD lift kit profile.
This is where it gets interesting.
They attempted to align the truck three times. According to their written work order, each time the truck showed in-line and the steering wheel was straight at the end of the alignment. However, after each road test the steering wheel was off-center again. After three attempts they stopped and documented that they were unable to determine the cause.
Their final front measurements were:
Camber: +0.5° L / +0.7° R
Caster: +5.0° L / +5.0° R
Toe: +0.24° L / +0.24° R
Total toe: +0.47°
Steer ahead: 0.00°
The 5.0° caster on both sides is showing red on the Hunter machine. I realize equal caster side-to-side is good, but I'm also trying to determine whether 5.0° is actually acceptable under Toyota's factory specifications for this truck.
There's also a fairly substantial difference between the two shops' caster measurements. The previous shop measured +3.8° L / +3.6° R, while the newer Hunter machine measured +5.0° / +5.0°. Nobody intentionally adjusted the caster between those alignments.
I've also measured the exposed adjustment area at the outer tie rods.
Driver: approximately 24.5 mm (1 inch)
Passenger: approximately 19.3 mm (3/4 inch)
So there's roughly a 5.2 mm (1/4) difference. I understand the two sides don't necessarily have to measure exactly the same, so I'm not claiming this means something is wrong. I'm wondering whether that amount of difference is normal on these racks.
One thing I'm particularly curious about is the mechanical rack centering. I don't mean whether the rack housing itself could have been mounted off-center. I understand the mounting holes locate the housing.
I'm wondering whether the moving rack itself is at the proper midpoint of its total left/right travel when the truck is going straight, and whether the steering wheel, steering shaft and tie rods are all correctly positioned relative to that mechanical center following the rack replacement.
I checked total steering travel myself without adjusting anything and got approximately 2¾ turns lock-to-lock.
The truck is going back to Toyota tomorrow. The service advisor is going to personally look at it and try to determine what's happening. I'm not looking to tell Toyota what the problem is, I just want to understand what could cause a steering wheel to repeatedly end up off-center when an alignment shop can get it straight on the rack.
I'm particularly interested in whether there is a Toyota procedure for mechanically centering/indexing the rack during installation, whether my tie-rod measurements look unusual, thoughts on the 5.0° caster, and anything specific Toyota should be checking when they have it Tuesday.
Thank you for reading this long post
I have a 2025 Tacoma TRD Off-Road, 4x4 Double Cab, 6-ft bed, completely stock, currently with about 7,700 km (4780 m) on it.
The steering rack was replaced early in the truck's life around 3000km . An alignment was done afterward. I get the truck back but the steering wheel is off to the right, i brought it back to get fixed and nothing changed still the same. I then went away for work for a while and my wife was driving the truck. When I came home, at around 7,000 km, I noticed the steering wheel was quite noticeably off-center. Like 2 Oclock off center. I go back for a 3rd alignment and no change.
My Toyota doesn't have their own alignment rack, so they send the truck to a different outside alignment shop for the 4th time . I had another alignment done, but afterward the steering wheel was still crooked.
The new shop has the newer Hunter equipment. They selected the proper 2025 Tacoma 4x4, rear coil spring, Type A/Type B without TRD lift kit profile.
This is where it gets interesting.
They attempted to align the truck three times. According to their written work order, each time the truck showed in-line and the steering wheel was straight at the end of the alignment. However, after each road test the steering wheel was off-center again. After three attempts they stopped and documented that they were unable to determine the cause.
Their final front measurements were:
Camber: +0.5° L / +0.7° R
Caster: +5.0° L / +5.0° R
Toe: +0.24° L / +0.24° R
Total toe: +0.47°
Steer ahead: 0.00°
The 5.0° caster on both sides is showing red on the Hunter machine. I realize equal caster side-to-side is good, but I'm also trying to determine whether 5.0° is actually acceptable under Toyota's factory specifications for this truck.
There's also a fairly substantial difference between the two shops' caster measurements. The previous shop measured +3.8° L / +3.6° R, while the newer Hunter machine measured +5.0° / +5.0°. Nobody intentionally adjusted the caster between those alignments.
I've also measured the exposed adjustment area at the outer tie rods.
Driver: approximately 24.5 mm (1 inch)
Passenger: approximately 19.3 mm (3/4 inch)
So there's roughly a 5.2 mm (1/4) difference. I understand the two sides don't necessarily have to measure exactly the same, so I'm not claiming this means something is wrong. I'm wondering whether that amount of difference is normal on these racks.
One thing I'm particularly curious about is the mechanical rack centering. I don't mean whether the rack housing itself could have been mounted off-center. I understand the mounting holes locate the housing.
I'm wondering whether the moving rack itself is at the proper midpoint of its total left/right travel when the truck is going straight, and whether the steering wheel, steering shaft and tie rods are all correctly positioned relative to that mechanical center following the rack replacement.
I checked total steering travel myself without adjusting anything and got approximately 2¾ turns lock-to-lock.
The truck is going back to Toyota tomorrow. The service advisor is going to personally look at it and try to determine what's happening. I'm not looking to tell Toyota what the problem is, I just want to understand what could cause a steering wheel to repeatedly end up off-center when an alignment shop can get it straight on the rack.
I'm particularly interested in whether there is a Toyota procedure for mechanically centering/indexing the rack during installation, whether my tie-rod measurements look unusual, thoughts on the 5.0° caster, and anything specific Toyota should be checking when they have it Tuesday.
Thank you for reading this long post
Sponsored
