Wheel Alignment

Generally speaking they need aligning regularly if you get off the bitumen a lot. Have a look at the inside and outside edges of your front tyres and make sure the edges of the treads aren't wearing more than the centres of the treads. Excess wear on either edge could mean the alignment needs a going over.

80 Series 'Yotas have a soild axle on 'em so the "toe-in" & "toe-out" is about the only thing that can be realigned without "major surgery".

After experiences with my previous 100 series 'cruiser, that was IFS, I wouldn't go to Toyota to get it done. Toyota workshops only set 'em up to factory specs and this is often not suitable for Australia's highly cambered roads. OK in Japan or Europe but not here. Toyota's did mine at first when it was out of spec, but nothing changed. And it was within factory specs when I got it back! It still scrubbed out the passenger front tyre - a common fault with 'em.

If you're in Perth, WA, go to Barry Curnow at O'Connor. He's tops on setting up 4WDs the way they should be. He did a top job on my 100 series. It made a hell of a difference to the way it drove.

I'll be taking my "Chevissan" there soon as it's scrubbing one front tyre slightly.

Bilbo

i dont think theres any certain ks to re align 4bys.
get it done initially by someone that knows what there doing and should really need checked untill you notice odd tyre wear,
i done the jack over 2 yrs ago hard some hard work and still not scrubbing.
done my patrol and 4 yrs later still no odd wear.
as i said if its done right the first time.
cheers

BayBreeze
All 4x4 will scrub tyres doesn't matter what you do you'll never stop that !

You don't need to do alignments the toe in and toe out will not change unless you bend a steering arm (hitting a rock or stump ect)

The camber will change as your front swivel hub bearings wear. The only way to adjust this is to replace the swivel hub bearings or pit shims in with the bearings (fair size job)

You will know when the swivel hub bearing are worn by Excessive wear on the inside and out side edges of the tyres you will also have grease all round the swivel hub assembly and sprayed all over the inside of the front wheels

My opinin is if you havent already

Get an alingment and make sure its within specs.
Keep and eye or tyre wear to make sure its fairly even
Rotate your tyres evey 10 000kms

Get your next alingnment done when you fit new tyres

I have done 132,000 odd ks in the Jackaroo and it has only ever had one alignment at 85000k, when it was still in spec. Just before the alignment I had fitted higher rear springs and stronger torsion bars and cranked them up higher than standard, so I figured that would put the alignment out for sure, but it hadn't.

From 85000 to 120000 the tyre wear was totally even, and then I put newies on for the Cape York trip, 12,000k and the new tyres are also wearing perfectly evenly.

I don't really think a routine alignment is necessary, but routine inspection of tyre wear is a must - if you see any uneven wear, feathering, etc that looks wrong the alignment should be checked.

There are a multitude of ways that an 80 or 100 series LFA can be adjusted - but all involve money and modifications. After-market caster and camber eccentric bushes and bearings can be added; adjustable panhards front and rear as well as rear arms. It all depends how deep the wallet and how bad the problem is. How do I know all this? Just done the research - my LC100 has a "crabbing" problem with associated wear on the tyres etc. As well as jacking the suspension up I may have to add some of the above mods to deal with the excessive tyre wear that I have experiencing at the moment...

What has to be emphasised though is that tyre wear is also affected by driving habits - and I am very much part of the problem here :) I tend to regard corners as a minor abberation in a straight road and to be dealt with as soon as possible...

So for starters to-in needs to be checked and that is the simplest - and I would do that every 10,000-20,000 or so, how often depends on wear trends and where you drive (rough roads will upset wheel alignment, potholes etc); check also for worn bushes, sloppy steering etc but that depends on age and mileage...

/viz