Wheel alignment

[Raj]

Dear All,

Took to wheel alignment today, there were reds all over, some are corrected and some left for next time as I went just before they were closing. However, I came across this strange wheel fitting as in pic where wheels are are not in straight line.
Is it common for Landcruisers to have this slight difference.
Like height control, is this something built into Landcruisers for off road performance. Visually we cant find any difference.

 

[Grimbo]

I would like to think that the distance front to rear centre axle line would be the same both sides....... so the arrow on the right would give me more concern than the one on the left which could be due to the rear ride height and the panhard rod....

It's why we fit adjustable ones when we fit lift kits.....

The difference in front and rear track is common and even more pronounced of the 79 series ....many people fit a widened axle to 79's as the track difference is a pain in soft going and unsettles the truck as the rear wheels fall in and out of the track left by the front wheels....it can feel like the rear axle is loose .

 

[Raj]

Thank you Grimbo, I will take the car back to garage in few days and ask them to sort this and get every thing aligned correctly. I am not driving the car so can wait for this to be sorted out.
Will we have these specifications and details in service manual?
I purchased Haynes AUTOFIX but its not mentioned in it. There is another Haynes full version of service manual at double price of AUTOFIX. Will it be worth getting that?
The garage I am going didnt work on LC200 but they are genuine and good guys so I might give them all the material so they can learn n sort it out.

 

[Grimbo]

Raj
Should add I'm no expert but to me all 4 wheels should be the same distance front to rear....

 

[GeekOKent]

Yeah Just symmetric, unless the airbags are doing something or the panhard is offset( is that even a thing?).

Otherwise different weigh and height rated springs on left and right?

 

[guyc]

The readings are giving a discrepancy of 2mm to 3mm over a distance of nearly 3m which equates to 0.1%. I don't know how accurate the measuring machine is.

 

[Raj]

By driving the car didnt notice any significant abnormality. It was only pulling slightly towards the left. 0.1% deviation might not be significant, I don't know.
Any way started reading about Panhard rod and what I understood was that there might be slight difference in tire to tire distances when they flex (eg in high, normal or low mode). If this is the case, the observed difference in symmetry could be normal.
Another thing I noticed is that there were many options to select for my model and when the mechanic asked me, I randomly asked him to select one of the VDJ200R-GNTEZW options and he selected below one.
eg. Landcruiser VDJ200R-GNTEZW w/Active Height Control High Full option DPF 01.2012..

Although the selected option is AHC High, car was in normal mode when testing. Could this be the reason for this deviation?
I will go and check what exact options they have.

My doubt is other options might be 'Low', 'Normal', 'Sport', 'Comfort and the tire dimensions and other numbers might change with the option selected. Can my assumption be correct?

 

[Raj]

Got car booked for 3 hrs next week n asked garage to sort all the wheel alignment issues. It’s been a while since I drove it properly. Hope to get the car ready before summer