shim kit for rear axle

[tumbleweed]

I need a shim kit to correct a toe-in/toe-out problem with the rear axle of my 2005 Prius.

The local dealers haven't heard of shim kits for the Prius and tell me Toyota doesn't know about them either.

Several people who post here have mentioned them so they obviously exist, can anyone help please?

I have emailed Mark Jacobson Toyota in Durham, NC and Tracy Toyota in Tracy, CA but have received no replies, at least not yet.

[hobbit]

Interesting. There's only a repair manual section for "real wheel
alignment inspection", not actual adjustment. Are you sure something
isn't simply bent?
.
_H*

[tumbleweed]

Thanks for the reply hobbit. Here is the whole story which I posted yesterday but I didn't get any replies. From previous post:

"The left rear of my Prius was toed in to .35, the specification is .03 to .28. The right side was .16. So the left side was definitely out of spec. The local dealer, who has been very good to work with, admitted they didn't know what to do so they called Toyota and were told to "replace the axle beam."

Note: the car drove great when it was out of spec. I only discovered it was out because I had the alignment checked before installing new tires.

They replaced the axle beam and the toe is now .18 on the left side and .04 on the right side. The left side is now toward the middle of the range; the right side is almost toed out to far but is still within spec.

As soon as the axle was replaced the car developed stability problems at highway speed that it just didn't have before. This shows up mostly when the wind is blowing. I know all Prius are a bit unstable in the wind but this goes beyond that requiring almost constant steering corrections. I replaced the tires a week or so after the axle was replaced which helped a lot but things are still just not as good as they were before.

Some other information: Toe in the front is +.03 on each side. All other alignment data is close to the middle of it's range. I have had the alignment checked on 2 good Hunter machines and they agree with each other, at least they are pretty close. I have a bit over 16,000 miles on the car so I know how it should feel and it went from very good to quite unstable when the axle beam was replaced."

Well my thought was to try to shim the right side and put it in the middle of it's range like the left one is. Maybe this is not what I should do? This seems a little beyond what the local dealer wants to think about so they have made no suggestions. I fear I'm on my own with this but I am willing to do what needs to be done to make the car drive like it should again. Problem is I just don't know for sure what to do.

[hobbit]

It went unstable after the alignment was brought closer to spec?
Sounds like they screwed up the beam install somehow. Sorry, this
is starting to sound like a comedy of errors with Toyota not really
caring about the outcome. But if they left something loose or off
during the replacement, it *is* their problem.
.
Some of the alignment for the front involves installing certain
combinations of specially-different diameter knuckle bolts, and
ramming the mounting holes to one extreme of their play before
torquing down. Map this concept to the rear axle. Maybe the techs
introduced some weird bias by having bolt-holes aligned relative to
each other one way at one side, and a different way at the other?
Just that much play can evidently make half a degree of difference.
.
_H*

[galaxee]

tumbleweed, who'd you email at jacobson? any specific name? service manager or general service department person?

i don't know if they've done any commercial shim kits, but DH was looking into a kit for our car until he said f it and did a custom job. i'm sure he could find something, he had a couple things in mind.

i'll also try to get DH's opinion on the situation, provided he stays awake long enough after dinner tonight...

[tumbleweed]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(hobbit @ Jun 13 2006, 04:54 PM) [snapback]270798[/snapback]</div>

It went unstable after the alignment was brought closer to spec?
Sounds like they screwed up the beam install somehow. Sorry, this
is starting to sound like a comedy of errors with Toyota not really
caring about the outcome. But if they left something loose or off
during the replacement, it *is* their problem.
.
Some of the alignment for the front involves installing certain
combinations of specially-different diameter knuckle bolts, and
ramming the mounting holes to one extreme of their play before
torquing down. Map this concept to the rear axle. Maybe the techs
introduced some weird bias by having bolt-holes aligned relative to
each other one way at one side, and a different way at the other?
Just that much play can evidently make half a degree of difference.
.
_H*
[/b]

You may be right, I'll go talk to them tomorrow and see if I can persuade them to take a look at it again. I would like to loosen all the bolts and re tighten them again and see what happens to the alignment numbers.

The problem is now that it is in spec they are convinced their job is done. They won't take the time to drive it far enough to understand what is wrong.

[tumbleweed]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(galaxee @ Jun 13 2006, 05:09 PM) [snapback]270809[/snapback]</div>

tumbleweed, who'd you email at jacobson? any specific name? service manager or general service department person?

i don't know if they've done any commercial shim kits, but DH was looking into a kit for our car until he said f it and did a custom job. i'm sure he could find something, he had a couple things in mind.

i'll also try to get DH's opinion on the situation, provided he stays awake long enough after dinner tonight...
[/b]

Thank you Galaxee. I sent my email to parts@toyotaofdurham.com, that is the address on their web page.

I know DH must be very busy but perhaps you could ask him if he remembers what he used for shims, where he put them, and if he would care to guess how thick they would need to be to change it a tenth of a degree or so. I am not a mechanic by any means but I am thinking of trying to do this myself. Also if there are any problems such as hobbit mentioned I might find them.

[galaxee]

that will definitely cause stability issues.

can you email a scan of the alignment printout? before we can do anything else, he wants to see what all the numbers are.

there is no commercial shim listed for the prius. an echo takes a burgundy Hunter shim. the problem is getting one to make that small of a correction.

he just couldn't get his hands on a Hunter shim locally, and we had a time constraint. so he can't honestly say it would have even worked. this gets tricky when dealing with camber numbers too.

well, just email the scan if you can, use the email link in my profile [edit: aw crap. you can't send attachments via the PC mailer. it's blueblewaway at yahoo dot com] and we'll see what we can do from there.

[tumbleweed]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(galaxee @ Jun 13 2006, 08:14 PM) [snapback]270916[/snapback]</div>

that will definitely cause stability issues.

can you email a scan of the alignment printout? before we can do anything else, he wants to see what all the numbers are.
[/b]

Great to have professional help, the alignment sheets are on the way.

[buschman]

I found the same issue when I put a new set of tires on my wife's Prius. The left rear toe-in was out quite a bit. The tire dealer called his after-market suppplier to see if there was a shim kit and then called his Toyota supplier. Both sources told him no shim kit was available and none was planned for manufacture. I went to my local Toyota dealer and was told to "buy a whole new rear suspension assembly" as the repair guide states that the caster, camber and toe-in, toe-out is not adjustable. The tire dealer also told me about a prius "expert" at another dealership. This gentleman told me he had repaired a number of Prius's which had a toi-in problem with the left rear (hmmmm) by using a copper washer behind the upper and lower front bolts on the hub assembly. He said the dealership was OK with this repair and saw no liability issue. The Prius is in today being repaired and we'll see what comes of it.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(tumbleweed @ Jun 13 2006, 04:04 PM) [snapback]270728[/snapback]</div>

I need a shim kit to correct a toe-in/toe-out problem with the rear axle of my 2005 Prius.

The local dealers haven't heard of shim kits for the Prius and tell me Toyota doesn't know about them either.

Several people who post here have mentioned them so they obviously exist, can anyone help please?

I have emailed Mark Jacobson Toyota in Durham, NC and Tracy Toyota in Tracy, CA but have received no replies, at least not yet.
[/b]