Hi, new guy here with a alignment/brake problem.

I have a '14 access cab 4x4 4cyl base model. I recently put on a 3'' leveling kit and 275/65r18 wheels and tires. Since then, my abs sensor light came on and obviously, the alignment was out of sync. Afterwards, I took it to the alignment shop. My steering wheel was crooked to the left and pulling to the right. After the shop, the steering wheel issue was fixed but it was still pulling to the right. So the next morning, I went back to get it checked again. Three guys there told me that it's a possible brake/brake system failure. So I went home, took the front passenger tire off, took apart the brake caliper, checked the wire and hose, and yet seen any damage so far. It's driving me crazy that I have to keep the wheel to the left, trying not to steer off the road. Is there anything else I can check? Thanks in advanced. Oh, the abs sensor light looks like a traction control (car with skid marks) with a orange square around it.

 

I have a similar issue. I installed the total chaos +2 kit, and reinstalled everything myself. no lights came on. I took it to the shop to get an alignment and now my trac/vsc light is on (the car with the squiggly tire marks in the orange square). I went through the manual on how to turn on/off VSC/TRAC but have had no luck. The ABS is a different light (it's red, I think). I had that light up the first time I put everything back together because I didn't plug the wire all the way in to the fixture attached to the spindle going into the wheel hub/bearing.
If you have a solution, please let me know.

 

Take it and have the code read.

 

its possible the alignment is still messed up. post the specs if you have them. that will help

 

The shop aligned it to factory specs. I followed someone else's link to a different forum for the method to get rid of the vsc / trac light. I just closed the tab that it was in, but it involved putting a jumper between some prongs in the diagnostic doohicky (4th from left on short row and 4th from right on long row) and pressing the brake 8 times in 5 seconds. It seemed to work to reset the vsc light. We'll see if it comes back on, hopefully it stays off and I don't have any issues.

Edit: The camber reads -1.0 and -0.8 (spec is -0.1 to 1.4)
caster is 4.6 and 4.6 (spec is 1.0 - 2.5)

Those appear to be outside the specified range. I didn't look at this until now, and now I'm wondering why they left those out of the spec range.

 

Crap, the light came back on after a couple minutes of driving. I have to go get it read at the dealer to see what the heck it is.

 

details on the lift. upper arms?

 

It's the Total Chaos +2 uppers and lowers with fox shocks with reservoirs and axles. The UCAs are part of the TC kit.

 

the camber could be a lil lower.
when aligned mine i set it like this and its perfect
camber .5 .5
caster 2.5 2.5(3.0 is like the sweet spot)
toe 0 0

 

Do you think the alignment would cause the vsc light to come on? I figured they knocked something loose when they (I failed to mention this earlier) put the two new front (285/75/16) tires on.

 

Bad camber, assuming it's symmetrical, wouldn't cause your truck to pull one way or the other. It would just wear the edges of your tires more. Assuming your toe specs are proper that should be all you really need to worry about there (from a pull perspective). If it's still pulling like mad to the right it could be something with the brakes.

I'd recommend putting the front in the air with the rear tires on the ground and the e-brake on. Take the truck out of park CAREFULLY and ensure the rear wheels have a chock on them for added safety. Now that the vehicle isn't in park and the front tires are in the air, check to see if the front right brake is applied by trying to turn the wheel by hand. It should be pretty obvious if there's a vast difference in effort needed to turn the left or right wheel.

Additionally (and before doing any of the above) go get that code read. It's free at pretty much any auto parts store.

 

I'll get the code read from O'Reilly's tomorrow. Hopefully it'll be an easy fix.

 

do you have two new tires and to older tires? this there a big difference in tread depth if so that might be your problem as the sensors are seeing the front spinning at a different speed then the rear and turns the light on

 

Yes I do, and that is a very interesting possibility. I don't want to spend another $575 on new tires for the rear, when the ones I have are fairly good (the front ones were worn very unevenly).

Edit: Is there anything that can be done about this, short of replacing the rears?

 

Do you think this might have any bearing on your new setup...?

 

OP with 3" lift is going to have alignment issues. Not enough adj to have everything right. The fight will be caster being low to have camber right. Caster out of spec will not make tires wear but it will drive all twitchy depending on road surfaces. It will try to follow grooves and will feel like you are driving in really gusty crosswind conditions. UCAs will give adj back to have all 3 things happy. As far as ABS weirding out, not sure how to relate that to lift or alignment other than coincidence...wire broke or not plugged in, brake caliper/pad issue or ABS sensor issue.

 

The old setup was toytec ulk with light racing UCAs, and after the tires were noticeably worn unevenly, I essentially stopped using the truck as a DD, (I got a work truck) and pretty much put that out of my head. Since the new setup was just "finished" last weekend and I took it immediately to get new tires and alignment, I don't think that the old worn tires would affect the new suspension, since they weren't there for more than 15 miles. Once the new tires were put on, it was immediately aligned.

I've also checked the ABS plugs on mine, and the wires are fine and the plugs are all the way in.

It feels like Anderson is trying to lead me, but I'm either too dumb or clueless to get it. You can't be subtle with me.

 

You should go back and inform them you didn't have a problem until they worked on it. They should fix it or give you your money back so you can go to a shop and correct their screw up.