Steering off to the right? Alignment "In spec?"

Hey TW,

Couple days ago I noticed that the truck started to pull to the right if I am pointing the wheel straight. In order to compensate, obviously I had to turn the wheel probably 10-15 degrees to the left. The pull is most notable while doing 70+ on the freeway but on lower speeds there doesn't seem to be too much of an issue.

I went to the alignment shop this morning and asked them to check up on the alignment and they stated that they did everything they could but even after their road test the truck still pulled slightly to the right.

The shop said that the cross-rotated the tires to see if that might be the culprit but according to them the truck still pulled to the right instead of the left (if they rotated it). Attached is the printout of the before/after numbers.

They are claiming that I may have a bent frame? According to them "the longer trucks going into driveways can develop an awkward bend that can result in bending the frame slightly which can cause your truck to keep veering to the right." IDK how much of that I can trust...how can people do insane shit wheeling and the truck's frame get bent from going into a driveway with slight flexion.

On a side note - I installed a 6112/5160 combo STOCK height at notch #1/#2 to account for the taco lean. Other than that there are no other mods that may have affect on the alignment. The dealership also replaced my rear diff gasket but the alignment issues were occurring prior.

Is it possible that I would have a bend LCA or tie rod? If I did - wouldn't the alignment shop notice that these were abnormal? I can't imagine my frame being bent. I don't wheel hardcore. I primarily stick to fire trails.

LMK if I need to provide more info.

 

I work as a tech and there’s a chance when the did the alignment they didn’t center the steering wheel right and I’ve accidently done an alignment and everything was in spec took it on a test test drive and when the wheel was straight I’d go off to one side and I’d have to do the alignment again making sure I double checked that the steering wheel was locked centered and would do another test drive and bam fixed the issue. But what they are saying about a bent frame is BS IMO it’ll flex a little but not bend. Imagine after a long day of wheeling you’d be looking at a boomerang by the end of the day.

 

Who did the alignment?

 

Could be tires. Swap both from tires and see if it pulls to the other side. Or possibly road crown.

 

Thrust angle a bit high? If both axles are not parallel, if angle is like > will pull right and angle < will pull left. Lots of work to adjust and not too many know how to do it.

 

So basically take to a more reputable shop that specializes in 4x4 and off-road vehicles?

 

They did that and it still pulled to the right

 

Here are their notes about Toe

 

If the truck tracks straight and doesnt pull with the steering wheel tilted, then you probably just need to adjust your tie rods an equal amount on both sides. Watch this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fbQoH-ANan8

 

Had the same issue , took to the dealer. They did the aligment but did not center the steering wheel. I test drove it and then took it back to true dealership. Master tech drove the truck with me , acknowledged that steering not being centered was the issue. They centered it , now it’s driving fine no pull to right.

 

I had the dealer check mine shortly after purchase, and going to have it done again. I still feel like mine pulls to the right, and the steering is very twitchy. Its like any small steering correction requires another correction the other way.

 

My truck just came home from getting a new frame and suspension upgrades at the dealer last week and I noticed over the weekend that the steering wheel is off to the left a bit. The truck tracks straight on the road but the steering wheel is at 11:30 so I figure the wheel wasn't straight when they did the alignment. I was going to adjust the tie rods myself this weekend but I figured I'd just take it back to the dealer and have them fix it.

Most of the roads up here are built with a crown so water runs off to the side and if your alignment is perfectly straight you may feel like the truck is pulling to the right a bit. Some shops will account for the road crown when they do an alignment and point your alignment a little to the left so the vehicle tracks straight, while other will just align it dead straight.

The best way to test is to find a straight stretch of multi-lane interstate with a crown in the center so you can switch between the right and left lanes to alternate pitch one way or the other.

 

lol. I guess just turn into the driveways from the other direction from now on to straighten out the "bend" in the frame. Any luck on straightening steering wheel?

 

I figured out what might be wrong with my car drifting off to the side. I noticed the sway bar is cutting closer to the passenger side in comparison to the drivers side. My truck has been pulling to the right slightly at high speeds and the alignment shop said my specs are within range. I checked underneath to see if my tie rods were a problem and they aren't the only thing that is questionable is the amount of space between my sway bar and my shock.

Driver's side there is a ton of room. Passenger side I would say has half the amount in comparison.

Would this effect anything? I only notice the slight pull to the right at faster speeds or giving it heavy gas on the highway.

 

Take it off, go for a test drive. It’s a ten minute job tops.

 

Tried - my damn jack doesn't go high enough for me to take the wheel/s off. I even put 2 2x4s and it still is too short.

 

The problem is the rear axle. Its pointing to the left which is steering the vehicle to the right. The axle needs to be rotated, the passenger side needs to go towards the rear and the driver side needs to go towards the front. Make sure to reset the front toe, “aand theen”... go break it again.