My truck is crooked?

So I've purchased a 13 trd sport double cab from a family member. I got a good deal on it (hopefully), and it has some sentimental value to me. The truck is spotless and has low mileage, however there are 2 "minor" accidents on the carfax. Carfax says that they would have involved only cosmetic damage. The truck rides smooth and doesn't pull to either side. I was following my brother today while he was driving it however and noticed that it is "dog tracking" pretty bad. In other words the back of the truck is riding to the right. Where do I start with this? Is something bent? Is there any room for adjustment in the rear on these?

 

Bummer to hear. If it is that bad the first thing I would do is take a look at the frame for bends and then loosen the u bolts on the axle just enough to separate the axle and leaf springs to see if the locator pins are intact and seated.

 

Typically when I see this complaint on a truck, its the rear axle either bent or misaligned.

I'd get a full inspection and alignment on it.

 

Was this family member the original owner of the truck or did these 2 accidents occur during their ownership of the truck? If so, I'd be asking them for more details on what exactly happened.

 

The family member who owned primarily it has passed away. I think the accidents happened prior to his owning it though. Wouldn't a bent axle cause some sort of vibration or something? Is there any adjustability in the rear of these trucks? I'll make an appointment with a local shop for alignment I guess.

 

Is the steering wheel straight when driving down the road or is it crooked?

 

Straight or atleast fairly straight I think

 

Go to a collision alignment shop

 

That's the plan. Although I'm hoping this is an adjustment issue somewhere.

 

They'll be able to tell you if it's the frame or the axle.
If it's as bad as you make it sound, there's not really any way to adjust it out.

The frame may or may not be able to be tweaked back.

If it's the axle, best case scenario would be a broken leaf locating pin.
SPC does make an adjustable thrust plate; but your problem sounds beyond it's intended purpose.

 

Did I make it sound that bad? It's definitely noticeable for others but when driving it rides perfectly.

 

Noticeable is bad enough for the SPC thrust plate not to help. You'd be addressing a symptom; not the cause.

 

Fair enough

 

Mine suddenly started “dog tracking,” too. It turned out to be a broken centering pin in the driver side leaf spring. Compare the left and right side and notice whether the wheels are centered in the wheel well. If one side is more forward or backward in the wheel well than the other, this might be your problem. The centering pin is just a bolt. Not terribly expensive.

 

Thanks! I have an appointment at an alignment place next Tuesday to check it out. I'll try to keep the thread updated.

 

Make sure it’s a _______________ alignment not a front end alignment.

Edit: Thrust alignment

 

Thrust alignment...

-2 wheel front end-2 wheels adjusted

-Thrust(solid axle rear, non-adj., thrust compensated)-2 wheels adjusted

-4 wheel(IRS, adj.)-4 wheels adjusted

 

Potato == Tomato

 

Pardon my ignorance, but what does dog tracking mean? Do you mean it's leaning to one side? I just got my Taco lifted and now it's got a slight lean to the passenger side when looking at it from the rear. If that's what you mean then I have heard others say that it needs some sort of spacer added to the passenger side to level it. I'll have to park somewhere more level than my driveway to see if the lean is there in the front also. More experienced Taco Owners need to chime in also. Sorry, just hoping this helps!

 

Your referring to the “taco lean” he’s talking about the back of the truck isn’t “tracking” with the front so it look like the truck is driving sideways down the road.