Hard Pull To The Right

Hi all, trying to figure out an issue that occurred out of seemingly nowhere. Last month my truck was driving just fine but it was time for a tire rotation. The drive after the rotation I notice it was pulling very hard to the right, and out of nowhere the truck now had the infamous taco lean on the driver side of the truck. I rotated the tires back to their originally position to see if that would fix the pulling and it didn’t. I got an allignment and that still didn’t help. I thought I might have had a slip belt in a tire so I took it to American tire and they replaced what they thought was a faulty tire. Still nothing has fixed the issue and I’m still pulling hard to the right.

I think my next step is to rebuild my front shocks (Icon 2.0). They were last rebuilt in 2020.

has anyone experienced this? Does anyone have any advice?

 

as someone who does alignments
and has seen this many times

unfortunately, saying you got an alignment doesn't actually mean you got an alignment. For one.

 

Fair. I did get the before and after paperwork. But I will say the pull was worse after the alignment, so he put it on the machine again, and confirmed it was within tolerance. I had it done at a truck specialty shop, not at a firestone or big box store due to my oversized tires.

 

1. Binary have or don't have printout doesn't matter. It matters what's on the paperwork. If it's real.
2. Paperwork is not always real. If a person does not re-comp the vehicle (caster), it's not real. If they cheat to trick the machine with a pocket screwdriver between the read head, or move it on the wheel. It's not real. Or if the machine is not calibrated.
3. Within tolerance, doesn't really matter. Uneven (not recommended) can be within tolerance. Modified, may prefer something different. Some specs that people prefer, are not tolerance. For example, on some vehicles people prefer zero toe. Most factory specs are not zero toe. Most factory specs are some in or out toe.
4. if there's an issue with the machine that day unfortunately it doesn't matter how many times a car is put on it
5. hopefully whoever does it, knows that the act of final tightening adjuster nuts changes settings, and is not hitting Print before tightening and shipping. That will change it. Versus seeing what it is after tighten, then hit print.
For example, if the goal is 5min toe, and tightening the nut changes it to 0. You'd make it 10min, so it tightens to 5min. Insert desired spec and adjuster. Lot of stuff that can happen.

I'm focusing on that because generally, pull has to do with alignment, and maybe tires.

Not saying go to San Diego. But if you find yourself there, Clarence Brown Alignment is good. And well-priced.

Tires can have pull. Rarely. That's diagnosed by swapping them around.
Uneven caster can make pull. The fact the truck all of a sudden developed taco lean is suspicious.
I know on mine, I put my 6112 at 5/4 I think or whatever they recommend, to account for that. I do know one of my strut top mounts somehow went bad (the rubber pad); I'm not sure if that's another cheap component that could all of a sudden cause an uneven ride height drop and change in spec.

I'm not saying it's tires. I do know I aligned my buddy's truck. He said it pulled. Later got his tires replaced and that went away. But they were due anyway, basically.

 

Copy, I appreciate the insight. Yeah the weird thing is I've had the KO2's on for about a year with no issue until I rotated them, and after about 5 additional rotations, I can't get it to go back. The taco lean is what's causing me to think its the shocks, going to tear into the front end as soon as I have some time to see if there's something there. I'll probably take it to a different shop as well for another alignment.

 

I don't know if they can give you a refund. If business insurance covers that.
Not saying to be a dick about it. But, maybe, "hey, sorry man, but my truck is still pulling"
could be the machine. Had this happen many times. So I keep possession of the vehicle, update the timeline, and do it as many times as needed to get it right.
Or, just dealing with it saying it is what it is.

Unless, you take it somewhere else, IF they do it right. They would theoretically have 'before' measurements that would show what it was at.

I hope it's not shock related because at least in theory, the idea is the spring is what's supporting the vehicle and determining ride height, with the shock dampening. That a vehicle could theoretically drive around on springs without shocks, and bounce everywhere. Though in reality, shocks/struts do have some pressure and can possibly contribute to ride height.
And part of an alignment is making sure all the suspension components are good to go, first.

 

Yeah he gave me 30 days to come back if I had any additional issues, unfortunately I got very busy at work and the time has lapsed, which is my fault. I love wasting $140...

 

At this point if you've gotta do the alignment I'd be curious the condition of your LCA cam tab adjusters, a notorious weak point, especially if you're doing any mods and wheeling.

Could be good timing to do that first and make sure the truck as a solid foundation.
For example, Marlin Crawler gussets. Total Chaos cam tabs. Both. Etc.

I believe according to Toyota, the truck is to be jacked up when adjusting. Which not every rack has that jack. And not everybody is doing. There is a mode in the machine to do that. I'm not sure how good it is.
I don't agree with it. A tab should not be so weak it needs jack up unloading to adjust, unlike every other vehicle on the road.
If you do those things ahead of time, it's cheaper than finding out they've gone bad and a repair. Enough flat loaded alignments is probably gonna do it.

 

Shocks won't cause a lean or pull. Spring, control arm might cause it. Did you bend something when you rotated your tires?

 

No, not that I'm aware of. I haven't been off-road with the truck in about a year. just did a standard rotation, nothing crazy.

 

How did you jack it? Not on the LCA I hope?
Make sure the spring is connected to the shock properly. Bilsteins (for example) use a collar with an adjustable ring in a specific grove.

 

Nope I use the front jacking point and rear axle. Yeah my next step is going to be to check suspension components for wear. I also have SPC UCA's that are adjustable, so maybe they have something to do with all this.