Bent rear axle?

Now you know why I never bought my son a new car.

 

I just took the truck out, no vibrations as far as I can tell, and I don't really see the tire wobbling around when driving because its on the passenger side. I did notice that my alignment is off though.

 

Camber:


These wheels are cambered a lot.


These are both negative camber. Positive camber would be if the wheels were tipped in the other way. Basically the top is farther out from the vehicle than the bottom is.

 

Yeah, you're right. It sure is gonna be tough.

 

Wow this really helps, yes the wheel is negative camber.

 

Actually no, I meant positive camber

 

So, any thoughts on what's causing this? Bent axle, shaft, tube, rim? I want to prepare myself before I take it to the shop.

 

yeah listen to what others say and measure it with a level

 

If it stays positive I would guess a bent axle housing (what jberry posted on the other page) which should be somewhat visible to your eye if you look at the housing carefully.

I would think if you bent the wheel or axle shaft then if would vibrate a lot because it would alternate between positive and negative camber when you drive.

 

Lawl

I was gonna link to the James thread from TOL thread but I'm on my phone and cant

 

I'll have to check tomorrow, its too dark right now. I appreciate the advice.

 

I think you are worrying over nothing. Your mudflap, does not, look straight but your axle Does. I think you just hit top of the ditch with mudflap and maybe bended cheap metal holding it to the bed.
I would not worry. I understand after ditch fiasco you are oversensitive. I would just ignore it or get truck for wheel alignment.

 

Imwarren.
Im a dad.
Trust me, tell your dad.
Since its brand new, take it back to the dealer and have them look at it.
If you ask nicely enough, and because its brand new they may take a look for free. Let us know how u make out. Good luck.

 

"Check the centering pin on the rear leaf springs, check to see if the axle slid on the leafs."

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Good Advise...

OP, do you have a floor jack? or at least a friend with a floor jack?

You can check the most obvious, ie, bent rim, bent axle flange, the dang truck is so new the undercarriage is super clean, any bending of the housing would show as "stretch marks" and should be easy to see...

Jack the suspect side up lifting at the shock plate area close to the wheel, front wheels caulked both sides, put in neutral, parking brake off, spin wheel by hand, any obvious bendage/wobble in the wheel or axle flange you will see...

My bet is you may have sheared the locator pin and jacked the housing a bit out of alignment from what sounds to be a pretty violent hit...check the clearance both left and right side from tire to mud flap, are they the same distance? All you need is a tape measure...you may just be able to look, if it is obvious you will see it....unless the housing bottomed or caught on something, it probably survived...

You say the alignment is out, I figure if the rear hit the 'dip/ditch', your front end may have hit the same spot, unless the fronts made the turn and you caught the rear on the edge of a underground drain by turning to close to the edge of the road, that would cause all sorts of violent stuff to the rear end for sure.......just how hard was this hit???

Anyway, I figure you wacked the front end too and more than likely sheared the locator pin on the rear....

These things you can do on your own, but do it quickly, find out what's wrong, then fess up...

 

Yea keep us posted. Here is another shade tree trick that is cheap get some white sidewalk chalk find a level piece of road or a parking lot. Next draw a one inch wide line across the tire thread and go about 100 ft and look at the line on your tire and see were it has rubbed off.

 

As a Dad I have to say it: Tell him the fucking truth! Did you think of that?

 

Alignment. Numbers.

 

We always advise our customers that if not a factory defect but rather what I politely call the "human element" then they are responsible or the diagnosis...

 

Personally, I don't think you'll be able to tell from looking at the housing or eyeballing it. It's real hard to tell from pictures and I see what you're saying but if it is it's only bent a little. In my opinion, if it is bent you won't break a side gear you'll only slowly wear out tires, you'll notice it slowly wear down more on one side than the other. IMO shearing a center pin won't cause it to appear to have positive camber.

The cheapest option you can do is to go to Harbor Freight and buy a digital angle finder. Park on a level surface and check it with your angle finder, if it's not level keep that in mind for your camber readings. Then put a straight edge from the lip of your wheel to the lip on the other side straight up and down and check to see what kind of angle you have. Should be DAMN near 0.0* Just like Jason said. If you listen to anyone in this thread, listen to Jason.

 

Maybe he's working on his future career as a politician.