Rear axle "off"??? RESOLVED

I have a 1.5" AAL in the back of my Taco, but recently I noticed that the wheel on the passenger side rear is further back in the arch of the bed than on the driver's side. The driver's side sits in the center of the arch. I measured both sides and found that the passenger side wheelbase is 122" and the driver's side is 121" when measured from the center of the hubs. I never really noticed this before, but looking at pics of the truck before I lifted it shows that the passenger side wheel sits further back than the driver's side. I've been under the truck numerous times and have never noticed any frame damage or the axle being bent. Is this something that is unique to my truck, or are there other 1st gens like this? The truck aligns fine and don't notice it crabwalking down the road, so I'm a little stumped as to what is causing this. The bed doesn't appear to be misaligned either with an even gap between the cab on both sides.

 

Hmm

 

Look at this thread
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/bent-rear-axle-shaft-or.663778/

 

@eon_blue

Synopsis please

 

This is exactly what happened to me, I have a big thread on it but it's kind of all over the place lol. I did a ton of measurements on my frame to make sure it wasn't bent (it's not), axle does not appear bent at all, etc. There are a lot of accounts of this being somewhat normal. Turbodb has a thread about it too somewhere on here if I recall, some people have noticed this on their stock 1st gens. One guy on here even had to cut off his front hangar mount on one side and re-weld it to match the other side.

For me, what helped a lot was loosening my u-bolts and then using a heavy duty ratchet strap on both sides to try and even it out some. It doesn't seem like there would be any room for adjustment but when you do it, it does work to a degree. Wrap the strap around the axle and hook it to the frame, either behind or in front of the axle depending on which direction you're trying to even it out on. It helped mine a lot but there is still about a 1" difference side to side

I wish I had a fix for this but I really haven't found the "cure" yet. Could be a combo of a few things. They do sell axle relocation plates to move it back or forward, you could always put one of those on one side but to me that is a last resort kind of thing.

 

The person to know !!

 

I even took my truck to a local body/collision shop to talk with the owner, he looked over my truck but told me he didn't think it was something they needed to put it on the rack for. Basically he told me with the aftermarket suspension and lift, things are never going to be perfect (had a hard time accepting that but it is what it is). His advice was to try and re-situate the rear axle (ie use ratchet straps) and then use a relocation plate if it really got to where I couldn't accept it anymore.

Personally I want to avoid the relocation plate because I already have 3˚ shims under my leaf springs, I don't want to stack plates under them. Seems a bit sketchy.

 

I was just reading your thread and am going to try your method with the ratchet straps first. I'm only an inch difference between both sides, so hopefully I can correct it myself. Maybe it's just a supercharged thing? LOL

 

I just used the ratchet strap method a week or so ago to get my new spring datums to align. I hooked to the transmission crossmember. Worked great.

 

RESOLVED. I lossened up my u-bolts on both sides and using a ratchet strap, I managed to pull the passenger side back in a little. I now have an equal 122” between the front and rear hubs. Thanks for everyone’s input on this. Now off to get another alignment just in case something was off from the adjustment.

 

That's awesome man, I was just wondering about this today. Gives me the motivation to try it again on my truck and see if I can fix it a little more than I did before

 

It took me about an hour using nothing but hand tools. It would have gone a lot faster if I had my impact gun with me. But it worked out. I also removed the shocks to help me move the axle around a little easier.

 

I just wanted to put my experience in this thread as well.

I swapped an elocker axle into my truck and when I went to get it aligned, it took the Toyota Dealer 4 attempts. On the 4th attempt they said they realized that the rear axle was not aligned with the front wheels, and I'm guessing they had to do something similar to what you two did.

I remember thinking when I put the new axle in that it looked like it could go in crooked. I think the way that the stock shocks mount to the ubolt plates plays a big part in this.

 

I drove the truck around today for a few miles just to let everything settle back in and when I got back, the passenger side shifted again, but not as bad, it's within 1/8" of the driver's side. I'm fine with that.

I did notice that my alignment is now off and pulling to the right. The steering wheel was dead on straight prior to the fix. I guess with it being off by about an inch can still be corrected with an alignment, probably within factory specs. I have an appointment for an alignment on Thursday, so I'll report back with the results.

 

It's definitely doable in your driveway. I did it in 109* heat in Vegas. It was probably over 120 in my garage at the time.

 

hey where did you measure to see if axle was in right place or not? I want to check mine

 

Looks like he said, between the front & rear hubs

 

Just find a common point on the frame and measure.