Alignment Issues

Not sure where to post this so putting it in the 3rd Gen section. I'm having an issue with the alignment for my truck. I noticed shortly after having the tires rotated that it was pulling to the right , so my first though was that the wear on one of the tires was off. However, I have taken the truck to the alignment shop twice, and rotated the tires twice and I'm still having problems. It pulls pretty hard to the right (in my opinion). Here is the spec from my last alignment on Monday. Any help/advice/insight is appreciated.

 

@GPsevinSixx @splitbolt

 

1) did it pull to the right with the "before" alignment?
2) what tires do you use? balanced and pressure checked?

the only thing i see right off is you don't have a caster spread. even caster can lead to pulling, more on some tires than others. you usually want a bit more on the right to hold a crowned road, which most highways are. mine is 4.7deg L & 5.2deg R, for example. when it was 4.9/5.0 it pulled to the right.

depending on tires you'll also generally want your camber zeroed, but that can be tricky if they're having a hard time adjusting caster.

 

1. This was my 2nd alignment in 2 weeks and yes it was pulling to the right before
2. Tires are 265/70/17 KO2s. yes to balanced and pressure check

 

in that case i would go for another alignment focusing on caster, because your caster is nearly even on both alignments. assuming you're on factory parts you'll have limits on caster adjustability but you can spread some, and also do your best to zero camber on those ko2's. tires like that just hate camber. it will wear them, pull them, and affect handling in all kinds of ugly ways on the tarmac. this could be part of the problem. a little uneven weight distribution on tires like that can go a long way to mess up handling... w/o a single obvious out-of-range number.

 

Did it pull on stock wheels too?

I notice my truck pulls much harder to the right on my aftermarket wheels with Toyo All Terrain tires. Even after doing a rotation. Haven't had it aligned.

 

The updated current specs look fine and should not pull the way you're mentioning. The new caster settings might make it more "twitchy" at freeway speeds, but turns better at low speeds. The original spec with the negative caster on the right would cause the pull that you observed, since the vertical spindle axis is more upright than the left side. Finding the balance for caster/ camber relationship on these trucks get tricky after a lift with all stock parts with the eccentrics on the LCA.

What's done to the truck? Mileage? Mileage on tires? How does the tire wear look? Cupped? You could have uneven left/right tire diameters that's cause a "coning effect", and still cause that slight pull due to rollout bias towards the larger tire. Are these new tires? Perhaps try swapping tires left to right in front and see if the symptoms reverse or the pull cancels out?

More details would help. Did you have the brakes serviced or dealer service with brake inspection/ pad measurement? Sometimes a sticking brake caliper can cause a pull too (since it's dragging and not fully releasing) since you're saying it's still pulling and the paper specs look acceptable.

 

I've put skids and sliders on the truck and new wheels/tires. Current tires have 13K on them. I'll have to check tread depth when I get home. There is one tire that has some "chunks" missing from it from my wheeling trip back in June. That tire was front right when I first noticed the pull; rotated the tire to front left but still had it pull right. Tires up front have been rotated twice. No brake services have been done. Only thing I could think of is some how one of the brake calipers started sticking after I took it in to the dealership to have the oil changed/tires rotated. I'll check that too when I get home.

 

Is it actually pulling or is the steering wheel just clocked wrong?

 

The simple things....

 

Like you, I really don't see where it would pull like that from the alignment numbers.

 

This I will have to research.

 

Easy to check. Is the wheel clocked off 2-3 degrees from center in straight line travel or is the truck physically pulling when you let go of the wheel in straight line travel. Do you actually have to hold the wheel to keep it going straight?

 

Yeah, those specs actually look really good.

 

The truck pulls when I let go of the wheel. Have to constantly hold to the left.

 

Dang...didn't even notice that rear alignment earlier.

 

What do you mean?

 

holy crap for whatever reason i didn't either.

the toe in the rear should be close to zero. at the very least the left and right need to be pretty close to the same or it will continually push the vehicle in one direction when driving straight on a level road.

 

Guilty here too... was busy looking at the front specs highlighted in green. Your rear axle is pigeon toed (viewed from top) on the left side OP. The numbers look like the center pivot could be over the right side of the axle instead of the vehicle center. Get the shop to align the rear axle, then redo the front when it's all squared up to the vehicle's thrust centerline. Right now your thrustline is showing positive and slightly more than your first reading. I'm sure they didn't look at the rear specs either as most shops only focus on front adjustments.
Here's a diagram for thrust angle

 

Are you lifted, do you have the stock rims?

I would put the stock rims on, take it to the dealer and have them assess your sheet and have them perform an alignment, it should be warrantied if no damage is found.

Also look closely at the left rear rim, it should be noticeable if its toe'd-in that much.

Sometimes if the alignment head isn't installed correctly it can cause a reading like that, but it correlates to your complaint.