Help With Truck Alignment

I'm posting this here hoping someone in North County SD can help me. Or anyone really.

Looking for advice as to the next step in diagnosing this thing.

Backstory: truck has just over 9K miles. About 3K of those miles were spent off pavement in Ocotillo, Borrego, Corral Canyon, Big Bear, etc, you get the idea. Stock everything unless Wildpeaks and sliders count. (Plot twist, they don't)

October 16 I took my truck to Toyota in Escondido for its first inspection, oil change (did my own at 5K), tire rotation, and all that good stuff.

October 17 on the way out east for a meet up I noticed she was slightly pulling to the right. Nothing too concerning, just made a mental note to go back to Toyota on Monday to see if they could tell me why, considering (to my knowledge) it did not do this prior to them rotating my tires/bringing the rears up front, and vice versa. So in my mind that's where the problem lies.

Monday. I pull in to Toyota Esco service dept. I tell them the issue, to my knowledge I'm having either a radial push or a radial pull thing going on. One of my back tires, which is now one of my front tires, is the culprit. I'm leaning towards front right, as the "bad" tire will usually pull, not push. Toyota tire tech dude sends me to Discount Tire in San Marcos where I bought/installed the tires.

Long story short, guy at Discount Tire was not happy about playing merry-go-tires. They moved the front right tire to the back. Took it out for a drive, she still pulled to the right. Went back. They moved the front left to the back. Took it out for a drive, she still pulled slightly to the right but not as much. So they replaced the "bad" tire (belt may have been off from factory?) which was now the back left. Sent me on my way.
Side note, I did have vibration around 67-70mph in my steering wheel, but not my seat back, which tells me there's a balancing issue in the front end, not the back. Either way I had them balance everything and the vibration went away.

She still pulls slightly to the right. I've tested it on every kind of variable possible. 35mph to 75mph on side road and highways. Toyota says it's a tire issue, Discount Tire says it's not a tire issue because they replaced the "bad" one.

So if you're still with me at this point, I'm at a loss. What the hell is making my truck pull to the right after having a "Toyota multi point inspection", tires balanced, alignment, and potential "bad" tire replaced?

My truck is my daily driver but I (maybe, possibly, stupidly) beat the shit out of it offroading. Like I said, it is still stock everything. I don't need a lecture (gotten many). I'm looking to you guys bc y'all know your shit so I'm hoping someone can help me figure this out

 

I may have missed it, but did you actually get an alignment? And if so, did they report anything out of wack? The only other thing I can think of is that you may have slightly bent your passenger spindle depending on how hard you have been off-roading...

 

I'm in a similar boat, I've had my truck aligned at a great shop in town that has always done it for me the last couple years...but lately they have not been able to get it to drive straight. Always pulls right. They were finally able to at least get it driving straight so my tires wouldn't wear funny by adjusting my caster differently side to side, thanks to my SPC UCAs they were able to get it dialed in. They are essentially at opposite ball joint settings side to side.

Basically I needed a shitty alignment so that I could have a 'good' alignment lol. At least for now it drives straight.

They were at a loss as to what it might be, my rack bushings and LCA bushings were looking worn so I replaced those but the pull was still there. I really don't wheel hard enough (in my opinion) to think that I could have bent a spindle...but that's what they suggested and crazier things have happened. So that's kind of where I am looking at going next. Keeping an eye out for a used set locally I can get swapped on and hope that fixes it, if it doesn't then I'll be at a loss.

Suppose it's possible the lowers or uppers could bend as well, but you don't really hear of that as often as you do bent spindles.

 

Unless I'm missing something, they didn't check your alignment or perform one?

 

If that's the case then I would definitely suggest he go somewhere other than a dealership to get an alignment done, the dealer is only going to try and force factory numbers on it. Hell, my dealership wouldn't even touch my truck when I asked them to align it a few years back because of the aftermarket suspension.

Find a shop that specializes in doing alignments and not some chain store like Firestone

 

I knock my alignment out all the damn time bouncing my truck off rocks. I would of got them to check your alignment before playing with the tires. Although its been well documented the P rated wildpeaks did have a bunch of issues.

 

I did have an alignment done, by the Toyo dealership before they sent me to Discount Tires. It still pulled after that so they said it was a tire issue and that Discount Tire can figure it out.
I'm 2wd so it's not like I'm climbing boulders but I did get both front wheels off the ground on my last trip.... ...."and she wonders why it pulls to the right"
But, like I said, it pulled to the right while on my drive out, so my last trip didn't cause this

 

I don't think I wheel hard enough to knock my alignment out, but who knows, it's all relative. Toyo did an alignment before sending me to Discount Tire when it still pulled after the alignment. I know the Wildpeaks have a history of balancing issues, which is what Toyo was probably betting money on

 

After my "wheelie" stunt on my last trip, my money is on a bent spindle before the worn out bushings. But again, it pulled before I hit dirt, so I don't know.

So what I'm gathering is my next step is to get an alignment done by someone else other than Toyota. I'm still stock everything, so they don't have a problem doing anything yet. Even though I did get major side eye when I rolled up covered in dust and silt. In my defense, I tried to get it washed but all 3 car washes by me were closed that morning. Oh well.

Either I bent something on one of my previous trips and just never noticed until Toyota rotated my tires and so my mind is blaming that, or they gave me a shitty alignment and I have a really easy fix if I just get one done by an indy garage.

 

That's what I would do, take it to a decent alignment shop. If anything they might be able to better tell you what the underlying issue might be

 

Its also worth checking your alignment tab gussets. They are notoriously week for Tacomas and if they flatten it makes it super easy for your truck to be knocked out of alignment. I wasted a lot of money on alignments before I ended up getting the Total Chaos gussets.

I agree with @eon_blue though, go to a shop that specializes in alignments and be sure to tell them everything you have done and the problem you're having... Even if its not your alignment they would have a better idea on what it would be.

 

When aligned did they do a 4 wheel alignment. Is the steering wheel straight? Have you compared how it drives on flat roads, crowned roads and even the left lane on the freeway where it might actually be crowned causing a vehicle to pull left. Have you done any thing to the rear? If it is out it could cause what feels like it pulls. Did they check the rear (4 wheel alignment)?

 

I had the same problem on my stock 2018 Tacoma OR (other than ATs tires) every darn time after wheeling it hard during weekends. After Off-Roading in Mojave, Death Valley, Big Bear, etc..it would either pull to the right or left. Nothing major but enough to catch my eye. I would have the alignment re-done & it would usually solve the problem.
Here's the thing with Tacoma's. They made the alignment cams very weak from factory. For street use they're fine almost no problems. But if you're going Off-Roading hard then that's when the alignment gets thrown off. They can't sustain the whoops or the hard up & down travel. My suggestion is to get your cams welded or there's a Tab Alignment Cam Delete you can get. But 1st get it to diagnosed by a reputable off road alignment shop. Maybe this video/link could help explain it to further.

https://youtu.be/eTWAv8imQHg