My truck is crooked?

Oooh...ok, now I know what y'all are talking about! Thanks for clearing that up for me!

 

A bent axle shaft inside the rear axle would cause all kinds of nasty vibrations when driving down the road, you would definitely feel that.

If the rear axle isn't sitting on the spring perch correctly on one side (the leaf spring center pin should be in the hole on the perch) then it would cause the whole axle to be sitting askew. That would be my first thing to check. Otherwise you might have a tweaked frame, hopefully not. But if its not too bad a frame shop would know how to fix it.

 

There is no alignment to be done on the rear axle, only the front end

 

Yeah, “taco lean” happens because the battery, driver, and fuel tank is all on the drivers side of our trucks. When I had 2 odyssey batteries on the divers side that weighed close to 100 lbs total I had almost a 1.5” difference driver to passenger. But I swapped out to optimas that totalled maybe 60lbs it almost went away.

 

If it’s leaf springs there’s a tiny amount of play between the leafs and the centering pin so yes there actually is a tiny amount of alignment one can do. I’ve had to do it to an f150 that’s why I know it’s possible.

 

At home yeah but an alignment shop isn't going to do that as part of an alignment

 

But yeah I've had to do the same thing after leaf spring install, I torqued one side down after install at a time and ended up having to ratchet strap the axle to the frame to line them up better afterward. Had one wheel sitting further ahead in the wheel well than the other.

 

I worked at an alignment shop, I think it more depends on the shop and the tech doing the actual alignment.

 

When I put dakar leaf springs on my last Tacoma I didn’t get the pins in the same spot on both sides and my truck dog legged a little. I knew something was up though because my wheel had to be turned slightly to drive straight down the road. I was able to loosen the u-bolts and slide the axle back on one side and all was good. There should be a little bit of adjust on the pin holes.

 

So OP find out if the rear leafs are factory and where the “cosmetic” damage was because if it was a front end accident it might not be something to worry about but if it was rear ended or hit from the side it could have shifted that rear axle or worse bent the frame.

 

1) Find your wheelbase measurements online

2) Make sure front wheels are pointing straight

3)Measure your wheelbase from center of ea wheel on ea side of your truck

Whatever side of your truck shows a difference in wheelbase is the side that have either a bent or broken leaf spring centering pin or damaged suspension or even frame damage


You can also have someone follow you as you drive down a street and they can see what direction your truck is dog tracking

 

we need pictures

 

I'm honestly going to wait for my results Tuesday. The shop is owned by a friend who rebuilds salvage vehicles. If anyone can find the issue he should be able too. Up to and including bent frame. It's honestly not terrible, I'm just picky. Very well could be the center pin being off center/broken. I'll keep the thread posted. Nicest truck I've ever owned otherwise.. lol

 

A local shop put my truck on the alignment machine and said the frame is slightly bent (has some diamond). I'm taking it to another place for a second opinion tomorrow. I don't know what to do at this point. I might be the proud new owner of a really nice piece of junk.

 

Should be able to stretch it square frame shops pull frames into square all the time!

 

Think it will lose much strength? I'll probably go ahead if that's an option.

 

What it is:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4cJ18D-r1BY

Real life image:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jMFTdjNVPGE

 

If the frame is truly what is called diamond, unless it is by a small amount it cannot be fixed.

 

Update.. took it to another larger shop for a second opinion. They are saying that the rear axle has likely shifted and that they see no evidence of the frame being bent. I'm inclined to believe them as the truck has no record of significant accidents. And the body seems pretty straight. The bed and cab are perfectly parallel for example. He didn't charge me for the opinion, and will attempt to fix it next week.