Rear Alignment in 4x4 Tacoma

Hi,
I have a problem with my truck alignment, the truck pulls hard to the left. Recently I broke my right leaf spring. I replaced both with USED five leaf springs. I also upgraded my front coil overs to 5100 Bilstein set at 2.5" (to match the ride hight). I had the alignment done twice. Neither one has fixed the problem. The second mechanic said that my axle is bent. The axle is not visibly bent, the alignment doesn't get worse with higher speeds, and there is no wobble. Are there any measurements I can take to determine the problem? Could my alignment issues be caused by misaligned leaf springs? Any suggestions would be very appreciated.

P.s. The truck gets a lot of off-road use, more than 50%. (Dude to where I live and where I travel. I also take the truck on long highway trips where alignment is crucial.
I installed the leaf springs myself.
Edit: also almost forgot by my MPG is WAY down. HWY Is about 14-16.

 

Post your alignment print out for us to see. Tacoma never had 5 leaf, leaf springs in 2nd gen. Must have an add-a-leaf in them.

 

Well, first of all...your axle is inside of the rear end. You will not be able to tell if it is bent by looking at the axle tube. Second, not exactly sure how a broken leaf spring could cause a bent axle unless it was extreme stress that caused the leaf to break in the first place. I would start by measuring your rear tires from back to back, front to front and in a cross (front of back right tire to back of left rear) and reverse. That will at least tell you if both rear tires are parallel as they should be.

Edit: which axle is bent, front or rear?

 

Not sure on the springs you used but some, the center pin is not in the center.
They are offset and there is a front of the spring and a back.
Any chance that you got that mixed up?
You could measure from the bolt on the front of the spring to the stud, rotated to the front with the tire off for a fast check.

If the guy doing the alignment said the axle is bent, it could be, but it coudl be more.
You could have any number of things, they measure with the laser on the rims, in short is will tell you where each is pointed, and if point in the same direction.

If it showed something wrong, he should have rotated the wheels some tried again and so on to see if it is the same.

You could have a bent tube.
Could have a bent axle shaft, left or right.
Could have a failed barring or going bad that is letting it set funny.
Could also be a bent rim or bad spacer if you use them (offroading).

So when it is in there on the alignment rack you can check several things to rule out and find the problem.

Most the time when it pulls it is something in the front end or you can really see a problem in the back.
Check to see if you broke a center bolt and your axle is sliding around.

 

I forgot to mention that the leaf springs were modified by someone by adding 2 additional leafs.
Unfortunately, due to many moves I do not have alignment print outs...

 

Thank you, I will make those measurement ASAP. We had a lot of snow so my gf had to take it to work today. And the axle in question is REAR.

 

You can, just look at the flange on the axle, have seen a many bent, most do not make it off the trail, but that was on Chevy trucks and jeeps for the most part.

You can also remove the tire and use a square 1'x2' and set it next to the drum, rotate and see how it looks, use a bottle jack to bring to 90 deg and then rotate a little, check, rotate, check and so on.

 

I was considering the possibility of center pin being offset as well.
Also considering replacing the whole rear end (axle housing, axle, brakes, everything to eliminate other possibilities)
Edit: The leafs are definitely not mixed up. Due to the way they are build it is impossible to make this mistake.
Edit: No spacers, not yet

 

Fantastic idea, I will do it ASAP. Thank you!

 

Kind of hard to do, but make sure that the center bolts are the same.
If someone made them up, they could have made their own center bolts, or used what ever they had and could have different size pins on them.
Could have even use a small allen head bolt, what that does when they are too small it lets them slip. Have seen that happen.
What that could also do is let one set closer to the front and the other to the back offseting the axle.

 

I considered this too. I think I will replace both of the bolts, to eliminate this possible problem. This is what I get for getting a set of used springs for less than $100.

 

Now if you really want to get into it......

Go to lowes or HD get 2 each angle or square tube 4' long.
Make sure they are true, set them back to back or side by side.
Take off the rear tires, you will need help or clamps, clamp the steel to the drum on top of the center hub between the studs the best you can.
You want to be on the face as a rim is.
With the two sections of steel sticking out the back of the truck measure the outside to outside steel to steel distance.
Do this at 3 points, at the back of the drum, 2' then 4'.
if something is bent bad you will see the number change.
You can put the steel to the front do the same, and also let it set on the ground at the back.

Looking at the axle from the side you want to measure at 9, 3 and about 5 o'clock is about as far as you can get.
No axle is true for say but close, if you have a difference in the axle measure and 4' of 1/2" or something big like that you are sure to have something wrong.

You can remove the drums and clamp to the flange and try the same.

It will make it easy if you let the jack stands set under the frame and axle at full drop. Gives you more room to measure from side to side.

 

I realize we're all leaning towards axle misalignment here, but is there any chance that you've just got stuck brakes on one wheel? That would create a pull to one side, and impact gas mileage, even if the alignments keep coming back as being in-spec...

 

Make sure you measure along the spring to find the off set of the pin to the from screw.
If you just pull tape it can be off due to the weight on the spring or use on them. I have a flat measure that I can lay down along the curve good to get a true number.

Think of it this way, they could be the same, but more load on one side it get flatter making the line longer, but the length along the spring never changes.

 

That is an easy check, use a cheap laser temp gun, I carry one in my truck all the time for bearings and brakes.
Just drive a few miles then check, should be within 10-15 deg left and right.

If this is an ongoing thing, I would think he had smoked the brakes already but rule out the easy stuff first.

 

Even better! All I have to do now is drive 4hr to the nearest HD or Lowes!
Thanks a lot I think I have the right materials here. I'll try it tomorrow.

If I find nothing wrong, it would eliminate rear axle as a problem. Meaning the front is misaligned.

If i find that there is a significant difference in the measurements than it could still be a number of reasons: axle, housing or leaf spring misalignment.

I am ruling out bent rims as a problem since the pull didn't change after various wheel rotations.

 

I didn't event consider this.... I did replace my front brakes and rotors. The same time as I did the front suspension...

 

Isn't the weight on the springs eliminated when you jack up the truck?

 

'xactly. Lots easier to at least test and rule out, as well as cheaper. Just figured it'd be worth taking a look at before doing all the stuff needed to check axle tube alignment.

 

Also, I'm not sure how relevant this is, but they guy who did the alignment said that it is my right rear wheel that misaligned 10%. Wouldn't the misalignment direction change all the time if it was a bent axle? (Not the housing). And for whatever reason I am getting a flat tire (in that tire) on average about once a week. I'm not sure how relevant that last part is.