Truck can't get aligned, pulls right

haha that would be a trip, but no they're all the same. Rotate regularly too front to rear and doesn't change anything

 

Ok guys here are some photos, I couldn't take pics of everything I tried measuring because..well..holding a tape measure in place with one hand and trying to take a photo with the other is downright impossible in some cases. But here's what I was able to take pics of...

I was curious if the frame was bent/angled inward on one side, so I measured from the frame to the body in a few places. Everything measured exactly the same side to side, in this case 9" on both sides.







The bed gap is the same side to side








Then I measured from the center pin on the springs to the main eye bolt (front hangar) on both sides. Both sides 23.5". If I'm not mistaken, this helps rule out that the axle is askew.












My front hangars are stock and unmolested, but just to make sure they were equal side to side I measured from the same point on the frame to the main eye bolt. 7.5" on both sides, so that checks out.








Now for what I think is still the problem - Passenger tire is at least an inch closer to the back of the fender than the driver side rear tire. The driver side rear tire will scrub the front of the fender when it stuffs, but the passenger side clears it (255/85r16s). Awhile back I had to cut away about a half inch of the fender corner for it to clear and not tear up my tire.






I did do some measurements on the frame from side to side but those were impossible to get photos of while holding the tape measure, but I saw nothing concerning. I think its safe to say my frame isn't bent, but I might still have a shop look at it with a professional eye/equipment before I rule that out entirely.


I did notice that the old u-bolts I took off were bent, a couple of them were bent pretty bad. Probably from a sloppy install job I did when I put them on my Expos a couple years ago by torquing them down when they weren't straight up/down. I wonder if maybe that was part of the problem? I made sure the new OME u-bolts went on straight.

Truck still pulls pretty good to the right even after today, I can let go of my grip on the wheel on the highway and it will follow a curve on the road. Would probably do a full circle if I were on a big enough track.

Anyway let me know what you guys think or if you want to see a specific measurement I didn't get, I can try and get it next week sometime and maybe have my wife take the photo while I hold the tape measure.

 

Nope. This just tells you that your spring lengths are equal. A bent axle will still mount on the spring perch and the springs will still be the same length giving you an equal measurement as above.

measure your axle how I described. End of each side of the axle to the yoke coming out of the differential. If the axle is bent then those measurements will be different.

A side observation, you have a bunch of grease or oil along the body and gas tank parallel to your yoke and u-joint by your rear diff. If you took a good hit on the rear axle to bend it, you may have damaged a seal which may explain the oil everywhere. It’s impossible to tell exactly from a picture but it could be something... could be nothing.

either way, measure the axle.

 

Will do, I'll crawl under it tomorrow and get that one.

The grease on the gas tank is from the slip yoke getting over greased and flinging it everywhere, it's moly grease (not gear oil). I've since taken it apart and greased it properly by hand but the grease on the tank is just a part of the truck's character now.

 

Is your bed square?

 

Gonna have to check, I've been so focused on the idea of the axle housing being the issue that I didn't consider that previously. But your previous comment about the LCA bushings causing a pull even with good alignment numbers has me wondering about that.

 

Do you have a copy of your last alignment? If so, can you scan that too? If your frame is bent enough to cause a 2” difference in your rear wheel placement, then the setback of your front end should also be off.

how do your body mounts look? Any of them look like they’re being forced into an awkward direction or to they look comfortably vertical?

 

I'll try to dig it up. I know I posted a photo of it on TW awhile back after I got it, so maybe I can find that. But I've never had any problem getting my front end numbers where I want them, 2.5 - 3˚ caster and close to 0 on the camber and toe. It's always the rear thrust that comes back in the red, I'll see if I can dig it up.

 

I had a similar pull to the right - Lca bushings were my culprit

 

So I got under the truck to try measuring from the end of each axle to the flange where the driveshaft meets the diff, but I realized that won't work because the yoke/flange/pinion/driveshaft (however you want to reference it) does not come out of the center of the differential, it's offset to the passenger side by a couple inches at least. In other words, the driveshaft or yoke naturally isn't a center point by which I can measure both sides equally.



I also got to thinking...shouldn't my original measurement from the center pin be enough to determine this? Because the center pin of the leaf springs sits right in the center pin hole on the axle housing. So if the axle were bent, and both springs are sitting in the center pin holes (which they are), then that measurement would be off side to side would it not?

It also seems that a bent/askew axle housing would make mounting the leaf springs a huge PITA because they wouldn't want to align with the front hangars at all, I had no issue lining mine up really.

 

I'm going to focus on replacing these soon to see if it helps - my LCA bushings have had a clunk in them for a little while that goes away with some PTFE lube/spray on them. I think the bushings are probably breaking down and allowing for some movement which could explain the pull despite my good front end numbers.

Still on the hunt to find out why one rear tire sits an inch further forward than the other, but maybe it's a bed issue I need to dig into.

 

Maybe the plastic fender flare just got bashed/moved closer to the tire? The steering problem could be caused by something else

 

I had to trim about an inch off the corner of the actual bed itself cause it was tearing into my brand new 33s when I got them installed (only on the driver side). I wish it was just the flares though because that would definitely be an easier explanation lol

 

Sorry if you already did this but how about measuring from the center of the rear hubs to the cab? Still an inch off?

 

I would be tempted to measure the positions of the spring hangars from the back of the frame, just to be sure.

 

I didn’t know the yoke was t centered. Then find a center point on the diff housing and measure there.

and no, a bent axle won’t change the length of the springs. A bent axle will mount to the springs just fine since the spring pins are round and sit in a round hole.

im not saying the axle is/is not bent. I’m just saying to rule it out since that’s what I’m finding online to be the likely issue. The setback on the front alignment will also be a indicator of a bent frame.

 

kind of a tricky one to get because of the sliders in the way, but doing my best to measure it equally side to side I get 38.5" on both (center of rear hub to bottom corner of cab)

Front hangar to rear crossmember brace 62.5" on both sides





Pic angles make it look weird

 

Another question would be, is it drifting from the front or can you "feel" the back walking out on you?

maybe take a straight-edge in front of the spring hangers and take measurements from that to the axle housing in spots on each side to compare distances?

 

that's the hitch, not cross-member though. that can actually be slightly off

 

That's a good question, I didn't really think of it that way.

I think I should probably get a brand new alignment print out to confirm if it's a front/rear problem causing the pull, since my last print out was before I installed these new leaf springs/ubolts etc.