Vehicle pull only under power (1 Viewer)

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Joined
Mar 29, 2006
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Location
Granite Bay, CA
My Cruiser pulls to the right only under power. Going 65 and letting go of the steering wheel it will creep to the right and if I stomp on the gas it will go crazy right. I can overcome the tilt of the road in the fast lane. If I let off the gas and let it coast- it does not pull:confused:

I thought it might be the tires since I've had that problem before, but I just had them rotated and it's just as bad.

There's 17,000 miles on it and I have not had the alignment checked. I know thats the next step, but wouldn't it still pull while coasting if it was an alignment issue?
 
This is not good; get the cruiser to the dealer pronto. May have some brake problems or bearings that are set up wrong.

...
 
Dead left

My 01 pulls dead left under power,right from the start ,step on gas go left.I have had alignment ,rotated tires Adjusted t-bars RE-alignment still dead left.Only thing not tried yet is new tires.But thats coming soon.Sorry not any help but youre not the only one
 
Sticky brake caliper/piston or over-torqued inner axle nut?
 
I would say one of your tie rod might be going bad or the wheel bearing might be loose. That is based on my experience with other AWD SUV.
 
Don't get too excited until you get an alignment. When my lift went on 6 years ago the thing pulled like mad to the right. I thought I ruined my truck. All was well after alignment.
 
Don't get too excited until you get an alignment. When my lift went on 6 years ago the thing pulled like mad to the right. I thought I ruined my truck. All was well after alignment.

That's what I thought too and I'm definitely going to have it checked, but wouldn't a bad alignment show up coasting as well? That's the part that throws me. I can let off the gas and it is straight as can be!
 
I am thinking brakes, alignment or a wheel bearing too ... :confused:
 
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That's what I thought too and I'm definitely going to have it checked, but wouldn't a bad alignment show up coasting as well? That's the part that throws me. I can let off the gas and it is straight as can be!

Not when my lift went on. It was OK coasting and off the gas....little pull. Hit the gas and the thing headed right for the ditch. That's why I thought I wrecked something by lifting it.
 
They're standing behind this pull as torque steer. I argued, but all of the things on this thread that I brought up, they seemed to think would cause the pull while not under power as well. If you guys have any ideas I'd like to hear them- I have to go pick it up in a little bit.
 
They're standing behind this pull as torque steer. I argued, but all of the things on this thread that I brought up, they seemed to think would cause the pull while not under power as well. If you guys have any ideas I'd like to hear them- I have to go pick it up in a little bit.

So you did not get an alignment?
 
They said I didn't need it, but I guess I could force them to do it.....They charge $70 bucks.
 
My Cruiser pulls to the right only under power. Going 65 and letting go of the steering wheel it will creep to the right and if I stomp on the gas it will go crazy right. I can overcome the tilt of the road in the fast lane. If I let off the gas and let it coast- it does not pull:confused:

I thought it might be the tires since I've had that problem before, but I just had them rotated and it's just as bad.

There's 17,000 miles on it and I have not had the alignment checked. I know thats the next step, but wouldn't it still pull while coasting if it was an alignment issue?

And by the way......these things don't have enough torque at 65MPH to wildly torque steer. That shop has their head up their ass. Stop, yes. 10MPH...Yes. 15MPH...OK.....at these speeds there's VERY little possible because power goes to front and rear axles. At 65MPH there's no massive surge of power. Try locking the CDL at 65MPH and test.
 
And speak of wierd things that effect your drive.

Your pull.....I still believe alignment (or something bad). It's not normal.

My tires continually get chewed up and balance is a 24/7 issue. I recently had them balanced....they were bad. After balance....they were smooth as silk once again. Went on a trip....from 0-75 it;s smooth as silk. Above that the truck shakes violently and gets crazily worse every 5 MPH. At 85 you thnk you're gong to roll. I bought 4 new tires.....perfect....took it to 100. You'd think below 75 there would have been some shake.....there was none.

Again...after my lift..it was slight at speed and slowing. Accellerating the thing aimed for the ditch. Is this pull problem of yours being goign on for a while and getting worse and worse?
 
I feel like it's been going on for a while because now it seems like habit holding the wheel while at speed. It really wasn't until I noticed the problem went away while coasting that I thought it wasn't right. Also the fact, I think' it is severe under heavy pedal.

I just talked to the "master" tech. He said it is normal and didn't seem as bad as I was describing when he tested it.

I'll get it aligned somewhere else- I'm done with this shop.
 
I see mini AHC lift in the signature line. I would say this is an alignment issue. An 06 should not pull to the right under acceleration at 65 mph.

uzj100
 
I did do the mini lift and I agree with you and Shotts that alignment is the first thing to check. This shop at Folsom Lake Toyota basically laughed me out of there when I asked them to check. They said if it was out- it would be out while coasting as well. They'll do it, but said I would have to bring it back because there were six alignments in front of me.

Oh well, now that they have fixed my other issue with the headliner, I can go elsewhere.
 
They're standing behind this pull as torque steer. I argued, but all of the things on this thread that I brought up, they seemed to think would cause the pull while not under power as well. If you guys have any ideas I'd like to hear them- I have to go pick it up in a little bit.


"Torque-steer" huh? OK, at first I was going to write that you should dump that shop like the proverbial hot potato. But the symptoms actually seem to fit, now that I think about it.

I am very familiar with this phenomenon (I commute in a front-wheel drive Saab that can put 280 foot pounds through the steering wheels). The 100 by comparison is solid as a rock, it only goes where you point it.

So, if it is indeed torque-steer, then you need to look at what could cause _that_, which in turn may be what is causing the pulling under acceleration. In my experience, torque-steer is really another name for traction-loss. Since the driven wheels are at the front, when you accelerate hard, you get a weight transfer to the rear, _off_ of the driven wheels. Combined with all of the torque you are feeding through those wheels, which now have less contact with the road, plus the fact that they are made to turn (so you can steer), and you get some squirrely behavior from the steering wheel. Most modern FWD cars (including Saabs) have been able to dial most of this out, but you still get it a bit in high-powered front-drivers (like my Saab, or the Acura TL, etc.). This is one reason why racers like rear-wheel drive so much, and why performance marques like BMW M and Mercedes AMG will never build a front wheel drive car. Interestingly, they will also probably never build an all-wheel drive car, either.

Of course, the problem is, why is this happening now, when the 100, despite being fulltime 4WD, actually has quite stable steering and acceleration. It's possible that the "mini-lift" did cause your caster to go out of whack, which would make the steering more sensitive to this effect, though it would also be more squirrely under braking, and you don't indicate that straight-line braking stability has been affected.

So I guess I've said a lot that doesn't help you much, but I think the easiest thing to do right now is undo the AHC lift, put it back to stock, and see what happens. Basically, undo what's changed, and if that doesn't work, then you know at least where the problem is NOT.
 
cdug

I have done the alignment twice ,two diff shops,have had brakes checked,tires rotated and still pull hard left only under power.So i doubt its the lift.Keep trying let me know what happens.My next move is new tires.
 

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