Another "truck pulls to the left after alignment" thread, need advice please! (2 Viewers)

[Surfdc]

Yes, I am calling on the alignment gurus!
So here are the symptoms:
Driving strait on level road, no crown, truck pulls/tracks to the left, wants to cut across all lanes. Steering wheel is centered. Requires constant input on the wheel to the right. If I let go, the wheel returns to center, and the truck tracks left, wheel does not spin, stays dead center, truck just tracks left.

This started after having a shop installing Dobinson's caster bushings in the radius arms and getting an alignment. It did not pull before this with old OME caster bushings (that were shot). The stock arms have been replaced by Delta 2" arms, followed by and alignment, and the pull is still there. I took it back to the same shop and they did a 3rd alignment (for free) because they couldnt figure it out. SO I am asking you guys!
Some things i checked as suggested by the search:
-New tires, 35" Toyo R/T. 3000 miles. 32 psi in all 4. Tried swapping front tires left to right and the pull actually got worse!
-All new bearings, races, rotors a month before.
-checked bearings, re-torqued. no change.
-inspected all tre's, look ok to me.
-steering box and frame inspected and all looks great. no cracks.
-front axle is 1/2' off to the drivers side.

Any advice??
Here are some pics of the tre's for reference and the latest alignment sheet.
thanks in advance.

 

[voodu3]

Your caster is way out of spec. That will make all of the difference. When mine was like that it it was a scary drive. How did you decide to go with the 2” delta arms? I ended up with 6” arms for a 4” lift to finally get my caster sorted out.

 

[JunkCrzr89]

Your caster is way out of spec. That will make all of the difference. When mine was like that it it was a scary drive. How did you decide to go with the 2” delta arms? I ended up with 6” arms for a 4” lift to finally get my caster sorted out.

I thought positive Caster was ideal?

 

[bhsdriller]

I thought positive Caster was ideal?

It is, I think the ideal number is 3deg but someone correct me if wrong.

So he is low

 

[smritte]

That alignment sheet says your going straight. Two possible right off the bat. 1. The alignment heads were not put on correctly and the sheet is wrong. 2. (most likely) you have a tire pull. Swap your front tires side to side and see if it goes the other way. This is not uncommon.
I did see the rear out of spec some which means he probably pulled the truck onto the rack slightly crooked. If not, you have a bent rear housing but, it would have pulled before you had it aligned. One thing this can cause is a crooked steering wheel. If you drive down the highway and let go of the wheel does the vehicle go straight? I don't care where the steering wheel is facing. If it goes straight, its a crooked steering wheel. That needs to be addressed with another toe alignment.


Other things, you just did the bearings and you have bad bearing drag on the left from way over tightening that side, the left caliper is stuck closed and your dragging that brake.
The low caster wont make you pull, their even. The definition of an alignment is the balancing of angles. you want side to side pretty much the same.

 

[smritte]

Just saw you posted front axle off set. Mine is about the same and it goes straight. Theoretically, it should go left some. which is why its ideal to have axle centered. Like I said, mine goes straight like that. dont say cant happen though.

 

[Surfdc]

Your caster is way out of spec. That will make all of the difference. When mine was like that it it was a scary drive. How did you decide to go with the 2” delta arms? I ended up with 6” arms for a 4” lift to finally get my caster sorted out.

Yes. I went from dobinsons 2.5 degree correction bushings to Delta 2" arms. Dave at Delta and I calculated that we would get more from them, but the final numbers were much less. Just goes to show how different every truck is and that the correction bushings are not netting what they claim. (could be more, could be less). Dave is letting me swap for the 3" arms, which will add 1.75 degrees to what i have, getting me to 3.35 degrees. The 4" arms would put me at 5.5 degrees.

 

[Heckraiser]

That is badass that they are going to swap arms with you. That's a standup move on the part of DeltaVS.

@smritte is on the right track. While your caster is a little below spec, it shouldn't be pulling consistently to the left based on your numbers. Dragging brake or inconsistent bearing preload from left to right would be my first guesses. Less likely: bent housing front or rear, bent suspension arms in the rear

 

[Surfdc]

That alignment sheet says your going straight. Two possible right off the bat. 1. The alignment heads were not put on correctly and the sheet is wrong. 2. (most likely) you have a tire pull. Swap your front tires side to side and see if it goes the other way. This is not uncommon.
I did see the rear out of spec some which means he probably pulled the truck onto the rack slightly crooked. If not, you have a bent rear housing but, it would have pulled before you had it aligned. One thing this can cause is a crooked steering wheel. If you drive down the highway and let go of the wheel does the vehicle go straight? I don't care where the steering wheel is facing. If it goes straight, its a crooked steering wheel. That needs to be addressed with another toe alignment.


Other things, you just did the bearings and you have bad bearing drag on the left from way over tightening that side, the left caliper is stuck closed and your dragging that brake.
The low caster wont make you pull, their even. The definition of an alignment is the balancing of angles. you want side to side pretty much the same.

-Yes I have swapped the front tires left to right and the pull actually got slightly worse. I will next try swapping tires from front to back, as it could be both front tires.

-If I drive down the highway and let go of the wheel it does not go strait, it drifts across the left lanes until i grab the wheel again.

-I can go into the wheel and check the left bearings again, but that would be a third time!

 

[Heckraiser]

I'd look into brakes then. I have had to replace sticking calipers on more than one rig before, including my 80. If you have a laser thermometer, this should help diagnose.

 

[Surfdc]

I'd look into brakes then. I have had to replace sticking calipers on more than one rig before, including my 80. If you have a laser thermometer, this should help diagnose.

Awesome. Thanks. I do have a laser thermometer. I'll check the temps today after driving home from work and report back.

 

[smritte]

Rotor color will also show it. The darker one is the hotter one. They should be same color side to side.
Just for giggles, measure the distance of your axles front to rear. Have someone hold the tape measure on the back edge of front rim in the center. Pull it to the back edge (center) of the rear. Side to side should be the same. A vehicle will pull to the shorter side. Some vehicles are 1/4 inch shorter on driver side for road crown from the factory. If this is an issue, bushings, adjustable rear arms not equal......

 

[BILT4ME]

You have Delta arms AND Dobinson's caster bushings?

How much lift do you have?

If your axle is offset, you need to consider a panhard bar leveling kit on the rear and an adjustable one on the front.

 

[Surfdc]

Rotor color will also show it. The darker one is the hotter one. They should be same color side to side.
Just for giggles, measure the distance of your axles front to rear. Have someone hold the tape measure on the back edge of front rim in the center. Pull it to the back edge (center) of the rear. Side to side should be the same. A vehicle will pull to the shorter side. Some vehicles are 1/4 inch shorter on driver side for road crown from the factory. If this is an issue, bushings, adjustable rear arms not equal......

Will do I will measure and report back.

 

[Surfdc]

You have Delta arms AND Dobinson's caster bushings?

How much lift do you have?

If your axle is offset, you need to consider a panhard bar leveling kit on the rear and an adjustable one on the front.

Had Dobinsons 2.5 caster bushings in my stock arms. Went from them to Delta 2" arms with oem bushings.
Dobinsons 2.5" lift front and back.
Delta rear panhard leveling bracket.

 

[2000cruiser]

Do you have spacers?

 

[Surfdc]

Do you have spacers?

yes. 1.5" spidertrax spacers on all 4 corners. Had them before the pulling started.

 

[landtank]

The camber numbers don’t look so good. Is this a rather new truck to you?

 

[Woofythewolf]

The camber numbers don’t look so good. Is this a rather new truck to you?

I think those camber numbers could be caused by one side of the vehicle being heavier or the tire pressure not quite being perfect.
That would squash the tire a little more, lowering the right side and leaning both side's camber towards the lower side.

Plugging into a triangle calculator:
.2 degrees tilt (enough to get it back to +.1 and +.1)
72 inch width
90 degrees on the short leg to see how long that short leg ends up.
=.25 inches.

So if that side's tire is compressed by a quarter inch vs the other side, the axle's camber is actually perfect despite looking pretty uneven.

 

[Surfdc]

I think those camber numbers could be caused by one side of the vehicle being heavier or the tire pressure not quite being perfect.
That would squash the tire a little more, lowering the right side and leaning both side's camber towards the lower side.

Plugging into a triangle calculator:
.2 degrees tilt (enough to get it back to +.1 and +.1)
72 inch width
90 degrees on the short leg to see how long that short leg ends up.
=.25 inches.

So if that side's tire is compressed by a quarter inch vs the other side, the axle's camber is actually perfect despite looking pretty uneven.

Do you think that is causing the pull to the left?