Alignment Question

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randallp84

New member
This is for the alignment experts. I replaced everything on the front of my wife's Mega Cab (all steering linkages, ball joints, u-joints, track bar bushings, etc.) and had an alignment done. Below are the alignment specs/measurements. We're getting a pull to the left. What needs to be adjusted to correct the pull?
 

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Nothing on the alignment points to a pull to the left. Is your steering box centered correctly? What about your tire wear? Was it pulling to the left before all the work? First thing I would do is swap the front tires and drive it to see if it goes straight or pulls to the right. Most times it is a tire causing a pull than anything else.
 
Toe is really important. I'd get it even tighter, and I always would spec for .08deg on each side.

Also, trucks come with cross caster (negative) to force them to the left slightly. This is for road crown. You could have that adjusted to be even (no cross caster).

Really if you go driving in a straight line and then stop, and you feel the tire, if the inside of one is too warm you have too much toe out, and if the outside is warm, you have too much toe in.
(NOTE: warmer than the rest of the tread)
 
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Thank you all for the responses. I'm gonna try to answer all the questions. I'm running a bilstein steering stabilizer and the tires are brand new. It didn't pull to the left with the old tires and didn't start the pull until after the alignment. The old tires were wearing very evenly. I also replaced both wheel bearings when I did all the work to the front end.
 
My pickup is doing the samething except it pulls to the right. I have done everything you have done, rotated tires, put offset ball joints in to offset the caster, etc. Nothing has made it better in my case. The only thing left to replace on mine is the steering box and I'm not sure if that's it or not. I've had it aligned multiple times by multiple people. Im sure this doesn't help you much, if you do figure it out I would be interested to know.
 
Lair87 said:
My pickup is doing the samething except it pulls to the right. I have done everything you have done, rotated tires, put offset ball joints in to offset the caster, etc. Nothing has made it better in my case. The only thing left to replace on mine is the steering box and I'm not sure if that's it or not. I've had it aligned multiple times by multiple people. Im sure this doesn't help you much, if you do figure it out I would be interested to know.
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ComnRailPwr said:
^^ check for hanging caliper like stated before?
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That, but sometimes the tread pattern can do this. My buddy's 12V had that. Swapped control arms, went to a red head gear box, new steering linkage, ball joints, hubs, and alignment that was perfect (we had an alignment machine so we did the work and took the extra time). Even put new coils, shocks, and one of those frame stiffeners on it. Then one day we swapped tires and it all went away and drove life a freaking dream!

I forget what kind of tires he had, but they weren't marked as directional even though the tread was. Something mud terrain-ish.
 
I'll try swapping the tires and checking for a sticking caliper. The wife is out of town with the truck for a few days, so it will be a little while before I can do this.
 
randallp84 said:
I'll try swapping the tires and checking for a sticking caliper. The wife is out of town with the truck for a few days, so it will be a little while before I can do this.
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The easiest way to check the caliper is to use a IR Temp Gun and go driving, coast to a stop (downshift, parking brake for the last 5mph), and hit the calipers and discs to read temps. Do it two to three times, record temps. If there's more than a 15deg difference, I'd say you've got a sticking caliper.
 
I have new calipers on mine, cause I thought that could be the issue, but it didn't fix anything. I'm down to the tires or steering box on mine. I'm starting to wonder if it is the tires I have cooper stmaxx on, and they have a mudd type tread. I keep thinking, this thing drove straight at one point in its life, why can't I figure out how to make it do it again. Very frustrating.
 
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