Had dealer align TE... still pulls right

kapp_badbloodz

New member
Hello,


So I took a little road trip to break in the trail (pics and write up coming soon!) and the entire trip I felt like I had to hold the steering wheel left to prevent it from pulling right.

I am trying to stockpile as much evidence as possible but I wanted to gather some opinions on what exactly might be the cause. After the first couple days I got the feeling the front right corner of the vehicle was "sagging" but there was the issue of shuddering in the steering wheel at highway speeds then it pulled hard right. Dealer rebalanced and aligned the truck and it was better. Took it on this trip and it was incredibly obnoxious. On flat nicely paved roads it would just veer right all the time.

I took some videos. I tend to curse like a sailor so I tried not to curse much. You have been warned.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_lYoHnPShU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OVV9Peyq1nc

Could there be something wrong with that right corner? What are your thoughts?


thanks for the help

Corey
 
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Jackass hey jackass jackass jackass hey hey hey jackass

stop screwing with the dealership. Take it to Jamel at Southern Tire Co. and have him align it! Once he fixes it take the bill to Toyota and tell them to refund the money to you
 
Last edited:
....... Once he fixes it take the bill to Toyota and tell them to refund the money to you

Yeah, good luck with that.

Why haven't you just gone back to the dealer? Just get the service writer to drive while you ride along. Sometimes you just have to be a PITA.

However, be prepared for the dealer to blame your shocks/lift/tires for "not being stock".

Likely you'll end up at Jamel's anyway, and he'll get it right, but getting the dealer to pay .....? I've got an Andrew Jackson that says "no way".

Just another cost of modding...
 
Ah, my bad. All the more reason then, to hold the dealer's feet to the fire.

@OP The key to getting my 4R to track properly was to get the caster as near to 4* as possible.

This is "outside" Toyota's standard specs, so you might get some pushback. Fortunately my DSM knew what/why I wanted and complied.
 
Mine does the same thing, I have had to hold the wheel to the left since day one. But it hasn't been exclusive to this vehicle, I have had this on multiple vehicles, the looser the steering, the worse it is. It gets really bad the steeper the crown gets. While the road looks and feels flat, there is a slope to the right in the right lane on an interstate. I also noticed while down in Florida that you guys have a pretty steep slope in the left lane in some areas compared to what I'm used to.
 
Coming from a service writers perspective i say dont be a dick right when you walk in. Be cool with the writer taking care of you and you will get much further with it. There is nothing we hate more then the customer that comes in and starts demanding stuff right away especially free
 
It seems to me that maybe 1 in 10 people who have a "front end alignment" sign outside their shop really know what they are doing.

I could be wrong.
 
Mine pulls right but there is no issue. Why? Road crowning is the reason. When driving on the left side of road it pulls opposite direction. It is normal especially with larger tires.
 
Mine pulls right but there is no issue. Why? Road crowning is the reason. When driving on the left side of road it pulls opposite direction. It is normal especially with larger tires.

If I'm not mistaken in my second video you actually see my truck veer left and then cut hard right. I'm 99% positive that its the truck and not the road. I can understand it veers occasionally... but this truck literally pulls the wheel right especially at highway speeds.
[MENTION=123978]4Surfin[/MENTION] I'll probably take it to them. I believe my warranty covers work by any ASE certified shop or Toyota stealership.
 
Coming from a service writers perspective i say dont be a dick right when you walk in. Be cool with the writer taking care of you and you will get much further with it. There is nothing we hate more then the customer that comes in and starts demanding stuff right away especially free

I think it depends on the service writer. At Lexus it's like pulling teeth to get decent service. I have to spell out exactly what I want, usually print and bring my own copy of the TSB, and be a PITA to get the hacks in the back to do even a halfway decent job. The Toyota, honda, and acura dealers I've gone to have all had much much better quality service departments and mechanics, so it's not so much of an issue.
 
If I'm not mistaken in my second video you actually see my truck veer left and then cut hard right. I'm 99% positive that its the truck and not the road. I can understand it veers occasionally... but this truck literally pulls the wheel right especially at highway speeds.

[MENTION=123978]4Surfin[/MENTION] I'll probably take it to them. I believe my warranty covers work by any ASE certified shop or Toyota stealership.

You don't have a caliper hanging up do you? Just throwing it out there, i'm sure you have covered all the bases.
 
Could be the excellent stock tires Toyota chooses to use. :(
Belts on radials can slip causing the problem you are having. Try a tire rotation to see if that fixes the problem. If it fixes it, it may mean one or more tires have slipped belts. I had that problem several times over 20 years ago. Tire manufacturing has improved considerably, but Toyota also saves some money on each 4R they make by using passenger tires that safely last 20-30K miles.
Stockers provide a better ride, better gas mileage, and inferior handling/durability.
 
Mine pulls right but there is no issue. Why? Road crowning is the reason. When driving on the left side of road it pulls opposite direction. It is normal especially with larger tires.

OPs TE pulled to the right when in right lane and left lane in the 2 videos so
road crown may not be the issue.
 
I think it depends on the service writer. At Lexus it's like pulling teeth to get decent service. I have to spell out exactly what I want, usually print and bring my own copy of the TSB, and be a PITA to get the hacks in the back to do even a halfway decent job. The Toyota, honda, and acura dealers I've gone to have all had much much better quality service departments and mechanics, so it's not so much of an issue.

If i get a customer thats cool and calm then ill go out of my way to help out n all that good stuff but if the first word i hear when i ask them how they are doing is "oil change" or "ever since you" its a different story :lol:
 

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