How hard of a pull is it? Pull to the right is normal for road crown. Road crown is where the center of the road is the high point and slopes towards the outside to promote water drainage. Is your steering wheel centered?
The effect of Rake on Wheel Alignment?
- Thread starter jross20
- Start date
jross20
New member
You know, I forgot about the crown thing but it does seem to pull pretty fast. Let me do some parking lot tests tomorrow.
Maybe it's just by brain messing with me...
If you can find a big enough highway with a divider most of them will be crowned to where the left/fast lane slopes the opposite direction (right side higher than left side)
phattyduck
Elite Member
The top looks horrible. 1* of cross camber?!? Also in the wrong direction.Alright here she is. The top might not look too bad, but man did she drive awful.
Honestly this shop has probably does the closed alignment I've ever gotten on this truck:
Ideally you want the right caster and possibly camber a bit higher than the left (0.2-0.3*) to correct a bit for road crown. The rear axle might be bent too, based on those rear numbers.
The new alignment should be good, though might be a bit sensitive to road crown and imperfections.
-Charlie
jross20
New member
Oh that's a good idea. So far by parking lot tests have been... Hit or miss. I did find an old road by the house that "looked" flat and indeed she tracked true when I held the wheel center. So maybe she is as good as she can get.
Ah don't tell me the axle is bent... Is there any way to adjust her at all? Or would that require custom shiz?
Another testing alternative is driving in the center of a road with no traffic and good visibility. Do this at your own risk and with good judgement. Not exactly the best way to go about it, but I've had to do this a couple times to verify a pull.
EDIT: If you have any play in your steering then road crown pull will seem extra because of how far the steering wheel has to turn in the opposite direction to put tension uphill to counter the pull.
jross20
New member
PHP:
There actually is a road in an abandoned subdivision that might work for that idea safely. I'll see if I can swing by there tonight. Further regular driving appears to be normal assuming the pull is just the crown. Although the "wah wah wah" sound gas returned. Not as bad as before, but it is there.
At this point I better believe I've got the wheel "tight" as I changed the tie rods and rack bushings last year (bushings are a pain the ass!). Previously the bushings had a ton of play which did not seem safe...
I've jacked up the front and ever so slightly turned the steering wheel only to see the wheels move with what I take as zero play.
The rack does seem to make a few noises as I turn her lock to lock though. Only makes the sounds of I go all the way to one side and then come back. If I just say, go back and forth a little bit, she's silent.
Steering column and rag joint can also have play in them. If your tires are already worn uneven, then there's really nothing you can do about the tire noise. Most of the time the tire tread will not even out.
jross20
New member
Well the noise was gone for the first day or so, but yeah it must be the ruined tires.
As for that column/joint play, is that fixable or "is what it is"
There are a couple things you can do to fix if you find the steering column has play in it. Steering column slip joint: Play in Steering Column? You can try either tack welding the slip joint, squeezing it in a press, or trying to find a shim material you can wedge in there to take up the slack. If it's the rag joint I think you can replace the whole rag joint rather than try to rebuild it.
Endlessblockades
Senior Member
Can someone explain to me how the rear axle numbers are affected by the adjustments to the front of the vehicle?
You said you did the OTEs and rack bushings but there is one more easy thing you can try before the rag joint, which is the rack guide. The later years had a different style of guide that you can put in. You're supposed to pull the rack and do it on the bench to get the correct preload on the on the guide spring but you can approximate it with rack still on the vehicle and dial it in with some trial and error until you get it exactly how you like. Then blue locktight it there. Might help, might not.
If you are referring to his alignment sheet its normal for the rear numbers to change as you align the front. I attribute this to the fact that the front wheels are on basically metal plates on ball bearings so they can rotate freely during adjustment and not bind, which also allows them to move the entire front end side to side which confuses the machine. If you look at his alignment sheet the total toe for the rear end doesn't change.
I always wondered about that and assumed it must be some sort of margin of error thing with the machine.
Does "dog tracking" ever become an issue with these trucks or would adjustable rear arms come in to it? Burns me out trying to vizualize all this.
It would take several degrees or more of rear thrust angle in order to see or notice any dog tracking. The vehicles that you see dog tracking mostly have been in a collision and bent the frame/axle housing/rear suspension components so they have bigger issues. Translating machine readouts to physical/visual makes my mind bend a little and I usually resort to using my hands like ship rudders trying to figure out what I need to do to get the steering wheel straight when driving straight lol
EDIT: If it's a breezy day I have to close the bay doors otherwise I can watch the toe float by +/- 0.05 degrees. It may not seem like a lot but it makes a difference in alignments.
Jakeepoo3
New member
Tire wear pattern the same on each front tire? Castor won't be an issue with your upper arms set properly. After I lifted 3" I went for a free alignment check and aligned it myself. Everything was on the money except toe. My front tires toed out quite a bit causing uneven tire wear. The inside half of the tire tread towards the engine bay were wearing much faster than the outside half of the tire.
IBallEngineer
New member
.6 degrees of camber on the rear axle isn't going to do ANEEEEE THIIIING. Not a thing, nothing, zero, zilch, nada!!!!
If you have a pull at low speed, say under 25-30mph, its your tires, not the alignment.
IBallEngineer
New member
A properly performed alignment would have the rear wheels on slip plates for the rear tires as well as the turntables for the front wheels. If you notice the rear numbers are grayed out, which means there is no adjustment possible. But as stated, the truck sort of moves around side to side in the alignment lift when you make adjustments to the front. HOWEVER, a true "Thrush Angle Alignment" is basically finding the rear wheels, and basing the front wheel toe angles on that, the rear angles should not change. I'm thinking they didn't unlock the rear slip plates and this caused a slightly erroneous reading. The machine isn't confused, but the rear suspension is under a slight load because of the front movement. If they performed the roll back again it probably would have been unchanged. Splitting hairs here, no need to worry about it.
There’s no adjustment for the rear so no need to unpin the rear plates for it to slide around. I’ve found it necessary to only unlock either the front or rear at one time so I can break fasteners loose and adjust without the vehicle moving all over the place.
jross20
New member
Welllll I've give as fast as 70 and it's still there a little bit.
Here's what's weird though, I swear that if I kind of play around with the wheel carefully at speed, it's almost like there's a slight spot where if I turn just right and then slowly turn straight that it will track straight. Almost as if the steering wheel and the wheels have some slight bit of disconnect...
But as far as I can tell if I turn the steering wheel and look at the tires they look like they have no delay...
I will was going to say at this point that the truck is still driving significantly better
