rowan

i dont know why but my truck goes down the road at an angle.. the back tires are way out of line from the front ones. the steering wheel has a big turn to it but the truck still tracks straight. the rear axle is also not straight; the tire is farther back on one side than the other. any ideas? whats going on? thanks in advance.

WT

did you hit something big recently that may have thrown your rear end out of whack ??
Almost sounds maybe bent frame too ?? hmm wierd for sure
Any funny wear on the tires ??

ChickenLover

My friend had a similiar situation. His u-bolts for his leafs on one side came loose and his axle shifted back a little bit.

TechWrench

Have you had the rear suspension out of the truck recently, or changed springs. I have seen this when a friend installed new leaf springs and put one side in backwards. The axle mount was not centered, this put one side of the axle ahead of the other and caused the truck to 'crab' to the left.

EDGE

It's called dog tracking the back tires are not following the front, my friends suburban did that, he was towing a 25,000 lb boat and pulled the body off the frame, he eventually had to have the body welded back onto the frame and it fixed the problem.

Usually you see it on work trucks or vans, anything that is hauling heavy loads and beat on sooner or later dog tracks

superjoe83

if you have "jammed" the rear tire into somthing latley, you could have sheared off the center bolt in the leaf pack or bent a leaf, another cause is that your u bolts could have came loose and allowed the axle to drop down enough to pop over the center bolt, get under it and look, it should be pretty clear of what happend

Breezey

I vote , go get new leaf springs or bring it to toyota

rowan

yeah, i have seen other trucks doing this too... just didn't know what was going on. i dont think i've hit anything, but you never know. i was just trying to find the center bolts but couldn't find them on either side. :wtf: maybe it will be easier when its daytime out. ...i guess i will have my mechanic look at it soon.
thanks for the replies!

TechWrench

I don't know the specifics of your axle layout, but from past experience here is my best guess. Most leaf spring sets have a center which connects all the different length leafs together. Usually, the axle is fastened to the spring assy. with two 'U' shaped clamps and there is a plate welded to the axle which has a small stud protuding out of it which is inserted into a hole in the center of the spring pack before the clamps are tightened. If both springs are installed in the same direction, and this stud in alligned properly in the hole, the axle should be 'square' to the frame. This, of course, is assuming the frame is also square. I have seen several things happen to mess up this alignment. In many spring sets, the hole that this stud fits into is not exactly centered between the ends of the spring set. If both ends of the spring are connected to the fram using shackle type hangers, it is possible to install one of the springs backwards. Then the alignment of the holes is off, and this causes the axle to be mis-aligned. A hard impact to one side of the axle could cause the stud to shear off, and the axle could move off center and move out of allignment. It is also possible that the 'U' bolts have loosened, and allowed the axle to move from center. It is also possible that the truck was in an accident some time in the past, and the frame was bent.

How long have you had the truck, do you know any of its history?

PS: After rereading your original post, I noted in your sig line that a lift kit and new shackles were installed. Maybe the shackles were installed incorrectly and this caused the springs to be mis-aligned to the frame?

rowan

thanks but.. no.. all this happened much after the lift was installed..

ive had the truck almost 2 years, and i dont really know the history before that. i know i hit a tree with it, but that was about a year ago... or more actually.

some !@#$er who was trying to pull me out with his bronco was tugging really hard on my bumper a little while ago, and it bent the arb forwards... so maybe its related to that... but i didn't notice the alignment being @#$@ed up until at least a couple weeks or a month after that. i just gotta get some money so i can have the shop look at it, i am completely broke right now.

im just really hoping its not the frame...

SLC Punk

Like what was said before, it could be the center bolt or a bent leaf spring. I have seen both happen.

chasmc2

I had my frame straightend about a year ago. 5 bills good luck and I hope its something easy and cheap

rowan

turns out it was a broken center. all fixed now.

Scofco

Mine does this also, what's the deal if it's on Coils?

Yoter

6-8-04
7-7-04
now its alive again at 8-24-04, yikes the world must be coming to an end with all these old threads coming back from the dead.

Scofco, I say being you live in rust country your frame is ˟˟˟˟ed. Time to get a Kia Sportage man.

Scofco

The frame wasn't very rusty at all though.
I did clip the front right wheel on a mound of ice awhile back, it was an awful feeling. Perhaps that warped the frame?

Booo!

Scofco

About the old threads, some of us search for our problems before asking