Sledge Hammer

Have a problem with my 94 ext cab Toyota 4x4.

It pulls very hard to the left.

Here is the history that I know about.

I bought it with a 4" lift and 3" body lift with 38" tires. the truck pulled then but I thought it was just the worn out front tire. Anyway, first thing I did was take off the body lift and put 33" tires on it, it still pulled.

Took it to a place that specializes in front end work and they said the tie rods on that side are adjusted as far as they can go.

Can I cut about a 1/2" off each rod so I can get adjustment or is there another way to fix this problem.

The shop would not do anything more because of liability issues.

gilby4runner

Brake caliber sticking? Worn bearings in the wheel or hub? I had a jeep that pulled hard to the left. The wheel / hub bearing was worn. Just a thought

Sledge Hammer

I got all that checked but that's a good idea. Braking makes no difference to the pull. The shop said the Tie rod ends on the drivers side could not be pulled in anymore. They were bottoming out on each other.

chorst294

I have a 91' 4x4 that has a similar problem. When I installed a 3" body lift and 33's, I had the frontend alighned. It only pulls when I hit the brakes. A good mechanic friend of mine told me it was more than likely a sticky brake caliper. I plan on replacing the entire front brake system (Rotors, pads, calipers, lines, wheel bearings) in the near future.

22mr2

if the ends of the tie rods are butting up against each other in the adjuster sleeve, I cant see why you cant take the tie rods to the chop saw and take off a chunk to get more toe adjustment.

Sledge Hammer

22mr2,

That's what I was thinking too. The shop would not do it for liability issues. I'm thinking about giving it a shot, not much to loose either way.

Has anyone else done this?

Alex 400

that sounds weird that they would be bottoming out, i would figure if anything they would need to be longer. anyway, one possibility is if when they installed the lift, they put the pitman arm on off a tooth. I just had an alignment done the other day and the first time it went down the road straight but i couldn't turn as sharp in one direction as i could before. I looked at the tie rods, and one side was way farther out than the other side. I narrowed it down to the pitman arm, it was off like 4 splines! squared away. Yours might be off and need to be centered up and then you would have more even adjustment between the two sides.

Workhorse

IIRC I had to hack a bit off of my Tie rod ends to get it back in alignment after the lift on my 87. I don't remember why anymore I just remember having to give the shop the OK to cut them off

Sledge Hammer

I will check the pitman arm. What is IIRC?

Workhorse

If I Remember Correctly

Sledge Hammer

Thanks, had to ask the same with ttt a couple of years ago.

Cyberman

I know you took it to a professional shop, but couldn't they have adjusted the opposite side so that it didn't pull? I would imagine doing so might set your steering wheel off a little, but at least it wouldn't pull.

just a 22re

if it has a big lift and even bigger body lift makes me think it was beat and used off road and with them tyre you said maybe even rock smashing so i say you should look at the cross bar see if its the right one my guess is they bent of broke the stock one and put one from a diff year or something else truck making it longer

if both tie rods are as far as they can go in and it still pulls to the left check your timing on the pitman arm it may be off and also look for problems in the control arms see if there bent THERES NO WAY IN HE!! YOU CAN MAKE THE TIES RODS BOTTOM OUT AND NOT HAVE A PROBLEM ELSE WHERE!!!


so i say take a good look at the front end take pictures post them here and we can look and see with you

Sledge Hammer

I will take picture tomorrow.

Okay,

Here is the read out.

Camber

Left -0.5
Right -1.0

Caster

Left 1.1
Right 2.0

Toe

Left 0.21
Right -0.19

Cross Camber

0.4

Cross Caster

-0.9

Total Toe

0.01

Also, he is what he told me would fix the problem " Shorten tie rods and adjustment sleeves. Caster and camber adjusted as much as possible"


I have no idea what all that mean. Please tell me!

As far as I know, the brakes are fine. The pull is there no matter if I brake or not. It's always the same. I will look into the brakes more.

Also, as far as I know, the tires are good. They are new so I can not look at tire wear and I have tried all 4 tires on the front left.

abecedarian

that means the top of the left tire is tilting in towards the truck 1/2 of a degree and the right tire is tilting in 1 degree.
in a perfect world, those numbers should be equal, and generally no more than -0.25 degrees.means that if you drew a line through the ball joints, looking at the wheel from the side, the line through the ball joints on the left wheel tilts (at the top) towards the rear of the vehicle 1.1 degrees, and the line through the ball joints on the right wheel tilts (at the top) 2.0 degrees towards the rear.
as with camber, those numbers should be equal. caster is the primary adjustment that causes the truck to return to 'straight ahead' when you let go of the wheel. when the steering linkage is centered, the left tire is pointing outwards and the right wheel is pointing inwards.
to go straight, does your steering wheel have to be turned slightly to the right? these numbers are just the sum of the measurements and are mostly useless, except for the total toe. .01 tells you that your wheels are almost parallel in the front to rear direction (the front edge of the tires are .01" too far apart to be truly parallel). you should actually be slightly negative.shortening the tie rods would allow a bit more room to pull the left tire in a bit more and let you get to the proper toe settingwhat concerns me is the differences between the camber and caster angles.
if they can't adjust them out, and considering there's a lift kit in there, the suspension/frame may be bent, and if it is, that could explain why there's not enough adjustment in the tie rods

*edited the word camber in the description of caster to read caster

Sledge Hammer

Thanks for the info!!!!

jessekosten

Oddly enough I am having a similar problem only before I took my truck to get aligned it drove straight and after the shop toyed with it it wanders to the left. the reason it went into the shop is the ball joints were shot and it had brake pull. In hunting the brake pull issue my truck now has new rotors, pads, calipers, hoses, fluid, repacked and adjusted bearing and ball joints. the problem is it still wanders and pulls. I am wondering if the alignment guy could have jacked my caster to much making it favor one side or if because I have heavy torsion bars(ride height is slightly higher) could effect it. Anyone elso run into this problem?