Trucks pulls to the right in 4wd only?
 

Hey guys,

I drove the truck to work today, and it was slushy/snowy so I had my hubs locked and was going in and out of 4wd as needed. However, I noticed that when in 4wd when I give it some gas it pulls to the right, sometimes REAL hard and sometimes almost not at all.

Right after I left my house I slid into a curb very slowly and at that point I hadn't used 4wd yet that day (I used the other day and didn't experience anything like what I did today). As soon as I used it I noticed this pull..

When I was in 2wd it tracked just fine, it was only in 4wd under throttle that I noticed this pull..

Any idea's what to look for? It's rather sketchy using 4wd in this condition.

Thanks!
Ben

Well you have a tru-trac, so im sure it has somthing to do with losing traction and simply sliding over. But I could be wrong..

I thought that as well but there are two things that make me think something is not working correctly.
1. It didn't do this the other day when I was playing around on snow packed streets. Granted that was a bit different conditions then today, but not that different.
2. If this was how it operated in the snow NO one would EVER want one.. It's sketchy. It pulls the front around a fair amount. It's not cool at all.

Thanks!
Ben

first time you ever drove with a front truetrac locked? Cuz thats it

No, This was the 4th time I have driven in 4wd on snow with the Trutack and it has never been this sketchy. Granted, this is probably the most switching of snow/pavement I have done, but there's no way this can be right. I mean I have to turn the wheel 1/4 to 1/2 turn to correct. Very sketchy.

Mine did this today on my way to school.... i dont think its any thing you need to worrie about...

I have driven a lot in the snow.. Previous to my 'Runner I had an '87 Turbo pickup and I probably put a good 10,000 miles of driving just in the snow in 4wd on that truck and never experienced anything like this.

I just have a hard time believing that this is expected behavior. It's not safe. At any moment in 4wd the front of the truck will jump over 1/4 or 1/2 of a lane.

I just thought of something; after talking to some folks about other things I found out my right front wheel bearing may be to tight. Think that could cause this?

thats a posablitlity try loosening it (i recomend in a heated shop lol)
mine doesnt move over that much and its just on pavment
when you turn and slowly drive in 4wd does your tires kinda hop and churp?

I haven't tried that in a while. The roads are too sloppy right now to get that kind of result. I'll see what I can do about the wheel bearing..

yea give it a shot that makes the most scense to me now that it was brought up

Mine was kinda moving like that when I would switch gears - would kinda jump to the side when I pushed the clutch in.

I am thinking it's something in the alignment that doesn't affect much on dry streets, but really affects it when it's slick...

If it was alignment wouldn't it happen the same or similar in 2wd? I don't experience it at all in 2wd, only under throttle in 4wd.

I'd bet its one of these:

- One of your hubs isn't locked all the way
- CV broken

I've had very similar things occur when I forget to lock a hub. If your TruTrack's only giving power to one wheel, you'll have a terrible pull to one side. It's easy to check also, just have a friend watch both your front wheels when you take off on some ice. If only one wheel spins, something's amiss.

CV's are new, I'll double check on the hubs. I just recently put them on and I did verify they were working at that time.

Sounds like I'll be tearing into my drivers side hub soon..

Thanks guys..

If it pulls to the right, it's probably your passenger hub that's the problem...

ack.. yes, I meant to say passenger side.. That's the one that I think I may have reinstalled the bearing nuts to tightly, so its already suspect.

Thanks for the correction and input!

Totally off topic, but you say your hubs were locked and you were switching from 2WD to 4WD as needed, how unfair, I cant get my '84 to go back into 2WD with the hubs locked...

My old truetrac did the same thing. However, it didn't do it with the first set of tires, then started with the another newer set.

Check the pressures. If one is low, the TT will act up. Actually, play with the pressures a bit, you might get this problem to go away.

Frank

Yeah I switch back and forth easily. I thought its pretty common to do so? I did it all the time on my pickup as well.. I'm not sure why it would be any different on an '84? You do have to be going straight though...

Very interesting point on tire pressure. I'll check that out as well. I wouldn't have thought the TT was that sensitive. Thanks, Frank.

It's a torque sensing LSD so it binds up the more you apply torque (and it sees a resistance, if a wheel is in the air, well the wheel on the ground sees little torque) So, coasting it will slip easily. You load it and all the sudden it wants both wheels spinning the same speed and you'll feel it through the steering if there is any reason the wheels want to spin different speeds.

Frank