I have a 05 that has always had the same problem. No matter who aligns it always pulls to the right. Can't ever let the steering wheel go....I hope someone on here can help...

 

I understand about letting go,,,, you don't!!

 

just put more air pressure in the right tire. no im just kidding my o5 does pull a lil to the right from time to time but i just thought it was the wind or the road.

 

Thanks I needed a laugh,,,,, Yea I know the crown in the roads her in TN causes some of it. When I ride in the left lane, and should pe pulling left with the crown, it still goes to the right. Just a little slower to drift.

Maybe I could put the 245 back on just the left side and see what that does.

 

im sorry to say a pull is not normal its should be fixed in a alignment post up your alignment specs and we can see whats up with that.also could be brakes,tires,susp ect to many variables to make a asumstion but we can start with the align specs.rule of thumb is caster wont start pulling until a full degree diffrence of the other so that shop did nothing to compansate for the pull.

 

Thanks, I am getting the exact printout, or trying to get another copy, and I will post all specs.

 

Have them set the caster to fight the crown. Fixed

 

A brake drag could cause it to pull, a caliper could not be releasing all the way. ALmost every vehicle I have had has pulled one way or the other to some degree. If the tires are wearing evenly, I would leans towards a brake or other issue that is causing drag on one side of the vehicle.

Maybe I am crazy, but when the drive wheel (a single wheel) is spinning it could push it one direction and not straight.

 

caster will cause a "pull" and not wear tires. a good alignment tech should be able to adjust the caster to compensate for a pull. the trick is finding one. there are far too many idiot techs that only know what the computer tells them.

 

You need more cross caster. You only have .4 a degree right now. Jeff at NorCal told me he sets up his trucks with .8 cross caster. Sounds like to me the alignments are to GM specs. You need to get the caster on the passenger side over GM specs to around 5.8 degrees.

When you say the caster is maxed out, Is this because of specs or a physical problem. Do you have any room on the passanger side for the rear cam to rotate down?

The only mechanical issue I can think of is the Ball joints. If they aren't install correctly you will loose caster. The UCA needs to sit on top of the ball joint flange.

 

You need more cross caster. You only have .4 a degree right now. Jeff at NorCal told me he sets up his trucks with .8 cross caster. Sounds like to me the alignments are to GM specs. You need to get the caster on the passenger side over GM specs to around 5.8 degrees.

I did think about backing off the driver side to achieve this. It is set up to Cognito specs.

When you say the caster is maxed out, Is this because of specs or a physical problem. Do you have any room on the passanger side for the rear cam to rotate down?

It is a physical problem. The cam is maxed out, as a matter of fact it won't even go into a positive on the camber. Its close at -.01 but not at 0 or above. The torsion bars are far from maxed out also. I have the axles almost flat, it could go up a lot more but I think that would only exaggerate the adjustment issues.

The only mechanical issue I can think of is the Ball joints. If they aren't install correctly you will loose caster. The UCA needs to sit on top of the ball joint flange.

I have the ball joints on the bottom of the control arm. Ya know, funny thing, when I took it in first time with the lift the shop said they could not get it in spec. When I told them to move the ball joint they argued with me that it was not possible. This was supposed to be a specialty shop in front ends in town. Anyway I took it and changed them myself and took it back. They wanted to charge me again!!! Sorry for the rant.


Well I have checked for drag and so forth. Sounds like it not something in the steering so ??????

Thanks for all the input!!!

 

99 percent of the time this is a radial-pull. Swap the two front tires side-side and see if that changes things. If it does, it is the tires (obviously).

 

I have tried this. The problem has been present with 3 separate sets of tires.
Thanks for the input though!!
Oh yea I agree with you also,, I have been driving for 30 years and not had this type problem from trucks, semi's, muscle cars, or any of my wife's cars. My last truck was the same truck only gas and didn't have this problem.

Thanks for all the replies from everyone!!

 

How many years have you guys been driving?
drifting to the right is natural on every freakin vehicle (car or truck) on the road.
every alignment shop in the country will tell you that.

 

Well, after doing alignments for 15 years, I disagree. Factory specs typically have a little more caster built into a side to compensate for ROAD CROWN. If factory specs called for straight forward, I always add/subtract (vehicle specific) some caster for crown compensation.

Any alignment shop worth it's salt should have that covered.

 

Sometimes you set the vehicle to the specs - Sometimes you set the specs to the vehicle. All the guys above who are talking about cross caster are correct. If you can't get it to drive straight when in spec, then adjust it out of spec to get it to go straight.

Also, camber will cause pulling, but will also cause tire wear. Camber pulls to the positive

 

Sometimes you set the vehicle to the specs - Sometimes you set the specs to the vehicle. All the guys above who are talking about cross caster are correct. If you can't get it to drive straight when in spec, then adjust it out of spec to get it to go straight.

Also, camber will cause pulling, but will also cause tire wear. Camber pulls to the positive

Correct.

I like to keep the camber(s) light, positive (if possible) and even on both sides.

Caster can be whatever is needed. Won't cause tire wear. I use this to neutrally "steer" the vehicle where I want it. If the customer normally rides on heavily-crowned roads, I put more caster in respectively to correct. Sometimes it takes two or three tries to get it right for each vehicle. I don't look at these as "come-backs", as I am fine-tuning the handling for each vehicle and its driver/owner. They are usually overwhelmed when it is all done and dialed-in.

 

Hello, for what is worth, the spool valve in the steering gear may be at fault.....ie over assisting to the right. Another thing to check is the gearbox preload...maybe to loose?? just a thought, good luck, Sir-col

 

What if he went up a couple rounds on the passenger side t-bar?

 

I'm having the exact same problem. Pulls to the right. I have the Cognito Leveling kit and it's pulled to the right ever since. I've had my alignment done to the Cognito specs twice. I even swapped front tires as suggested on this thread. Still the same thing.

I'll be keeping an eye on this thread to see what finally works

 

Another cognito leveling kit owner with the pull to the right.

Everything was fine until I added braces and tie rods, rotated the tires (front to back) and got an alignment done to cognitos specs. :confuzeld

 

im sorry guys for your pulls but i would like to say if that truck came in to my shop it would not leave with a pull i would find out what the problem is and fix it or you would be aware of the problem and fix it later.im sorry the vehicles that leave here never pull right.i appolijize i took offense to the comment of all cars pull right comment.if the tech doing the alignment is worth a dam thing it will drive straight.
fred

 

I wish I could find a good alignment shop here. I know one thing I won't take it back to the Goodyear shop again.

 

I wish I could find a good alignment shop here. I know one thing I won't take it back to the Goodyear shop again.

You will want a custom-type shop. If I can't get to my own, I have a place called Performance Off-Road do mine. The owner does all of the alignments and won't let it leave until the customer drives it and gives the OK.

You CAN get lucky going to your average-flavor tire store, but usually the guy there is trained to just set it to what the machine says to (straight factory specs).

A custom shop that does lifts and such (and has their own alignment rack)SHOULD be the place to get the quality job done.

 

I realize this might be a stretch, but I did do alignments for quite a while and have a little exp..... Have you looked at the rear-end, specifically if it is tracking straight. The other thing to check is setback on the front. I aligned a car for a customer once who had taken it "everywhere" to get it aligned. I found the cradle had shifted and the setback was way off. I straightened it out and the guy was impressed it finally drove straight........Just a thought. Wish I could get you on a rack here, I bet we could make it go straight.

 

I realize this might be a stretch, but I did do alignments for quite a while and have a little exp..... Have you looked at the rear-end, specifically if it is tracking straight. The other thing to check is setback on the front. I aligned a car for a customer once who had taken it "everywhere" to get it aligned. I found the cradle had shifted and the setback was way off. I straightened it out and the guy was impressed it finally drove straight........Just a thought. Wish I could get you on a rack here, I bet we could make it go straight.

Good point. I won't do ANY 2-wheel alignments. I always do at LEAST a 4-wheel "thrust" alignment to make the rears follow directly behind the fronts. The truck may be crooked going down the road, but the alignment will be perfect!

 

What does Cognito list for specs, just wondering? If you can't get the camber out far enough, Specialty Products makes offset bushings for the upper control arms for when you crank up the torsion bars.

 

Cognito specs;
Have the vehicle professionally aligned to the following specifications:
Caster, +2.0 to +4.5 degrees with both sides within ½ degree of one another.
Camber, 0 to + .25 degrees.
Toe, 1/16” to 1/8” toe in.

I may need to check on those offset bushings. Will they work on the Cognito arms ya think? I'll do a search for them.

Thanks!!

 

get that re aligned for sure. Pulling to the right is not good, could be brake related too.

 

I agree, same has happened to my truck after I installed the cognito ucas and braces. Pulls to the right, three alignments done from three different shops, no luck. I was about to go back to stock wheels and AT tires, but I figure that wont help either. It is driving me crazy.

 

More caster split! It may need up to a 1.5 degree split, how's the rear thrust angle ?

 

Check my thread, it may be able to help out some. http://www.dieselplace.com/forum/showthread.php?t=309155

 

diy caster change to stop drift to right

thanks for all the info. I have been having drift problems whenever I changed tires for years, and none of the shops want to deviate from factory specs.
Here is how I changed my caster without changing camber.
1: jack up truck with floor jack under lower a arm,remove right wheel
2: stick a good magnetic level to the rotor and adjust the height of the jack until the rotor is perfectly level. set a jackstand under the rotor to ensure it doesn't move. this will maintain the camber setting when u move the cams.
3: measure the distance from the upper a arm to a reference on the truck. i went from the grease zerk to a screw on the mudflap and got 449mm.
4: loosen the nuts on the upper a arm cams, remove the plastic factory
keepers and rotate the bolts to move the upper ball joint to the rear[rear cam down,front one up.] i moved it 6mm. adjust the cams so that the rotor stays level. tighten bolts.
5: install wheel and check toe-in. i set mine to 5mm.

 

thanks for all the info. I have been having drift problems whenever I changed tires for years, and none of the shops want to deviate from factory specs.
Here is how I changed my caster without changing camber.
1: jack up truck with floor jack under lower a arm,remove right wheel
2: stick a good magnetic level to the rotor and adjust the height of the jack until the rotor is perfectly level. set a jackstand under the rotor to ensure it doesn't move. this will maintain the camber setting when u move the cams.
3: measure the distance from the upper a arm to a reference on the truck. i went from the grease zerk to a screw on the mudflap and got 449mm.
4: loosen the nuts on the upper a arm cams, remove the plastic factory
keepers and rotate the bolts to move the upper ball joint to the rear[rear cam down,front one up.] i moved it 6mm. adjust the cams so that the rotor stays level. tighten bolts.
5: install wheel and check toe-in. i set mine to 5mm.

Nice avatar

I might have to do something like this since firestone still cant come through with a good alignment.

 

socal2ks: It took me a while, but now I remember some of the conversations from months back. Did Firestone ever fix your cross caster numbers?

 

I actually kind of attempted something like this by adjusting the cams, and the truck drove way better.

In preparation for my 6000mile round trip I decided to have them do another alignment with no success! I even gave them all the specs with cross castor, however I dont think they pay much attention to them.

So im just going to cough up $60 more and take it to the place that installed my control arms. With that alignment I could drive in heavy wind and barely move, now its too damn twitchy.