2014 4x4 drw sits 2" lower on the driver side rear

[Hitec.Redneck]

I am trying to figure out why my truck sits @ 2 inches lower in the rear only on the drivers side. The truck has the heavy duty suspension and rear airbags (non factory). I am measuring from the top of the rear tires to the bottom of the trim ring on the rear fender. I have checked the airbag and they are both totally deflated. I know the fuel tank and DEF tank are on the drivers side but as stiff as the rear suspension is it's hard to imagine the suspension is sagging on the drivers side. Anyone else had this issue?

 

[jhenderson]

Did someone crank on only one of the caster adjustment cams at your last alignment? If they’re not close to equal in position, that’s the first place to look. It twists one side of the axle forward and puts the suspension in a bind and often shows up as uneven height in either front or rear or both .

 

[JR]

Is this something you have recently noticed?

Can you measure the leafs from side to side, using the same reference points. Assuming level ground, ground to front and rear mount. 2" is a lot.
How about each bed mount. Look for obvious deflection, breakage, etc.

If this is something that just cropped up something should stick out.

 

[6V92TA]

Hitec, its never happened to me but did you try parking on a flat surface and measuring the distance from the ground to the frame rails..?

 

[Hitec.Redneck]

Did someone crank on only one of the caster adjustment cams at your last alignment? If they’re not close to equal in position, that’s the first place to look. It twists one side of the axle forward and puts the suspension in a bind and often shows up as uneven height in either front or rear or both .

This is new to me truck, I bought it last month from a friends Dad and before we bought it he had the front wheels replaced from uneven wear and had the front end aligned. I think you may be on to something.

 

[Hitec.Redneck]

Is this something you have recently noticed?

Can you measure the leafs from side to side, using the same reference points. Assuming level ground, ground to front and rear mount. 2" is a lot.
How about each bed mount. Look for obvious deflection, breakage, etc.

If this is something that just cropped up something should stick out.

This is a new to me truck and I think this is something that has just popped up. The previous owner said that he never noticed this before.

 

[Hitec.Redneck]

Hitec, its never happened to me but did you try parking on a flat surface and measuring the distance from the ground to the frame rails..?

I have not done this yet, but I will.

 

[6V92TA]

I have not done this yet, but I will.

its just a way to get an idea if its the body that is sagging or the suspension... front side to side and rear side to side should be even... if they aren't its something in the suspension.. if they are, it is probably something in the body... 2 inches is a bunch on something as small as a pickup truck

 

[KRSmitty]

Had same issue with my 2017. Took it back to dealer under warranty and they replaced a "bad" rear spring. Fixed the problem...on mine any way.

 

[Hitec.Redneck]

I took the truck to my mechanic and they discovered that the front left spring is more compressed the one on the passenger side. That would explain why the passenger rear is higher then the rest. They checked the front end alignment and it's spot on. They checked the caster cams and they are exactly the same on each side. He referred me to a suspension specialist in Houston. I called them talked to their shop manager and he said that they do find bad springs both from and back. They also told me that they do all the local Dodge dealer front end alignments when the dealer cant get them right. I am bringing them the truck next Wednesday for them to check it out. They said that they see a lot of 1 ton flatbed truck from the refineries near by that never leave the plants and they suffer from a lot of front spring issues. They suggested that I use a floor jack and jack up the drivers front frame and see what the passenger rear did, if it went up that would indicate the frame may be tweaked. If the passenger rear went down they say it could be the front driver spring. I got my floor jack out and raised the drivers left frame up @ 2", which is the difference that the left rear is higher then the right rear and the truck sat perfectly level. I will find out next week, I am keeping my fingers crossed it's just a bad front spring.

 

[KRSmitty]

Good luck...

 

[03worthy4link]

I have a similar situation on my new to me '16 2500. Driver side front sits 3/4 of a inch lower than the rest of the truck. Not quite the two inches of yours, but its noticable and not a huge fan of it.

 

[Hitec.Redneck]

I took the truck to two suspension shops and the consensus is the front springs need to be replaced. When I measure from the top of the tire to the bottom if the fender well in the rear and use a floor jack on the frame and lift the truck the difference I measured the truck sits perfectly level all the way around so I am suspecting the drivers side front spring is the problem. I am waiting on a quote from the suspension shop.

To add to this issue the Uconnect 8.4 system has died, the unit started not powering on and the red light on the rear view mirror was flashing red and there was a message displayed saying Uconnect 8.4 vehicle phone requires service. I checked and there was a firmware update for the radio and during the flash it get to updating the Sierra Wireless module and it fails. After doing a lot of research it looks like the wirelss module in the radio has died. Talked to the dealer (this is the point where you need to be sitting down) its going to cost $2800 to replace the unit.

The black cloud is directly overhead so stay away!!

 

[Hitec.Redneck]

UPDATE: The body lean was caused by someone at the Dodge dealership miss aligning the truck to make it stop pulling to the right. I took this truck to two different suspension shops and their supposed diagnosis was a bad drivers side front spring. At each of these shops I specifically asked about the caster cams being adjusted too much on one side, they all said, they have never heard of this and that would not cause the body lean, well they WERE wrong. The shop today found the drivers cam was adjusted all the way one direction the other was almost 180 degrees in the other direction. After they reset these to specs the truck now sits level. The front tires are worn really bad as a result they are worn bad on the inside and outside so tomorrow they are going to put the front tires on the inside of the rear wheels and move the rear inner tires to the front. They are also going to set the front end specs to 0.00 to 0.05 TOTAL toe, and 3.8-4.2 degrees caster per the recommendations at https://www.thurenfabrication.com/tech/alignment-and-handling.html. If would have not found this site and this article I would have spent over $1800 for springs and shock that the truck does not need.

• 0.00 to 0.05 TOTAL toe, and 3.8-4.2 degrees caster
  
• It is VERY important on these trucks that you don't adjust the driver and passenger side cams too far out of balance. In other words, make sure there is not much manual cross caster. If one cam is for example pointed straight down, the opposite side cam should be no more than one mark forward or back. I have seen alignment shops do some crazy things here. If you do put them far out of balance, you can get some drastic lean in the suspension. Reason being, radius arms make the front axle act like one big swaybar. With the caster cams far out of balance, it gives a similar effect as having different length swaybar links, which would force a chassis lean. If you do need a little caster bias fine tuning, which is pretty normal, loosen the upper radius arm bolts at the axle also, then re-tighten once the handling is good. This will let the axle center up as best as it can, by using slop in the hardware to help the chassis find neutral.

This is the first 4x4 truck I have owned and I am still learning about how these solid axle trucks are adjusted and I hope that after all this I plan on becoming an expert till this is fixed.

 

[jhenderson]

UPDATE: The body lean was caused by someone at the Dodge dealership miss aligning the truck to make it stop pulling to the right. I took this truck to two different suspension shops and their supposed diagnosis was a bad drivers side front spring. At each of these shops I specifically asked about the caster cams being adjusted too much on one side, they all said, they have never heard of this and that would not cause the body lean, well they WERE wrong. The shop today found the drivers cam was adjusted all the way one direction the other was almost 180 degrees in the other direction. After they reset these to specs the truck now sits level. The front tires are worn really bad as a result they are worn bad on the inside and outside so tomorrow they are going to put the front tires on the inside of the rear wheels and move the rear inner tires to the front. They are also going to set the front end specs to 0.00 to 0.05 TOTAL toe, and 3.8-4.2 degrees caster per the recommendations at https://www.thurenfabrication.com/tech/alignment-and-handling.html. If would have not found this site and this article I would have spent over $1800 for springs and shock that the truck does not need.

• 0.00 to 0.05 TOTAL toe, and 3.8-4.2 degrees caster
  
• It is VERY important on these trucks that you don't adjust the driver and passenger side cams too far out of balance. In other words, make sure there is not much manual cross caster. If one cam is for example pointed straight down, the opposite side cam should be no more than one mark forward or back. I have seen alignment shops do some crazy things here. If you do put them far out of balance, you can get some drastic lean in the suspension. Reason being, radius arms make the front axle act like one big swaybar. With the caster cams far out of balance, it gives a similar effect as having different length swaybar links, which would force a chassis lean. If you do need a little caster bias fine tuning, which is pretty normal, loosen the upper radius arm bolts at the axle also, then re-tighten once the handling is good. This will let the axle center up as best as it can, by using slop in the hardware to help the chassis find neutral.

This is the first 4x4 truck I have owned and I am still learning about how these solid axle trucks are adjusted and I hope that after all this I plan on becoming an expert till this is fixed.

Re-read post 2

 

[Hitec.Redneck]

Re-read post 2

Today I found out why they did it. I spoke to the original owner last night and the truck has always pulled to the right. The last alignment pulled the right all the way back and pushed the left (drivers) side all the way forward, hence the lean. The right side has less adjustment than the left so now they are suspecting the right radial arm maybe the issue or worse the axle tube is bent on the right side.

 

[sag2]

It is impossible to try and get cross caster by using the adjustments. It's a solid axle and you can crank on the cams all you want and the cross caster will remain the same. All your doing is putting the control arm bushings in a big bind. Anyone doing alignments for more than a day or so should know better.

From service manual.
Before each alignment reading the vehicle should be jounced (rear first, then front). Grasp each bumper at the center and jounce the vehicle up and down several times. Always release the bumper in the down position. Set the front end alignment to specifications while the vehicle is in its NORMALLY LOADED CONDITION.

CAMBER: The wheel camber angle is preset and is not adjustable.

CASTER adjustment: Check the caster of the front axle for correct angle. Be sure the axle is not bent or twisted. Road test the vehicle and make left and right turns. Observe the steering wheel return-to-center position. Low caster will cause poor steering wheel returnability.

For 2500/3500, caster can be adjusted by rotating the cams on the lower control arm. Left and right cams should be rotated in the same direction to minimize ride height changes side to side. Cross caster should not be adjusted by putting adjust cams out of phase.