Front Caster is off,...Warranty????

[cwbyinjeep]

Hey gang, hoping to ping someone who has had direct experience with this issue. I bought an 03 CTD 3500 DRW 4x4 (see sig) and had the stock tires on it. Seemed to ride fine and was evident it had not seen any offroading or rough terrain. I now have 35,850 miles on it and put a set of Brentz 19. 5 wheels with Goodyear 245/70 19. 5's on it last night. Love the wheels and the tires and rides great. Except now with a real tire on the front instead of the crappy Goodyear GSA's I am getting a pull to the right. I take it to the best alignment tire/wheel shop here in Atlanta and discover the driver's side Caster is off by over 1/2 degree and that's the likely cause of my pull. Everything else was in spec(tighter spec then Chryslers by the way) and truck needed no alignment at 35+k. I call the best local Dodge dealership I know of and talk with their alignment guy and the likelyhood of it being a ball joint or warrantying an axle to straighten the front end out. He tries to convince me the lower control arms dictate the Caster setting and it's evident to me he doesn't know I TRIED TO BY-PASS THE CUSSING FILTER. The lower control arms only set Drift not caster,... ... So that's not an encouraging sign of impending drama to even try to pursue this with that dealership. What I am looking to hear is from someone who has maybe addressed a similar issue with perhaps simply replacing ball joints or has a better recommendation for a Dodge dealer in the Atlanta, GA area. I'm half tempted to just leave it well enough alone, but if I have a shot of getting it taken care of in the next 150 miles before warranty runs out I will try it.



Thanks In Advnance

 

[JWilmer]

I have an '06 2500 and I thought I had issues too... the truck would want to pull right... BUT after a few more miles I noticed if I was on a 2 laner it pulled right and on a 4 laner and in the left lane it would pull left... and on a 3 laner driving in the middle lane it wouldnt do anything but drive straight... . LOL



My problem was the truck actually felt the pitch in the road and I had to correct for it (good... bad???)



Its my first Dodge (lifelong Chevy guy)... . so I was prepared for a few "new" quirks... BJ

 

[JSellers]

I call the best local Dodge dealership I know of and talk with their alignment guy and the likelyhood of it being a ball joint or warrantying an axle to straighten the front end out. He tries to convince me the lower control arms dictate the Caster setting and it's evident to me he doesn't know I TRIED TO BY-PASS THE CUSSING FILTER. The lower control arms only set Drift not caster,... ...

The dealership guy is correct. There are eccentric cams in the lower control arms for adjustment of caster angle.



Hope this helps,

John

 

[Nate]

Yup. And 1/2 a degree is nothing.



Hell I broke some mounts on my Jeep and when I redid the suspension, I found that the front axle was almost 1/2" closer on the passengers side to the back of the Jeep than the driver's side. It had a little pull, but not much.

 

[Matt400]

What John & Nate said plus if you had no pull with the GSA's and now you have a pull then I would switch left side tires with right side to make sure you are not getting a radial pull from one of your new tires.

 

[HLewallen]

Actually, I think some alignment shops will dial in a slight left-right caster difference to help offset the average road crown. Be glad your caster is at least in spec - mine is missing a full degree at max adjustment. I did not really have the warranty option since I did not know this until after the KORE was on. Live and learn.

 

[LOtero]

Yep I agree with matt400 sounds like a radial pull to me. . 5 degree isn't much expecially on a solid front axle. inferior front suspension (IFS) is more succeptible to a pull with the caster being off.

Always start with what was changed at the time when the problem occurred.



As for warranty, If there is any changes to the suspension/tires your going to end up paying for the diagnosis and labor with as many miles you got, and the good ol dodge dealership

 

[cwbyinjeep]

The dealership guy is correct. There are eccentric cams in the lower control arms for adjustment of caster angle.



Hope this helps,

John

But how do you adjust the caster of one side and not the other with the radius arms? It's a straight axle and if left and right side don't match up somewhere between 1/2-1 full degree I dont see radius arms affecting a an adjustment. I have had my hand in building and rebuilding a few straight axles from scratch and understand the dynamics of it, for the 99% part of it. The GSA's were crap and all tires had uneven wear due to the severity of wear and lack of rotation. So consequently now that I have a steer type tread on the front it handles much better in the corners and all around, but is more responsive to any inadequacies. I swapped front wheels left to right last night and no difference. The pull is minimal but there none the less, but it may not be a result of the mis-matching caster I agree. I guess I am still open to the idea that caster on one side can change with radius arms, but I need to see it to believe it. Talked with another dealership this afternoon up the street and they seem a bit more on the ball then the last, take it in tomorrow and see what they have to say, worst case scenario I pay them the deductible and I deal with the outcome and maybe sweet talk them into resetting my tire revolutions per mile while in the techs hands.

 

[Nate]

Your truck doesn't use radius arms. Radius arms are something Fords use.



You have control arms, or trailing arms as some people call them.



You can adjust 1 eccentric and created cross camber. . 5 degree is hardly anything.



Now if it's pulling to the right, you just need to adjust the eccentric on the pass side out a little bit and that will be how to fix that.

 

[LOtero]

The only thing that can be done to the front axle on these trucks is set the front axle caster equally on both sides or set one side further forward.

meaning the right side tire will be a hair further forward than the left which helps track straight. its not possible to change only one side caster. Unless you want to cut and turn the knuckles. road crown is almost always going to be a pull factor for a straight front axle vehicle. thats just the way it works. the more road crown the harder the pull, left or right depending on lane.

I've had people complain about steering and tracking feeling different with bigger wheels and lower profile tire, mainly 20" and rubberbands. expecially if they are wider, they seem to catch the grooves in the road a lot more. same goes with a taller tire. going from stock to 315's was a big change. noticed I was having to hod the wheel turned more than before just to go straight an a highly crowned road.

maybe anyone with a 19. 5 conversion will chime in and have a similar problem and it may be normal for the wheel and tires.

 

[cwbyinjeep]

The only thing that can be done to the front axle on these trucks is set the front axle caster equally on both sides or set one side further forward.

meaning the right side tire will be a hair further forward than the left which helps track straight. its not possible to change only one side caster. Unless you want to cut and turn the knuckles. road crown is almost always going to be a pull factor for a straight front axle vehicle. thats just the way it works. the more road crown the harder the pull, left or right depending on lane.

I've had people complain about steering and tracking feeling different with bigger wheels and lower profile tire, mainly 20" and rubberbands. expecially if they are wider, they seem to catch the grooves in the road a lot more. same goes with a taller tire. going from stock to 315's was a big change. noticed I was having to hod the wheel turned more than before just to go straight an a highly crowned road.

maybe anyone with a 19. 5 conversion will chime in and have a similar problem and it may be normal for the wheel and tires.

This is exactly along the lines I am thinking, just doubt it will be out of Chryslers Specs and the more I play with tire pressures and let the tires break in let alone me getting used to it the less concerned I am, I'll go for a second opinion with the local Dodge dealership alignment guy and see what he has to say.

 

[Dodge-Tech]

Alignments are only covered 12 months 12,000 miles under "adjustments". If something covered is replaced under warranty, then the alignment is also covered under warranty.

 

[cwbyinjeep]

completely don't expect alignment to be under warranty,... . I run a motorcycle dealership where warranty is a big chunk of the change. I am just wandering if anyone has seen or heard of an axle being replaced as a result of the difference in caster from left to right,... . my guess is probably no.

 

[sag2]

Occasionally an axle gets replaced for being out of spec. The offset ball joints from the second gen fit, and it is a better and cheaper way to get the alignment correct if it is close. If it is too far off the housing gets replaced. Replacing the housing gets risky because there are really not that many GOOD axle guys, and if it is not set up correctly you end up with gear whine or bearing failure.

And you can't change the split with the cams as the axle tube is solid. That's why you replace the ball joint with the offsets.

 

[cwbyinjeep]

Occasionally an axle gets replaced for being out of spec. The offset ball joints from the second gen fit, and it is a better and cheaper way to get the alignment correct if it is close. If it is too far off the housing gets replaced. Replacing the housing gets risky because there are really not that many GOOD axle guys, and if it is not set up correctly you end up with gear whine or bearing failure.

And you can't change the split with the cams as the axle tube is solid. That's why you replace the ball joint with the offsets.

Thank you for the useful info. Was unaware of the 2nd gen ball joint trick. That alone will most likely address the difference in caster I think. It just scares me so many folk seem to think you can change individual caster with control arms as opposed to pitch of the whole axle.

 

[BHanna]

My truck did the same thing. The problem with mine was the swaybar. I'm not sure if I bent it but with all the people who have this pulling to the right problem, I'm willing to bet lots of trucks have a swaybar that sits lower on the right side like mine.



What I mean is if you take off the nuts holding the swaybar down, you may find that when the right side is sitting on the link like it should, the left side is up off the link by about an inch. If you just crank down on the nuts you load the swaybar which will make the truck pull. I fought with the shop that put on my lift kit for about 6 months making them realign my front end about 10 times before I started trying to figure this out myself.



As an experiment, I put washers under the left side of the swaybar so I could tighten the nuts without loading the bar and it worked. The truck drove straight just like the alignment machine said it should.



Hope that helps.

 

[TheBigSgt]

Alignments are only covered 12 months 12,000 miles under "adjustments". If something covered is replaced under warranty, then the alignment is also covered under warranty.

This is so true. Sometimes the local rep will ok one after that but it TOTALLY up to the rep.