pulling to the right only in 4wd

[WRLIVE]

Hey guys. I took my wife to the airport the other day in bad conditions using 4wd (40 miles each way). On the way I started hearing noise and feeling more vibrations from the front end. The truck started pulling to the right on the way home.



Noise and pulling would eventually go away after selecting 2wd (NP273 transfer). I found out there was a bad u-joint in the double cardan. I had the drive shaft completely rebuilt and balanced.



Noise and vibration have gone away (in 4wd) but truck still pulls to the right ( only in 4wd). Axle u-joints, upper and lower ball joints have about 1,000 miles on them.



What am I missing? :{ Thanks for your time.

 

[CPittman]

Would a bad / failing hub assembly cause that due to extra friction on that side. I guess it would pull in 2wd too... What's the mileage on the clock? I've had two 2004's and I've done both front hub assemblies at around 140K (but that's TX weather... )

 

[mickeyblueyes]

I am sure you know what you are doing , but the 4wd drive in these vehicles really need a lot of slippage ,there is not vicious coupling in the middle, so when you say bad conditions was it snowy? the front wheel will really scrub with out slippage. rainy weather may not be the best choice for 4wd however I do not know your conditions at the time.

 

[WRLIVE]

Mileage on the truck is 90k. I failed to mention that the passenger side hub was replaced with the ball joints.

Thanks for your help

 

[WRLIVE]

I do have some level of understanding in that arena. We had a Land Rover for a while ( full time 4wd). Conditions were snow packed roads and snowing heavily.

I just got back from a ski trip to Winter Park CO (90 miles each way) and I'll have to say it was a white knuckle ride on the way up there... again snowing with snow packed roads. The truck was pulling to the right and as I compensated for that it would lurch to the left. The truck has never behaved like this before. (I've owned it for 3 years)

 

[UAV]

Man that is a tough one. Since the front axle components are still rotating in 2wd there is not much difference between 2wd and 4wd except the additional load put on those components when the t-case is engaged.



Could it be the truck just following the crown in the road more heavily with a load on the front end? What happens when you drive on the left side of the crown in 4wd?



When was the alignment last checked? Are any of the control arm bushings worn out? With the additional load in 4wd worn control arm bushings could cause caster to change which would cause it to pull one way or the other. It may be a long shot but I'm not sure where else I would look at this point.

 

[WRLIVE]

Yes, I am baffled on this one. Every time I think of something that could cause that, I think, well, it should be doing that in 2wd too...

If I drive on the left side of the road, depending on the crown the pull is decreased.

Alignment was done after replacing ball joints etc. 1,000 miles ago. Front end was inspected for warn joints at that time. The tech said everything was in spec. I did replace the inner tie rod end anyway. I don't know. Still scratching my head. A buddy of mine recommended a driveline shop he uses, so I will be calling them Monday morning. I will report back on this.

Thanks for your help,

 

[HCannon]

Are all your tires in good shape and of the same ware on each? Have you checked the air pressure? If you have some sort of miss mach of tires or if they are warn. I have had weard things with tires that are warn, put a new set on and it all goes away. My wifes 04 4x4 was pullling to the right- tires werent all that bad but I put a new set on and now it drives perfect. Just something to thank about.

 

[WRLIVE]

Ok. Tell me if this would have an effect... I have my spare on the right rear. Spare is a 265/70 and the other 3 are 295/70s. If so I don't understand why only in 4wd. As much as I want to know why, at this point I just want it fixed.

Thank you,

 

[UAV]

You should have noted that up front

Get that spare tire off of there. It's also not doing your differential spider gears and cross shaft any justice.

 

[HCannon]

When you put it in 4x4 and have a different size tire on one, something has to give. They will all be locked together and the best tire wins pulling things the way it wonts to go. This is the way that I see it.

 

[WRLIVE]

I apologize for not mentioning the spare. I had no idea that it would have an effect being on the rear. I figured that as long as I didn't have an lsd or locker I wasn't hurting anything.

Now, with the spare off now the pull is gone. Learn something new everyday. I will be getting a full sized spare very soon.

You guys are the best,

 

[rscurtis]

What was happening with your smaller tire on the RR is the rear driveshaft wants to turn slightly faster than the front. This is fine in 2WD, but when you engage 4WD, both shafts must now turn at the same speed. Now, the left rear tire is traveling further than the right rear, forcing the truck to the right, much like the stagger seen on a circle track racer. If you had a vehicle with full time 4WD, you wouldn't have had this problem. But as someone else mentioned, you are walking the spider gears unnecessarily.

 

[WRLIVE]

rscurtis,
Thanks for the explanation, that helps.