Pulls to right

[Gordon Maney]

I have a 2001 HO diesel, six speed truck, with about 1,000 miles on it now.



The truck has a steady, substantial pull to the right. Remarkably, however, on a two lane highway, driving on the left side of the center line, it most often will go off to the left. On a low crown highway, like the freeway, the left side performance is typically that it will go to the right. Only rarely does it not display this pull.



My '99 Ram 2500 always wandered, a condition the dealer described as normal operation, and a condition I never accepted as normal operation. I used to do alignment work years ago, and was a dealership mechanic in automobile and truck dealerships, so I am not the typical customer, perhaps.



I had the alignment checked at a truck shop, and they determined it was correct. The truck does not pull when you brake, so I am not sure if it is a brake problem. My 1999 V10 truck had a quite a brake pull that came on suddenly, necessitating the use of some service shim scenario to solve it.



Are many of you seeing problems with pulling, rather than good tracking on the highway? The pull is even noticeable in town... .

 

[SStokes]

I had a 99 3500 that had a very slight pull to the right. Alignment guy said everything was all right. In about 2 months I started hearing noise when I applied brakes. When I checked, the right front pad was history and the rotor needed turning. Since I was about to trade in, I put on a pad. I think the caliper was sticking sometimes. I have heard of this before. Worth a check.

 

[Timinator]

Could it be a sloppy steering box that goes wherever the road's crown takes it?

 

[Joe G.]

You might want to search the archives. There is a thread that contains the correct specs for alignment for these rigs. The "official" specs are too loose so a truck can be within the specs and still be out of alignment.

 

[Cobra]

pULL TO RIGHT

Gordon



My truck is also an 01 and it pulls to the right. I would say that it drifts to the right rather than pulls. It is very slight. Just monday I had it back to the dealer. Turns out that my truck is too big for his alighnment machine. I had to make an appointment at a front end shop for next wednesday. I got the specs from reading a thread on the tdr. If you can't find the thread let me know and I will give them to you.

 

[Dr.Kayak]

My 2001. 5 pulls to the right. I guess it's better that the wondering problem people describe. I'm afraid to take it to Dodge they might screw it up worse... .

 

[Shooter]

Repeat after me!!!



The dealers alignment rack is not my friend .

OK that was good. now 50 more times

 

[Shooter]

We need a poll on the quality of dealer alignments vs independant alignmen shops to remidy wandering, pulling and tire wear and set to a spicific alignment paramiter rather than " in specs " bs.

My truck pulled, dealer said was in spec, gave me a print out sayin so. I read THE alignment thread, crawled under and found my caster eccentrics twisted in opisite directions. Independant alignment shop put it right on the money and untwisted my front axle

 

[RKHebert]

don't recall where the thread was posted, but have the same problem so i jotted down the specs given by an ase cert. align. tech.

l/w r/w

caster 3. 2 3. 5

cross caster -0. 3

camber -0. 10 -0. 10

cross camber 0. 0

toe set to factory spec's



this tech said these were the optimum spec's for our rig's.

 

[Jetpilot]

I had a 99 that pulled/wandered to the right. The dealer worked on this problem for over 10,000 miles and never corrected it. DC even flew guys in from Detroit to try and fix it... . No luck!



DC then bought my 99 back and I got a 2001. 5. It's been a great truck. I would keep on the dealer until he fixes it or you get a new truck! No $30,000+ vehicle should pull or wander it is NOT normal. Just my $. 02 worth.



Doug S.

 

[John Berger]

My truck has wandered to the right since I bought it, with two notable exceptions:



1) When I tow, it tracks flawlessly.



2) Every third rotation of the tires, it tracks perfectly, loaded or unloaded.



I'm thinking that my drift to the right is a sympton of the tires. I'll find out this winter, when I put new shoes on the truck. Till then: Driving down the road and drifting to the right.

 

[Lrand]

Pulls to the Right

I've got a 1997 Dodge 4x4 5 speed got the same problem I took it to the dealer they said its within specs. Still have problem took it to a independent alinginment shop they said it was only out by . 005 degrees which they set back to 0. Bad thing is they said I needed a stabliser shock of coarse I agreed it was leeking but they installred the wrong one witch when I turned to go out of there parking lot the drag link bar bolts ripped a hole in the shock I didnt notice any difference till I got home and seen fluid driping out the front so I crawled under neith and seen the problem (pissed isnt the word) So I emiditaly took it back and had them get the right one then they said my drag link bar was bent so I had to wait for them to get one in a day later of coarse they said that should cure the problem of it drifting to the right NOT. Talked to a front end gie I new at work said it could be my tires ? or my brakes ? So tried rotating the tires no help checked the front brake pads almost like new roters looked good.



So if any of you figured out problem reply back.



PS the truck never had this problem when I first bought it. Truck has 125,000 miles on it been a damn good truck other than some normal wear problems.