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Rearend alignment is way out!

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I only have about 9,950 miles on my '04 SB 4x4. My wife was driving it the other day and I was following behind her in our Jeep. I noticed the truck appeared as though it was not tracking straight down the road. It looked like the rear of the truck was off to the right side. It bugs the hell out of me when I see vehicle's like this. Anyway, I took it to the dealer yesterday and they found that the rear angle was at 3 degrees and the frontend toe was in. The service manager called it "dog tailing. "



Keep in mind, I haven't done anything to modify the truck. When I bought it, the same dealer installed the 2" leveling kit and put on the BFG AT 315's. The tech said he was able to pull the L/R backwards and the R/R forward but was only able to get the thrust angle to 1 degree. He got the front toe to 0 degrees.



The tech that did the work told me this is within specs but it seems to me like that is still too far out so I took it to another mechanic that I fully trust. He told me that 1 degree is still off by quite a bit. He said 3 degrees is way off. He told me that . 1 degree is okay but not a full degree. He's going to check it in the morning so I have some thing to compare it to when I take it back to the dealer. My mechanic told me that he's seen cars that have been involved in collisions that are out only 1 degree. He said it had to come from the factory like that or somethings bent. Its never been in a collision. He said it would have to have been hit by a semi to knock it out that much.



I also noticed that my right front tire is excessively worn on the outside. It's the only tire that is unevenly worn. Again, I have less then 10,000 miles on this truck. I feel this is unacceptable.



Has anyone else had this problem or even noticed? Any other ideas?
 
Needs a thrust angle aligment I bet. Dosen't have to be bent to be like this. Thats why alignments are now done with four head alignment machines. The FRONT can cause the dogwalk. Seeing autos and trucks like that are common. Need a good alignment tech and about a hour or so and its like magic its fixed.
 
If the truck has been raised 2" in the front with a leveling kit and the trac bar wasn't adjusted for the rise then the trac bar would actually decenter the front axle a small amount. Also, if you're running aftermarket wheels you could have received an unmatched set with regards to backspacing. Just a few thoughts.
 
Thrust angle is the relationship between the differential and the centre line of the truck. Imagine drawing an upside down capital T. The up and down line is the centre line and the top of the upside down T is the diff. Now slightly move the line that represents the diff and watch where the centre line moves. A vehicle with a big enough thrust angle can and will cause a pull. I hope this helps.

Mike.
 
I took my truck into my buddy's shop today and he checked the alignment for me. The thrust angle was only . 2 degrees. He told me it was the w/in specs but at the maximum he would allow.



I'm not sure why the difference between the two shops but I guess its okay. Although I wish it was at 0 degrees.
 
Midnight said:
Thrust angle is the relationship between the differential and the centre line of the truck. Imagine drawing an upside down capital T. The up and down line is the centre line and the top of the upside down T is the diff. Now slightly move the line that represents the diff and watch where the centre line moves. A vehicle with a big enough thrust angle can and will cause a pull. I hope this helps.

Mike.

Thanks, Mike! I suspected that might be what it is...



-Ryan
 
I don't know why, but it seems the majority of pickups dogtrack to some degree. Almost always the rear tires track to the right of the fronts.



I also noticed on 4x4s the front track is a bit wider than the rear, and often the right side tires track pretty close together, while the front tire on the driver's side tracks well to the left of the back tire.



Why is this so? :confused: Driving in the left lane of a freeway makes no difference. GM vehicles seem to be worse than Ford & Dodge. It's almost as if they're set up to dogtrack on purpose.



Vaughn
 
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