Hey guys, I have noticed that when I look at my truck from the rear the drivers side seems to be leaning a bit. I cannot tell whether the frame is bent or if I have some sagging springs in the rear. How can I check to see if my frame is bent? I do not see any weird unusual tire wear at all. Looking underneth my truck I do not see anything bent.

Heres a pic, but it is hard to tell from the picture.

Thanks for your input

 

if its never been loaded heavy or wrecked, the frame aint bent, its probably a broke spring or hanger.

 

Are all of your body and bed mounts good, the rubber will compress. Measure all points between your frame and the bed were your mounts are. Somethin to check.

 

Is your bed shimmed properly? Could be just tired springs, mine leans to the drivers side also. My theory is that the combination of fuel and the driver cause the driver side springs to sag a little more.

 

it wouldnt surprise me, 2nd gen 4wd trucks got 2 different spring rates because of that

 

you can take it to a reputable body shop and have them do a set up and measure to see if the frame is bent. they should only charge you a couple hours labor tops. then that way you will know if it is the frame or not.
with that said i would first do as stated above and check the body mounts.
it should either be the left rear corner or the right front corner. there should be no shims or pads under the bed bolts just the cab. if you get the frame checked and it is ok then i would suspect the cab mounts and you can either shim or replace them. if you choose to replace then you should do them all so they are the same age. if one is squished then the others are not far behind.
it may be a spring as stated above but unless you load it heavy or tow alot i would look at the mounts first.
i have been in the autobody trade for over 20 yrs and have replaced more body mounts due to age related reasons than springs.
jm.02

ps;
i went back and looked at your pic and if you look at the rear bumper and see the diff under it you will notice that the pic shows that you can see the same amount of the axle tubes on both sides in relation to the bumper. i would not suspect the springs. the first mount i would check would be the right rear cab mount.
let us know what you find.

 

The bed's on cockeyed. I see that on a lot of 1st gens, mine included.

 

That's 10 times straighter than mine---I'm jealous

 

Mine lists to port also. It's gotten a bit worse over the years.

Maybe this fall I'll start replacing mounts. I R&R'd the front coil springs to get the nose up a little recently.

Regards, DBF

 

There was a service bulletin from DC that described a left side leaning low problem. The fix was a spacer on the front left coil spring to level it.
I don't think too many people knew about that re-call.

 

Mine was sagging on the drivers side by 1 1/2 inches till a couple of days ago. Put differnt springs in it and now it's only 1 inch. I'm going to add an extra spring on the drivers side.

 

I have noticed my old body mounts give a nice twisted effect to my truck. One of these days im going to crawl under it and shim it with washers>

 

Mine does the same thing even with air bags it sags on that side. I think it's the box something got loades heavy in the back on that side.

Greg

 

i've had 5 1st gens through my hands and all but one did it noticebly. and one had been babied it's entire life! the only one that didn't was a truck set up to haul an in bed camper. the top of the bed came to my shoulder when emtpy! (i'm 6'2") there were so many springs and overloads on that thing it was crazy! you are nothing out of the norm and i wouldn't worry about the frame. i too attibute that to the fuel/driver 30gal X approx 8lb/gal = 240lb+weight of tank (minimal) + average driver 200lb? you are looking at 500lb extra on that side for at least a good part of it's life.... over 15 years that's gonna have some effect.

 

sorry guys I just got back from a trip and have had withdrawls from this site. Thanks for the advice I think that it is just tired spring but I will look into it more.