1997 Ram 3500 dually 4x4. It's not terrible to drive locally but it's not very fun driving a distance especially towing. When cruising with your foot in it the steering wheel is held slightly counterclockwise to go straight. I assume there might be a little normal wander at play here but when you take your foot off the accelerator you have to turn the wheel clockwise to keep going straight. Bumpy back roads are the worst because you have to constantly make steering corrections. I replaced all the bushings on the rear leaf springs. The front had ball joints, track bar, and tie rod ends gone through/replaced at one point and it didn't fix it. Brakes are starting to make it pull hard to the left now too to add to it which is frustrating since I've replaced calipers and rotors on the front already and although it's been a few years, the pickup doesn't get driven a whole lot. Obviously the brakes can be delt with, but at this point I don't want to put anything into the pickup until I can figure out why it pulls simply between accelerating and decelerating without touching the brake pedal. Originally I thought a loose bushing on the rear axle on one side could make the rear axle itself steer slightly between acceleration but since I've already replaced those. Has anyone else noticed this before and found the problem? I have not done upper and lower control arm bushings but at this point don't see how they would cause this problem. Thanks for any insight.

 

Alignment...find an old guy that knows what he's doing....

 

Don't these trucks only have toe in adjustment? I just read somewhere that on these solid front axles you don't want any toe in so I'll adjust that to as close to 0 as i can without errorring on being towed out and see if it helps. It's measuring with a tape 3/16' towed in at the moment.

 

The reason for adjusting to a toe angle other than zero while the wheels are in a static position is because toe changes when the vehicle is in motion...The idea is to maintain zero toe (as well as zero camber) in motion while moving straight ahead for maximum tire wear...A rear wheel drive vehicle while being propelled forward will tend to induce toe-out in the front wheels...Independent suspension allows more flexibility, and hence more movement toward toe-out when in motion...The family sedan will usually have more toe-in recommended than a stiffly sprung 4WD truck...The solid front axle on the 4WD truck has fewer components which can follow this natural tendency to toe out, and therefore attains more even tire wear with less static toe-in...When I was in the business I usually set all 4WD's at 1/32" to 1/16" toe in...Barring anything unforeseen, I got favorable results...

The exception to the above was the first generation FWD Eldorados and Toronados...They had so much torque that they tended to pull the wheels in under acceleration and steady cruising...I always set the toe angle at about 1/8" toe-out for the best tire wear...

Another often overlooked aspect is toe-out on turns...The front wheels describe separate radii when the vehicle is in a turn which is why the inner wheel will toe-out more than the outer wheel...This is not adjustable but is pre-engineered into the steering geometry from the builder...However it can be measured, and the specifications are available...If out of spec, it's usually because something is bent, in most cases a steering knuckle...Symptoms are steering difficulty in one direction, or excessive tire wear on one side...

Solid rear axles have negligible toe change, and correct toe angle is always zero...Independent rear axles, and those with a steering function will have prescribed specs......Ben

 

The toe-in on these trucks is goofy unless you get the HD steering. Then you get a proper fixed-link between the front tires.

 

Fordzilla= Old guy that knows what he's doing......

 

Who you callin' old, junior?......Ben

 

So that isn't a self portrait in your avatar??!?

 

I wish!...That head once housed the finest mind of the 19th century, Rudolph Diesel...I consider it a compliment to be mistaken for him...(And he does have just a few years on me)......Ben