 |
 | Home | Contact Us | FAQ | Search & Site Map | Link to Us |
 | Sign In | Join | Other 45 Sites in Network |
Car Forum / Chevrolet / Chevrolet Trucks / November 2004Truck drifting to right
Hello group, I have a '96 S-10 4wd. Recently I took it in to a shop to have an alignment done. They said the ilder arm and the pitman arm were worn. Okay I trust them so I replaced them. I took I back to them they aligned it, I also told them to look at the ride height and adjust the torsion bars if necessary. I've driven it for about a week now and it drifts to the right, before it was pulling to the right, thats why I brought it in. I've rotated the tires to see if that was it, even though the tires are new and don't even have 1000 miles on them. I've also noticed that when I hit bumps the steering wheel moves the the right a little, no matter if the bump was on the right or left side. What could be causing the truck to drift right. Brake pad/shoe dragging? Something in the steering to tight/loose? Or is it just something to deal with, like my truck just follows the crown in the road more then others. Any thoughts??? Thanks John > I have a '96 S-10 4wd. Recently I took it in to a shop to have an > alignment done. They said the idler arm and the pitman arm were worn. [quoted text clipped - 11 lines] > road more then others. > Any thoughts??? I have a couple of thoughts. If I remember correctly, the idler arm on this model has slotted holes in the frame where it bolts up. It's a common mistake to not re-align the idler arm properly so that the steering geometry of the center link and the rest of the linkage is horizontal. If this is not correct, you will get that "bump" steer that you are describing. The other item, drifting to the right....may be related to the idler arm problem, but if not, the alignment tech needs to "tweak" the caster so that it's slightly higher on the right side then the left. I don't know what your alignment figures are....did you get a printout after the alignment was done? If so, post the numbers here, and maybe we can see if there is something that could be changed. Since caster changes do not wear tires....it's by far the more effective angle to change on a double wishbone front suspension when dealing with a pull. And on an S-10 truck, it's very simple to change as you have eccentric bolts in the upper control arms to change the caster/camber angles. Ian >> I have a '96 S-10 4wd. Recently I took it in to a shop to have an >> alignment done. They said the idler arm and the pitman arm were worn. [quoted text clipped - 32 lines] > > Ian I would add that not all alignment shops are equal. My new Astro van pulled to the right, and no tire swap would fix it. I took it to Les Schwab and paid $25 or so for an alignment that took 45 minutes. The van pulled worse than before. I then took it to a place in Vegas that was known for front end work and still used the old Bear alignment system. They spent almost 3 hours on it and charged me only $60. It now drives very nearly perfect. I think the cheap shops may have guys that don't fully understand the numbers the computers spit out either. Thanks for the reply. I took my truck to Hoover Wheel Alignment. Thats pretty much all they do. The alignment cost me $45 and then for the torsion bar and idler arm adjustment cost me another $15. They spent at least an hour and a half with it. I'll call them up and see what they say. I've heard something about a 4 wheel alignment, can that be done on my truck? Thanks John >>> I have a '96 S-10 4wd. Recently I took it in to a shop to have an >>> alignment done. They said the idler arm and the pitman arm were worn. [quoted text clipped - 43 lines] > I think the cheap shops may have guys that don't fully understand the > numbers the computers spit out either. Thanks for the reply, I read about the idler arm adjustment and asked them to look at that also, sorry I didn't say that. They didn't give me a print out of the number just an overall sheet stating "alignment". I'll call them about the caster and see what they say. Thanks John >> I have a '96 S-10 4wd. Recently I took it in to a shop to have an >> alignment done. They said the idler arm and the pitman arm were worn. [quoted text clipped - 32 lines] > > Ian > Thanks for the reply, I read about the idler arm adjustment and asked > them to look at that also, sorry I didn't say that. They didn't give > me a print out of the number just an overall sheet stating > "alignment". I'll call them about the caster and see what they say. Just remember this...next time you get an alignment....insist on a printout showing "before" and "after" alignment readings. Any competent alignment shop should provide you with this type of printout. Otherwise, you have no clue as to what they actually did. Even if "you" don't understand the readout.....someone will. Ian |
Reply to this Message |
 Sign In
 Join
 My Latest Posts My Monitored Threads My Blog My Photo Gallery My Profile My Homepage Start New Thread Enable EMail Alerts Rate this Thread
|
©2008 Advenet LLC Privacy Policy - Terms of Use
This website includes both content owned or controlled by Advenet as well as content owned or controlled by third parties.