I've noticed my truck pulls to the right when I let go of my steering wheel for a second or two. This is a fairly new truck with 18k miles on it. I checked my tire pressure and I have 35 lbs. in each tire. What could be the problem.

 

It must be a "conservative"!

Have the alignment checked first.

 

either that or check the left brake caliper.....it might need new pads or even stuck .had that same problem on my ranger......had less than 15 grand on the ranger and it was pulling to the right...pulled the left tire.wheel and "broke" down the brakes.....no pads and was metal to metal contact......ford did nothing about it either.said it was a wear item and not covered under warranty.........good luck

 

Most roads, especially back in the boonies, are crowned in the center to allow for rain to run off, and the norm for vehicles is to pull to the right. Just one thought, I know it affects mine on many roads in the county.

 

Had the same pull to the right. Had to keep steering wheel at about 30 deg to left to compensate. Tires had 45K on them.

Took it (2000 F150 4x4 5.4) in for alignment and was told that a Camber Castor Kit ($150) had to be installed since the factory setting is essentially fixed and barely adjustable. Well, it definitely solved the problem but.... unadjustable cam/caster from the factory? Do I understand this correctly?

 

In my case it was the front end alignment each time. Check the wear on the outside of your tires. If the tread is not even, take it to the dealer and tell them it pulls and explain the tread wear. I bring mine in within 5000 miles and the will find tune the alignment under warranty. I don't know about 18,000 but would be interested to hear.

 

I took my truck in to the dealer w/ about 10k miles on it and told them it pulls to the right, fix it under warranty.
Came back to pick it up and was told, it's within specs, it's suppose to slightly pull to the right so if you let go of the wheel, you don't go left into oncomming traffic.

Consider the source...

 

My 2001 F150 4x4 actually pulls slightly left, even if I'm in the right-hand lane. I've also checked tire pressue, brakes, etc.... Every time I take it in, I have them check this and it comes back advising everything is within specs. It has 25,000 miles and the tires are not worn uneven. Of course I rotate them every 5,000. Guess I just have to live with it. I just like driving with my right arm resting on the middle arm rest, but it gets a little tired, on long drives, when I constantly have to keep slight pressure on the wheel to keep it in the lane.

 

i know exactly what your talking about mn2001. Mine goes right. I had an alignment done and went left, i rotated tired, went right again. Now it just stays right. I hate it.

 

Thats crap. I cant believe they would even say that to you.

 

I never had an alignment properly done at an automotive dealer. Sure they put it to within specs but take a close look at the printout. Most likely you will see one tire that is slightly off in the positive direction and the other slightly off in the negative direction. They are still in spec but your tires still wear away! It is very hard to come by a good alignment tech who is willing to go out of his way to make your alignment perfect! I found a small shop near my home town that only does alignments. They won't even change a tie rod or anything. If they find a bad tie rod, they tell you to pick up the vehicle, get it fixed, and bring it back. However they do the best alignment I have ever seen! I got 45,000 miles on my last set of tires after they aligned the truck to where ford should have had it when I bought it (I cupped my original tires in 10,000 miles!) Also my wife's honda chewed the inside of all 4 original tires and we took it into the dealer. They said the alignment was fine. I didn't believe them, so I took it to this guy and he said it was all wacked out. He aligned it in and the tires are wearing perfectly!!!

So it is all in the alignment tech. I would look around for an old mom and pop place like I found and give them a shot. Also those new fancy alignment racks don't mean anything. All that tells you is that the tech doesn't know how to properly align a vehicle, he lets the computer do it for him.

 

Kev,

I agree with your comments. My first two trucks pulled to one side or the other, and I took it back to the dealer I bought it at. They ran true as long as I drove them.

The third one I bought used from a different dealer. It pulled to the right, so I took it back and then it pulled to the left. I finally put new tires on it at Sears and the specs showed one side off by quite a bit. The tow spec is -1 to 11 and it was at 12. The other side was at -2. Total tow 10.

I'm taking notice, and if it pulls one way other the other I'll take it back and have them take a closer look. It seems ok, but I wonder if I should have taken it back to the first dealer.

I do believe in taking it back and expecting them to pay closer attention the second time. Like the rest of you I don't like to drive with a little pressure on the wheel.

I have noticed that the SCrew is more sensitive to a cross wind. It will put slightly to the left one day, and slightly to the right the next when traveling on the freeway.

 

Well.... I took my truck to the dealer and they returned it from a modest pull to the right to a slight pull to the left. The "tech" said it was the tires. These were brand new tires identical to OEM. He did not seem to be persuaded by the fact that the modest pull right was IDENTICAL with the old or new tires.

Took it elsewhere and found one of those perfectionist tech. He worked for 3 hours and had me test drive every time. With a combination of tire changes and adjustments, he has reduced the pull to a very slight left.

His comment was that it was the frame. That would best explain the persistance of the pull but not how it changes when the tires are swapped.

Anyway, I concluded it was a truck and will live with it but I will also make sure I rotate tires regularly.

 

There is such a thing as a "radial pull" in a tire. It's pretty rare these days because of the construction methods of modern tires, but it's not unheard of.

I've been in the tire business for 10 years and no one who knows what they're talking about has ever given me a good technical explanation of WHY some tires do it. But the consensus is that something goes wrong in the cooling process of the tire, making it very slightly wedge-shaped across the tread instead of being perfectly square.

The end result is that the tire pulls or pushes the vehicle to one side or the other. Most vehicles won't be affected if the tire is on the rear, but if you have a pull that shows up immediately with a new set of tires, or upon rotating the tires for the first time, that could be the cause. Another red flag is the pull being greater at higher speeds.

There is a complicated tire rotation process involved in isolating which tire is causing the problem. Just because it pulls right doesn't mean it's the right front, it could the the left front "pushing" the vehicle that way. And it's not totally impossible for it to be a rear tire. So there is a multi-step rotation and test drive process to nail down which one it is. But radial pull is covered under the warranty of every tire manufacturer I've ever dealt with.

Again I stress that it's pretty rare these days and 99 times out of a 100 a pull is caused by uneven air pressures, bad alignment or some other mechanical problem with the vehicle. But if you've exhausted every other possibility, find a reputable private dealer for the brand tire you have and talk to them about it.

Hope this helps,
Pete

 

Thanks for the explanation. A tire will roll to one side or the other if it is not perfectly cylinderical, but instead is slightly conical. In all the cars I have owned, I do not recall tires being so finicky.

Again, thanks for the reply.