Was hauling a load of 24"x24" slate, approx 1200lbs in the bed of my truck. The boxes were standing up in the crate and at about a 45* angle because the crate was not full. Turned a corner and the whole load shifted. Heard a loud squeak and about threw me off the road. Unloaded at work. The whole way home from work I noticed it squeaking on every bump. Got home and was looking around. I can see the leaf packs are crooked. Both left and right, in the same direction. I put a level on each of my rear tires and it looks like the axle sits about 1/2" to the passenger side. Which is also what the leaf packs are indicating. I'm thinking just unbolt the leafs from the axle and push it back over, tighten everything back up? Not sure if the leaf packs will go back into place and align properly again though.

I'll get some pics up tomorrow maybe

 

Yea, I bet you did just that Toyz. You can straiten that out easily, like you said. It may be time for new plastic inserts as well. Those tend to wear out and disappear. The leafs really squeak without those. The dealership sells them for about 2 bucks apiece. Or you can make your own, like I did.

 

Ah damn it. Knew I shouldn't have ran that load without stacking the tile flat. Or maybe I shouldn't have taken that corner at 50. Just plastic eh. If I had time to make some I would. I have some UHMW plastic blocks laying around I could fab. No time though. I'll get it up on the jacks this weekend, straighten it out and put new inserts. Maybe throw my new shocks on too.

 

This might be a long shot but maybe that little centering pin on driver side leaf pack broke which allowed the passenger side to walk over a little bit?

 

If you are crab walking then something happened to the centering pins. This is bad and must be checked out very soon.

 

I'm surprised you didn't break any pieces (slate). That stuff can break easy. But yea, I hate that when I forget for a moment that I have something in the back with shift potential. Specially when you load over the rear axle, then someone decides to cut in front of you. Or hit they're brakes suddenly.

That makes a hell of sound when that weight hits the back of the cab.

 

They did break, about a dozen of them. I always order about 10% more than calculated. Just did a count today on what it is going to take to finish the job and it is going to be close lol. They are in stock though so no biggie.
I've had buckets of drywall mud slide and hit the front bed and scare the shat outa me. One hit so hard the lid shot off and sent mud all over the place.

All the clamps still look good. Centering pins must be where they clamp through the U bolt onto the block? All seems straight there. The U bolts don't look bent. I briefly got a chance to look at it again. It is dark when I leave for work and dark before I get home so not much time. And the garage is full. It is driving just fine. Doesnt seem washy or swaying in the back. I did notice there is only a band clamp on the front portion of the leaf pack forward of the axle and not the rear. Must be normal? Like that on both sides. So the front parts are still clamped and straight, but the rear side of the pack is what looks to have shifted. The 2 lowest leafs are sticking out toward the passenger side, the second lowest about 3/8" and the lowest one about 3/4" if that makes sense. Doesn't look right. And with the level on the tires and measuring to the fender trim, it shows the axle about half and inch to the passenger side. May just be the bushings/inserts, hell I dunno. I'll take a better look over the weekend.

 

What's a crab walk like anyway ? I've heard of dog tracking. I guess I don't see to many crabs out in about.

 

The rear tracking off center from the front due to axle shift. looks like it's going sideways like a crab. Maybe it's an east and west thing...lol

 

Is it possible the trucks always been this way and now something happened that caught your attention to make you notice it???

I ask because the axle in my truck is off just slightly also and always has been. My lower leaf (the big, thick, bottom one) is twisted as yours is, but always has been. Drives and tracks great; always has.

There have been threads about this on here before, thus the reason I asked if its possibly just something you never noticed.

 

It's definitely possible. That was my first thought. That no way a load shift like that could throw it off that easy. It's was constant squeaking that started right afterward that got me to looking around. It's squeaking right at the shackle. Which made me think something was tweaked, that's when I checked. But, maybe that load shift just smashed what was left of the old insert or something.

 

It may be worth it to take it to a body shop and have it looked at on the frame alignment machine.

 

Hey Toyz, don't know where you're at on this, but it got me to thinking and doing a little homework. I haven't tried to loosen everything up on mine to see if it'll shift and I don't think I am...maybe some day when I'm bored. But what I did do was check out about 4 F150's around my work the other day; same body style as mine but 2 and 4WD. Every truck I looked at had the axle just slightly offset enough that the right person looking at it (me) would notice. However, something different I did notice is you mentioned yours is offset to the passenger side; I assume meaning the passenger side sticks out further. With mine and all the ones I looked at yesterday, we are all offset to the drivers side; drivers side tire sticks out just a bit further.