Happy New Year Everyone!!!

I haven't posted in a while, you guys a wealth of info without having to, but I haven't yet seen this one.

My truck, '04 screw XLT is drifting/pulling to the left, and I'm not sure where to look. I'm going up to get a set of new pads after typing this so hopefully someone can chime in with a suggestion while I'm gone.

Here's where I'm at so far. Truck has 58k on her. Did rear pads and Bilsteins all around back in August or so. Had an alignment done of course and all seemed to be well. She started fading to the left about a month back and it seemed wierd, example- 4 lane road, traveling in the left lanes it fades to the left like its following the slope in the road for the water runoff. travel in the right lane and she drives straight, no fade to the right. Same thing on Highway at speed. So. went to different shop and had another alignment done. Toe was out so I thought great, problem solved. NOT.

Pulled front wheels this am to check for pad wear, stuck caliper, loose bearings, tie rods etc. and all seems fine except the rotors seem a tad tougher to turn by hand than I'm used to on cars that I've done, but both sides feel the same.

So I think I've checked the obvious, will check air when I reassemble but doubt thats it. Could it be the Rack? is there a way to tighten or adjust?

I'm taking advantage of wheels off to put lower dusting pads on, but I'm stuck for a solution. She just seems too eager to go to the left.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Jeff

 

Sounds like you have checked the obvious like the alignment and the tire's air pressure. If you have the OEM tires, I'd bet on them being the problem.

 

Actually, They were replaced around 40-45k with Firestone Firehawk Indy 500's Size escapes me at the moment but they stock height but a little wider that stock and they've been great tires so far. rotated every 5k. i think maybe I'll switch the right and left front just to see if that has any affect.

 

If it's not the alignment, I'd say your tires are starting to cup or wear uneven. I thought my alignment was out of sorts the other day, but it just turned out to be a mild cross wind, these things catch allot of wind from the sides.

 

They sure do catch alot of wind, but this is different. It's not intermitent like the wind. Same roads, Same lanes all the time.

I did find the tire that was on the left front down to 30lbs. (from the usual 36 I run them at) when I checked them all after buttoning up the brakes so maybe that means something, unusual, they normally don't drop that much pressure between checks.

Makes me wonder about the Firestone shop that did this latest alignment, they were supposed to do a 20 point check during the alignment and rotation. That was just 2 weeks ago.

If the left rear caliper was hanging up, would that create a fade to the left?
I guess I'll see when I drive to work tommorrow if the new pads and correct air fixes it. Tires still look great, wear looks even and there is no cupping. 275\60R17 by the way. Any reason to change from the 36 lbs I run?

Anybody have any experience with Raybestos PG Plus semi-metallic pads? I couldn't find the Wagner Thermo Quiet lots of guys seem to like, but i hear those are made by Raybestos so it seemed like an equal pad. I'm hoping they don't dust as bad as the stockers..........

Anyway, thanks for the input so far, Maybe I should check the LBJ's but I was hoping to get better than 60k out of them.......

 

If the obvious checked ok, tire pressure, brakes sticking, and alignment, maybe the bearing grease is burned up? Try lubing the wheel bearings and see what happens. Have you removed the hubs at all? If so, the wheel nuts might be on too tight. Also when you got it aligned, did they center the steering wheel? Sounds kinda basic, but that could be whats wrong too. Let us know how things go.

Yes, wagner pads are Raybestos. They are common at Sears (I used to schlep them).

When you did your alighnments they should have checked your suspension and steering components. If something is bad with that, then I would never go to that shop again. How can you get a quality alignment if your suspension is all mungen up?

 

I will never take my truck back to goodyear. There are plenty of places that will screw you on your alignment. Might not hurt to have a seperate shop take a look at it.
-Patrick

 

id check the alignment. Mine pulls to the right ( i had the ford dealer do the alignment, which is always terrible) Im waiting till i get new tires to get an alignment cause my stock tires are all kindsa messed up but not all the way gone yet.

 

I think it seamed a bit better today, but now that you mention it the steering wheel is a tad bit off, to the LEFT. It will be a little bit before I can get it back in. But I will be taking it to a different Firestone to have it done redone under the warranty.

I didn't pull the rotors off (it's a 2wd), even though I did want to repack the wheel bearings but, I didn't have access to replace those "do not reuse" castle nuts on a Sunday so I left them intact.

Thanks for the input guys, your help is always welcome.

Jeff

 

Next alignment request a printout of the alignment measurements. They should give you the Ford specs and they should give you the actual before and after measurements. I'd make sure to ask them before you drop it off. With modern alignment tools, if they can't give me a printout like that then I don't want them working on my vehicle. Alignments have always seemed like a good place for fraud to me.

 

I've got the printouts. I do always ask for them. Doesn't mean they can't be altered though. The latest one shows that the toe was out on the right side and they brought it back in.

I'm a little on the **** side though, and if I was doing it myself, for myself I guess, I'd do my best to get all the measurements at the midpoint of the min/max allowable. It kind of bugs me when I see a reading that is near but not outside the extremes. May be good enough for them and really not make a measurable difference, I understand the time is money thing, but I'd like to see them all a little closer to midpoint if I had the choice......

 

Yah thats called a viseign (sp?) alignment. It gets rid of the redness

 

Who knows if this is your problem, but in my case, when I had the OEM Goodyears, it would pull with the crown of the road (to the left in the left lane, right in right lane) a little bit. When I went to Cooper Cobras which were wider than stock, it pulled alot. Got alignment, didnt help. Next, (for summer tires) I went to Michelin LTX M/S 235's, which are skinnier than stock. It all went away, no more drifting. Could be wider tires, I dont know.

It may be part of it, but the last time I did an alignment, they said that for the next one, it would need a "camber shim kit" (I think that's what it was) - it was fine for now, but would need one in the next 30K miles or so. It could be that a loose front end could have made it more susceptible to wider tires.

 

Ha! That's pretty good......

It could be the wider tires, slightly off steering wheel, back left caliper or a combination of all of these. I remember when I first got it in July 04 and found this board, some of the discussion was about how sensitive to change our suspensions seemed to be. I've been blessed to not have any of the nibble or vibration problems, (knock, knock) and maybe this is all normal stuff for her at almost 60k. It's just a little annoying.........

 

Close, but it's called a "cam bolt kit". It makes an alignment alot easier by making the front end more adjustable and helps when things start to get worn a little bit. I put this in myself and then went and had it aligned. It's pretty easy to do yourself and pretty cheap. I just wouldn't drive for very many miles once I installed them before I got everything aligned properly.