Truck Wander

hrspwr · April 29, 2011

Have an issue with my truck. It seems that the more crown in the road the more the truck will want to pull. I understand that a little bit of pull is normal, but the truck wants to go off roading in the ditch. Now I have brought it to a shop that I trust and they checked the alignment. They did not touch anything because it was all good and within spec. On a flat road the truck drives straight as well. Is there anything that I need to check for?

Doug_Scott · April 29, 2011

If the truck runs straight when you are on a road with little to no crown, then whoever did the alignment did not offset the truck for the crown. The crown is normally there, and no crown is not normal. Generally you set the vehicle with slightly less castor on the left wheel (assuming North America). Slightly as in half a degree or so. I used castor simply because it is not a tire wearing angle.

BTW, a vehicle can be completely within specs and still pull hard to one side due to alignment settings. Just because they say it is within specs does not mean it is right.

daveor · April 30, 2011

not sure if it would have anything to do with it, but, have you checked the tire pressure? Run what the sticker on the door says,

rebelman06 · April 30, 2011

Have you had your tires rotated and balanced recently?

Doug_Scott · April 30, 2011

Have you had your tires rotated and balanced recently?

Generally, when you get a tire that has "radial pull", you will find the steering wheel will be off center as you drive straight down the road. When you release the wheel, the truck will pull to the side with the bad tire, and the steering wheel will be centered as the truck goes off in the direction of the bad tire.

This is different to an alignment pull in that when the alignment causes the pull, the steering wheel will not go back to being centered when you let go of the wheel, it will go past center and keep turning as the truck goes further offline.

desrtrat · April 30, 2011

a high crown in the road will make your truck pull some. we have that here on most of the freeways, but the side roads are not so bad. also the wider your tire the more it can drift on a high crowned road. on a couple of our freeways here, the crown on a 2 lane road is so bad when driving down it you can see the bow in it..

frdfandc · April 30, 2011

If the alignment settings have been set to specifications by the tech doing the alignment shop, its either a tire issue or the crown of the road causing this.

You can't get away from crown of the road. And a good alignment tech will set the alignment to factory specs, not to counter how the roads are. On a single 2 lane road - opposite direction, crown comes from the center, left to right. On a 4 lane - 2 lanes opposing direction - crown of the road is between the 2 lanes going in the same direction.

So the right lane will cause the vehicle to "drift/pull" right, and the left lane will cause the vehicle to "drift/pull" left.

No way around it especially since the alignment checks out.

Also, most of us on the boards here have installed larger than OEM size tires so that can/will affect how the vehicle will ride/handle on the road. I know this for a fact because I used to have 35x12.50/15's on my old Blazer. Much larger than the stock 31x10.50/15's. With the larger tires, it would grab hold and follow every little imperfection in the road, even crown. I used to live down the road from a stone quarry. It was a doozy to handle when on a road with heavy large truck traffic like semi's and dump trucks with the deep grooves in the pavement from the heavy loads.

There are 3 ways to go about this when having an alignment issue.

1. Have it aligned and get the before/after print outs. The customer should always get copies of these. If the alignment is within spec, even better when its just about spot on, then this rules out an alignment issue.

2. Rotate the tires from left to right. If its a radial tire pull, the pull will follow with the tire. Make sure to do the fronts first, but also do the rears. But with the rears, if it pulls left, then the right rear tire might be bad, and vice versa. Its opposite.

3. Crown of the road. 2 things you can do here. Nothing and like it (or not like it)

wicked ace · April 30, 2011

I'm going through the same thing. Wish I could tell you what to do as I have been unsuccessful it getting it fixed by the dealer. If you get a solution let me know.

frdfandc · April 30, 2011

I'm going through the same thing. Wish I could tell you what to do as I have been unsuccessful it getting it fixed by the dealer. If you get a solution let me know.

There is no solution for road crown causing a drift. If you have the alignment adjusted for road crown, the truck will pull the opposite direction when on a flat road and could cause accelerated tire wear.

The solution, unfortunately is to deal with it.

anteater · April 30, 2011

what type of tires your using?my HD was fine with the factory tires but when needed replacing the tire shop put some toyos on!after putting them on the truck had the same problems you describe pulled all over the road,felt the back end wanted to pass the front end,felt like the road was icy really,seemed like the back end wanted to wander !finally had enough and took it in for new tires again as usual GM was no help.took it to sears and got 4 new BF goodrich rugged trail TA's and wow what a difference felt like my GM trucks of the past!this truck handled so bad with the toyos that at one point after getting them we pulled over and checked the lug nuts because we wondered if I had a loose wheel or something,I honestly hated this truck and wanted to trade it off!it reminded me of the days of driving fords!but I can honestly say that the good tires fixed my problem,and I did have my wheel alignment checked twice after having this problem from the toyo tires and it helped in no way!

jro909 · May 1, 2011

my truck pulls easily on crowns and cross winds...new tires, alignment i was told its the rack and pinion steering...let alone gmt-800s are known for cruddy steering

KMGZ400 · May 1, 2011

my truck pulls easily on crowns and cross winds...new tires, alignment i was told its the rack and pinion steering...let alone gmt-800s are known for cruddy steering

yep. its the way the GMT800's are. all 3 of mine do it.

CapitalTruck · May 2, 2011

FYI, I was told that tires with directional tread patterns can cause wander.

hrspwr · May 2, 2011

Sorry for the late response.....been busy all weekend. First I have factory size tires on the truck (265 70 17) and I also have a set of 275 55 20, for the summer. No matter which set I put on it does the same thing. Also the truck does pull to the left if the crown/road is the opposite way. It follows the road big time. The shop that did the alignment has been a family friend for about 30 years, and I saw the screens(in the shop while it was being done, didn't get a printout though). The one thing that I did notice is that the outside of the passanger tire is feathering ever so slightly, whereas all the other tires are wearing normal. I think this is because I am holding the steering wheel to the left a bit to drive down the road straight. The other thing is in the mornings when I first leave, get to a stop sign an then go again, the brakes seem like they are binding and release when I let the pedal out. After the first or second stop they are fine. Is that caused by moisture in the drum?

chas0218 · May 3, 2011

a high crown in the road will make your truck pull some. we have that here on most of the freeways, but the side roads are not so bad. also the wider your tire the more it can drift on a high crowned road. on a couple of our freeways here, the crown on a 2 lane road is so bad when driving down it you can see the bow in it..

X2

My truck pulls to the right and left on the crowned highways but it depends what lane I am in.

To previous poster why would an alignment be used to adjust for the crown in the road? When you change lanes to the left lane the truck would pull harder to the left if setup the way you describe. I never heard of a shop doing this but maybe its different in my neck of the woods.