Pulling To Right?

RyanFR · March 31, 2009

I have a 2005 4x4 Sierra 1500 ext cab with 153K. I have a problem where the truck pulls to the right. It does not pull to the right 100% of the time. It happens about 80% of the time. I have replaced both brake calipers on the front brakes. Rotated the tires and had the alingment done. I have taken the truck to three shops and one being a GMC dealer. All said that they could not find anything wrong with the front end. Anybody had this type of a problem? I am thinking that it has something to do with the pitman arm or maybe a ABS sensor is apply the righ brake slightly?

bossier62guy · March 31, 2009

I have a 2005 4x4 Sierra 1500 ext cab with 153K. I have a problem where the truck pulls to the right. It does not pull to the right 100% of the time. It happens about 80% of the time. I have replaced both brake calipers on the front brakes. Rotated the tires and had the alingment done. I have taken the truck to three shops and one being a GMC dealer. All said that they could not find anything wrong with the front end. Anybody had this type of a problem? I am thinking that it has something to do with the pitman arm or maybe a ABS sensor is apply the righ brake slightly?

If your pitman arm was bad I'd like to believe that the shop that did your front end alignment would have discovered that....or any other worn front end component as far as that goes. I don't think that a faulty ABS sensor is going to cause that type of problem either. How hard is it pulling? What are the road conditions? Does it only happen at a certain speed? Answers to these questions might help in solving your problem.

RyanFR · March 31, 2009

It pulls to the right at all speeds. It does not pull when braking though. I understand there a crown to the road and the truck will follow the crown. This is an excessive pull though.

pm26 · March 31, 2009

The alignment settings that will cause the vehicle to pull to one side are caster and camber. The vheel with higher postive camber will cause the vehicle to pull to that side. Camber settings should be equal on both wheels, usually zero or slightly positive.

The caster setting is the one that compensates for the road crown. typically, you want caster on the left wheel to be different than that on the right wheel to cacel the pulling tendency. Caster setting is usually positive, about a quarter of a degree IIRC.

Have the alignment settings rechecked. Sometimes it is necessary to experiment with alignment settings to get the vehcile to track straight.

Another posibility is a defective tire. Switch the front tires to opposite wheels and see what happens. I had a tire on a new car once that cuased it to drift unpleasantly to the right. After the tire was replaced, the vehcile tracked straight as an arrow.

DofD · March 31, 2009

Yeah, I've had worn tires cause the truck to pull one way. Got new tires and problem went away.

MikeInCtown · March 31, 2009

I know this may sound dumb, but considering some people driving out there...

make sure you have the tires inflated to the same pressure and when you check, do so in the Am when it's cool outside and with no tires in the sun. it's amazing what the sun will do to tire pressure even when a vehicle hasn't been driven in hours.

<edit> I would also check the hub bearing for any play. A worn bearing would cause drag and a slight misalignment condition. (I saw a truck this morning where the wheel was angled out at the top an easy few inches from top to bottom)