my truck looks strange!

[chevy4x4grl]

I was following my dad when he was driving my truck and it looks like its going diagonal when it goes around corners. Like its drifting! I know the front axle is wider than the rear in these trucks. Is that the reason for this oddity? Thanks

[trbankii]

Sounds like the rear axle may be out of alignment. If it is pointed to the one side, you will have to steer slightly to the side to compensate. Makes the truck look like what you are describing.

[chevy4x4grl]

Well I inspected it visually and nothing looking out of place. Rear end didnt look crooked. How would you align the rear end? It seems to me there is only one way to position it since it just sits on those leaf sping pegs.

[trbankii]

Possible to get things slightly twisted. You'd have to take it to an alignment shop to have them check things out on the rack.

[moondoggie]

Good Day!

If it ever got hit & the frame is twisted... :(

Some vehicles, even with rear leaf springs, seem to have trouble dog-tracking. I'm unaware of ANY Chev trucks that do this unless they've been hit pretty hard. Anyone remember 70's Novas? They were notorious dog-trackers. I don't know why, either - maybe the axle can slip on the spring on those old Novas.

Maybe you could watch it from behind, going around left AND right turns; if it looks the same both ways, no problem. If it was dog-tracking, you could see that going straight down the road.

Blessings!

[john8662]

Straight axle trucks like these usually don't track funny going down the road. Now, the 88+ IFS trucks look like they're tracking funny going down the road when they have aftermarket rims installed, because of the offset. The front tires will stick out more than the rear, and whatever way you're looking at it from behind it looks like a truck with a bent frame, but looks that way from the left and right side of the truck.

A few things to check.

I'd double check the lift kit that was installed on the truck, make sure that the alignment pins on the axle went into their approrpriate hole, and that nothing has slipped. This goes for both axles.

So, did you replace the springs or add blocks during the lift?

[CleviteKid]

If you can find a large, flat parking lot, with a puddle of water, you can check your tracking. Drive thru the puddle as straight as possible, then hop out and look at the tire tracks on the dry pavement beyond the puddle. If one front tire is tracking farther out than its corresponding rear, then your rear axle is crooked in the frame. Not necessarily due to frame damage - one spring could be set slightly different on one side.

My truck, bought used, had a similar crabbing problem. I cured it by making a special set of 3/4" lift blocks. On one side, I offset the pin in the bottom of the lift block that goes into the hole on the spring perch, relative to the hole in the top of the block that accepts the center bolt in the spring pack. It takes a little geometrical analysis, taking into account the wheel base and the distance between spring perches, and how much you want to shift the front end relative to the back end to compute how much offset you want between the pin and the hole.

Another technique - again in a large parking lot - drive the truck in a straight line and stop it and hop out and get the 12 foot section of thin wall conduit you put in the bed. I know, it comes in 10 foot lengths, so put two pieces together, but it is important that it be STRAIGHT. Put one end of the conduit along the sidewall of one rear tire, with the other end close to a front tire, and put a chalk mark on that front tire where the conduit intersects the tread. Do the same thing on the other side, then see how much different the chalk marks are.

I am sure others will have even better ways to check your "rear alignment", which they will post in this thread.

Dr. Lee :cool:

[chevy4x4grl]

I drove behind it today and saw that is looks the same way when its going straight down the road. When I installed the lift I was sure to put the axle right where it was supposed to go on the leaf spring pins. There was only one way I could have positioned them. Oh and I installed 4" skyjacker springs. I dont remeber the truck ever looking like this before I lifted it but then again the problem would not have been as prenounced before the lift. Oh and the front tires stick out more that the rears.

[chevy4x4grl]

It's probably something I did wrong since I installed the lift by myself and I had never done anything like that before
:rolleyes:

[mhagie]

Is the spring centering bolt exactly dead center of spring length?
If not you could have one spring reversed which would throw off wheel base on one side.
recruit a helper and measure from front edge of rear wheel to rear edge of front wheel, check both sides and see if they are equal.
Merle

[rwpierce]

If you drive behind any of the older style 4X4 GM pickups it appears they are dog tracking because the front axle is 3" wider than the rear. They go straight down the road, just looks strange from behind. Get behind and off directly behind the right side and you will think it is dog tracking the other direction.When I had DynaTrac build my rearend for my '84 K10 I had it built the same width as the front.

[NH2112]

I'd take a good look at the frame for cracks, popped rivets, stretched or missing bolts, etc. Also, take accurate measurements from corner to corner, which will tell you if the frame is bent. It's usually easy to tell between the difference in axle track widths and when the frame is actually bent if you look at sheetmetal instead of the wheels or axles.

[doncannon]

Hello all,

chevy4x4grl: I agree with mhagie. If the center bolts were not in the middle and the rear of the spring got put in the front then it would make that side off from the other side. It is easy to determine by measuring the ctr of front eye of spring to the center bolt and then measure from rear spring eye to the center bolt. If the measurements are different then measure the other side and compare frt to ctr and rr to ctr numbers.
just my 2 cents worth, hope it helps,
Don

[chevy4x4grl]

Thanks for the help. It is possible I put one of the springs in backwards. I'll check it out this weekend and reverse the spring if I need too. Everything under the truck looks perfect. This is a really good truck and I'd be suprised if it had been smashed in an accident. It was probably me being a goof smile.gif

[spitfirenut]

Dumb question, but did you have it aligned after the lift kit was installed? That's a good idea any time you do major work on the suspension, just for tire wear if nothing else.

[chevy4x4grl]

Yeah I had it aligned after I installed the lift. Im going to measure everything tomorrow and see whats going on smile.gif

[DuckhunterInTN]

A lot of them just look like they are tracking funny when they are really not. Try viewing it from the other side going down the road (have them drive in the left lane on the interstate and stay in the right lane) and see if it looks the same. I'd be willing to bet that there is nothing wrong with the truck.