Offroad-Express

Here's the story,

My prado's pulling to the left. Its a solid axle and stock everything. 6 months ago all was fine and now it pulls bad enough you use effort to hold it strait on the open road. Have taken it for 2 different wheel aliments and everything is how it should be.

Only thing i have done is tighten up the steering box due to alot of play in the steering wheel, it was a while ago and its not over tight thou as returns to center ok. Noticed tonight that the wheel wants to sit a little to the left when left to find its own groove.

Tyre pressures are ok and problem is there on mud tyres too.


Could the steering box be causing problems? Any other ideas?

Cheers

Mine does the same. but is better when on the motorway away from the left hand lane. Camber in the road naturally pulls you this way.
The only adjustment the alignment guys can do is toe in and out. All the rest are set at factory and require aftermarket souloutions to correct. Ie off set bushes for king pin and castor.
Some of the alignment shops wont tell you if anything else is suspect unless you ask as they can only adjust one thing.

Did you get a print out of the alignments.
You can see on the chart any issues.

Check for bent panhard rods, my front was bent and put the track out. (alignment of front to back) get this also when you do a suspention lift.

Also it picked up a previous accident which was not obvious, so I pulled out the leading and trailing arms and found one of the front was bent.

This twisted the front axle.

Calvin

mine used to be perfect until the dude at the tyre shop told me i should get an alignment after i fit new tyres and i have regretted it ever since

Ok, So it was good now not so, so some things changed. Even around town I have to fight it, drives me Nuts! Chrome, I feel your pain Even on the wrong side of the road with the camber going the other way it will still put left, just slower.

kbushnz I've read about castor correction bushes used when lifting but as it was ok and I haven't done a lift I feel it must be something outer place and shouldn't have to resort to CCB's.

The last place i took it to I told them what the problem was and i'd already had it looked at so they had a good idea of what was going on. They didn't find anything and didn't charge me or give me a print out. I'm not 100% confident that they would have found something outa the ordering tho.


I remembered when i was up worsley spur a while back had 2 hits under the truck, one of witch was the diff and the other im not sure of. Got under the front 2day to look for damage and found what i think is a bent panhard rod at the front. Tho im not sure what they should look like? (just had a quick look at the back one and see its strait as an arrow)

You can see 3/4 of the way along it dips down before coming back up and down again to its mound.



Thanks

another pic



Edit: its hard to get a good pic showing what I mean.

Did you end up fixing the problem if so can you let me know what you did to fix the problem .. Went to Tony tyres to get 4 new A/T tyres and my prado is doing the same thing , the guy end up not charging me for the wheel alignment as they said i need some after market part to fix the problem. I think he said that one wheel is sitting more ahead of the other so it must be the right as my car will drift left if i dont hold the wheel.. its pretty bad right now.

The panhard rod is supposed to have a bend like that .... check the 2 other arms are not bent, another thing it could be is a damaged steering box...check your steering rack as well

Are all your bushes ok? ... get someone to move the steering side to side and see if there is any movement.... the passenger side ones always seem to wear out first...

Check your wheel bearings as well.... jack up the front of the truck and see if there is any play on the wheels top to bottom...

Another thought as well.... take it into a place that knows 4wd's ... might be worth having a chat to Rick @ 4wd accessories ..... he might be able to find the fault/fix it.

Thanks Jerry

While moving the steering side to side it looks all good from what I can see i did notice however a small amount of play (1-3mm) in the bush where the panhard connects to the axle.

Quite excited finding this, could this be it?? If so is toyota the place to get a replacement? Or how about the mount shop? I've heard that name mentioned around the site before.

Ginzu8, Will get to the bottom of this

Check the rear tyres are parallel to the front with a measuring tape.
The rear diff might of been knocked back on 1 side causing it to crab down the road & making it want to turn left all the time.

tallsam66- so if i measure my measurement is different , do i just lose the rear diff and move it back to parallel to the front wheel??

So far i have took my car to 2 different shop in which one is a 4wd shop in town and they think that by replacing the caster bush kit, it will sort the problem of pulling left. YET, one shop which is one of the biggest wheel alignment shop in my town thinks that the caster bushing kit will do nothing to solve my pull to the left. and i dont want to spend $300 on some caster bush kit plus labour just to find out it may or may not fix the problem..


Surely there must be a common thing ibetween the 3 prados thats pulling left..

if you can get it down to ashburton during the week i can put it up on my wheel alignment hoist and give it a good going over. i have a very modern corghi aligner and been doing alignments for ten years. surely we can fix it for you. 1 thing you could try is to swap front tyres from side to side this would be where i would start, sounds stupid but nine times out of ten fixes the prop or makes vehicle pull in other direction.

cheers jono

Ginzu8 wrote:tallsam66- so if i measure my measurement is different , do i just lose the rear diff and move it back to parallel to the front wheel??

If it is out .... id first try to find out why it moved....maybe there is a broken or loose U bolt/bolts.If there isnt anything obvious move it back.

The only reason i thought that might be the problem as thats an inexpensive trick some dirt track racers do to make there cars go around corners quicker.

Ginzu8 wrote:So far i have took my car to 2 different shop in which one is a 4wd shop in town and they think that by replacing the caster bush kit, it will sort the problem of pulling left. YET, one shop which is one of the biggest wheel alignment shop in my town thinks that the caster bushing kit will do nothing to solve my pull to the left. and i dont want to spend $300 on some caster bush kit plus labour just to find out it may or may not fix the problem..


Surely there must be a common thing ibetween the 3 prados thats pulling left..

I've also been told to do the castor correction kit but don't belive this will help either.

No U bolts on a kzj78 as the are coil springs all round. Only way I can see for the axle to move is if somethings bent or a stuffed bush?

Am going to replace my worn panhard bush and see if it helps.

Firestone, would your aligner pick up if axles were out of parallel?

certainly does. even shows you thrust angle track width etc.

cheers jono

I know its pretty simple but, do you have free wheeling hubs or are you still running the factory auto lockers?
Its not un common to find that the hub on one side is not disengaging, causing that axle assembly to rotate which adds extra drag to that side which can cause the vehicle to pull to that side?

lexulance wrote::?: I know its pretty simple but, do you have free wheeling hubs or are you still running the factory auto lockers?
Its not un common to find that the hub on one side is not disengaging, causing that axle assembly to rotate which adds extra drag to that side which can cause the vehicle to pull to that side?

Hmm that's a good thought.... Auto aren't they

Now how to test if one is still engaged?

Rbnutz wrote:

lexulance wrote::?: I know its pretty simple but, do you have free wheeling hubs or are you still running the factory auto lockers?
Its not un common to find that the hub on one side is not disengaging, causing that axle assembly to rotate which adds extra drag to that side which can cause the vehicle to pull to that side?

Hmm that's a good thought.... Auto aren't they

Now how to test if one is still engaged?

Jack one side up and spin the wheel while watching the drive shaft. If it spins its locked up. if not lower that side and lift the other and spin that tyre. If the shaft spins when the tyre is rotated then its that side that is locked.

If nothing happens when either side is rotated then ... next idea.

Although while you are spinning them you may notice an imbalance in the pressure needed to rotate the tyres, which may point at something else to look at.

Heath wrote:
Jack one side up and spin the wheel while watching the drive shaft. If it spins its locked up. if not lower that side and lift the other and spin that tyre. If the shaft spins when the tyre is rotated then its that side that is locked.

If nothing happens when either side is rotated then ... next idea.

Although while you are spinning them you may notice an imbalance in the pressure needed to rotate the tyres, which may point at something else to look at.

Right, been there, tried that, no joy

Thought that it could have been the prob since I have had a little trouble in the past but no, both a definitely disengaged. No extra drag either.

Waiting for the correct panhard bush kit to arrive....

Rbnutz , let meknow when u have installed the new panhard rod bushes and if that does the tricks or not.

Firestonecruiser, where abouts are you mate?

No luck with the bushes, still the same.

Rick @ 4wd acc has put me onto a wheel aliment guy. He's got me rotating tires on rims etc before he puts it on the hoist and starts to charge.

I wonder if we all have the same problem Are we too fussy? it is a 4wd after all.

Well when my local wheel alignment guy toldme theres nothing they can do to adjust and fix the problem, i was like surely toyota didnt design their car and expect their customers to go just live with a problem of their car... so there must be something that should fix the problem..

I am going to replace my suspension with a lift kit in the next month or so, as my front shocks are pretty much dead.. sagged big time and no rebound from the front shocks. aslo i can see a slight lean towards the driver side.. I was hoping that i will sort this problem out when i change the shocks..

also been told to rotate the tyres from the rim itself to see if that will fix the problem.. so will try that too soon

what you have been told by your local tyre guy is correct. he is talking about radial ply steer. this a bit of a out there thing. before stripping the tyre of the rim do a simple side to side. if it is the tyres then the vehicle will either pull in the opposite direction or drive straight. if it is pissing ya off so much as it sounds like it is bring vehicle to me and i will put it up on hoist, check wheel alignment thrust angle etc. im in ashburton and are the 2ic at firestone there. i can do it after hours no probs. wont even charge as its gud to meet ore members n you never know may need you guys help one day.

cheers jono

Cheers Firestonecruiser. I am from palmy north, if i am ever doing a trip to the south island iwill make sure i come your way.. thanks for the offer..

When i brought my tyres from Tonys here in palmy. they did try swapping the new front tyres from side to side.. just never switch from its rims.