Since the day I drove my truck home the steering wheel has pulled to the right. The strange thing is the tires aren’t wearing like the front end is out of alignment. Anyone else had this problem? If so how did you correct it?

 

Check whether the ball joints have any play. I had mine replaced under warranty, it helped a lot.

 

This may be a stupid question, but how do i do that?

 

Jack up each front wheel in turn, take the weight off the wheel. Grab the wheel top and bottom by the tire. Rock to feel if there is any play. If there is get someone to help and you will be able to feel any play in the top or bottom ball joint.

If you have play, go to the dealership and complain like hell, they will replace them. You will be amazed at the difference.

 

Thanks for the help miketriton!

 

My has pulled right since day one three different dealers and no one can fix it. I think I am going to put in a Stempf adjustable ball joints and see if that will fix it. Mine is wearing tires.

 

Mine pulls to the right, if I'm in the right lane. I have found that it pulls to the left if I'm in the left lane on a highway and the road is crowned to the left.

 

BPD239--- Mine does exactly the same as yours, my tires are wearing even. I was thinking of having a front end shop center the steering wheel and see if that makes any difference. I'm always holding the steering wheel a little to the left of center to keep it going straight.

rob

 

My fathers 01 has done this from day1 as well no odd wear on the tires. The guy that sits in the office next to mine has the same thing going on with his 01. I would have thought it would eat the tires. Im going to check the ball joints this weekend as miketriton described. I hate the thought of takeing it back to the dealer. They will probably tell me it’s from high idle time

 

All four of mine did that. And my '05 Hemi Ram does it too. If I drive down the center of the road, it's perfect. Left side it pulls left. Our old Neon ran straight on any road. Our Durango pulls but not as bad. I think the heavier the vehicle and the taller the tires the more it'll pull. I've also noticed with all of the ones I've owned, as the tires wear in to the constant pull to the right from the crown in the roads, it seems to make it worse. I thought I knocked mine out of alignment on a rough set of RR tracks with the almost no shocks we have but a few trips down the wrong side of the road today indicates all is well.

 

I fixed mine by switching front tires, left for right. Even when they are the same pressure, it's just the tires.

 

I've switched tires left to right, front to back doesn't matter. Mine actually will go pretty straight on the left side of the crown. The pull keeps it on the road.

 

If you're driving on any road with a decent crown to it then your vehicle is going to pull towards the direction of the slope. The heavier the vehicle the more it will pull. Sounds normal. Caused by gravity. If you're on flat ground though (roads with no crown), your truck shouldn't be pulling.

 

My guess is that these trucks probably aren't built with enough caster in the suspension specs, and that's why these things tend to pull left or right. If anyone wants to take a look at the suspension and figure out where the caster adjustment is and then play with it, I would be interested to hear the results.

My truck had an issue with the steering where the steering wheel was getting more and more off-center. Took it to the dealer and they couldn't fix it, so took it to an alignment shop and made the dealer pay to have it fixed. It's still slowly going back to the way it was again. I'll check the ball joints sometime and see how they are.

 

HAs to do with the different length axles in the front housing.

The diff is offcenter and the longer axle is on the pass side (IIRC). The creates a loaded moment (more rotational resistance due to added inertia) on that pass. side of the differential, translated to the right tire which wants to rotate slower and causes the pull.

Another contributing factor is the hubs are always engaged. You may be able to eliminate the problem if "manual lock/unlock" hubs are installed. This way as you are running down the highway everything inside the front axle is stationary.

dodge doesnt install unlocking hubs as the transfer case needs constant input from the front and rear axles as to permit the synchronizers in the case mesh properly.