Rear wheel not centered in wheel well

Hey guys,

You may recognize me because I've been having all sorts of problems lately. My latest being that my rear passenger side wheel is way further to the rear than the left, and clearly not centered in the wheel well. It seems it was not like until I added a Deaver AAL in the rear (I also lifted the front but that's a whole other screw up in another thread). Anyways, my rear axle must be at an angle, because the driver's side is relatively centered.

I noticed this at first because I was looking down the side of the truck and the rear wheels seem to be at slightly different angles

I will admit we cut the new centering bolt a little short so maybe it allowed the bump stop, and therefore the U bolts to shift a bit. It should be as easy as loosening the u bolts, centering the axle, and tightening again right? Well... I already got it aligned. Do I just leave it? The truck drives fine except for pulling to the left a bit, I assume because of the Taco lean. I have the spacer from Headstrong, but it was almost dark and I was pissed off and didn't install it. Long story, again in the other thread. Could my truck be driving straight, but slightly sideways? As in the whole thing is going down the road like \ \ instead of | |? I have attached the alignment sheet which seems to indicate it's fine.

Do I just live with it until I have an extra $100 to get another alignment after I center the wheel and put the spacer in? It's bugging me, but not enough to spend money if it's not a problem right now

Also please forgive my tire gap, I got impatient and bought 265/75R16s before my lift. Now I have like 3000 miles on my tires and I'm mad I didn't get 285s. I'll be getting larger tires and selling these soon

Thanks everyone!

tl;dr Rear wheel not center in wheel well, but it aligned fine. Do I leave it for now?

 

I had this problem on my old Chevy. Jack it up and loosen u bolts on both sides. Slide that side of your axle forward until it’s even and re-tighten everything.

 

Hey, thank you for the response! I actually did that yesterday, someone recommended I loosed both sides, ratchet strap the axle to the front (Both sides), and tighten the bolts down. I did that, to torque specs this time (Well, slightly over) and it seems much better. Both wheels now look slightly back but not enough to be a problem I don't think

 

Unless your spring center pin is broken/missing, or the spring perch is caved in to the point where the pin doesn't reach the hole in the perch, the axle shouldn't slide under the springs. loosening the u-bolt and sliding it back isn't really fixing the problem... Also, the front end was aligned relative to the rear axle. If the rear was messed up at the time of alignment then the front is too. Your truck shouldn't pull in any direction no matter how much your leaning to one side as long as the tire pressure is consistent and your alignment is close. It does seem strange that the alignment shop wouldn't have noticed the rear axle being out though.

 

You are correct. My center pin was broken and allowed the axle to shift.

 

I'm having a slightly hard time following, I think just because I use different terminology. By spring perch, do you mean the hole in the axle where the centering bolt sits, that then goes through the leaf springs and sits under the bump stop? I was able to move it maybe half an inch. Below I have a before and after picture. My truck now drives straight, but the steering wheel is off more than it was, and there's slightly more resistance turning right than left

 

Bring it back to the alignment shop and have it realigned.

Whatever terminology you are comfortable with. I think they should have caught what was going on, maybe you're not as convinced.

Even better, go somewhere else that knows what they're looking at.

 

Thank you. I made the mistake of bringing it last minute to a Monro chain. Long story short, another shop had my truck for over a week to replace 1 bolt, and forgot I asked them to align it. I was tired of bumming rides so I took it to the first place that had availability

 

The center pin in the spring goes into a hole on the flat part of the axle where the spring sits. If the pin is in the hole, the way it should be, the axle will not slide. If the flat part on top of the axle where the spring sits is no longer flat but instead u shaped the pin will not seat in the hole. This happens if the u-bolts get tightened down with center pin not aligned with the hole.

 

Damn, so I will have to take off my leaf springs to check... Alright thanks for the info!

 

correctamundo, that bolt in the center of leaf pack should drop into the hole in the perch on the axle, that centers the axle and helps keep it from moving along with u-bolts.

 

And there should not be a 1/2” of play where the center pin sits. Keep us posted.

 

Did you remove both leaf springs to do the install? Stupid question but you could have installed them backwards which would explain this.

 

Sorry for the late update, 1/2" was exaggeration or me estimating poorly, I was able to get it to move maybe 1/8". A user on Reddit recommend I loosen the U bolts, ratchet strap the entire axle forward, and re-tighten which definitely helped, but both wheels are slightly rearward. I assume this is from not using a new leaf pack, but just installing an AAL. It drives well, looks fine, and other than a crooked steering wheel, which I already had, I'm happy with it! Once I put new leafs in I bet the slight off-centeredness will go away

I did not, I only took off the U bolts and put in an AAL while still on the truck. I was able to shift it slightly, so at least both sides are even now, albeit slightly rearward. Probably due to the AAL and not replacing the entire pack. Everything is working well, I just got back from a 500 mile trip to Maine without issue!