New axle fixed steering pull?

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Our Toyota has had a left pull ever since we bought it last year. I have rotated the tires,checked air pressure etc. No change. I was going to have the alignment checked soon.

It has had a leaking CV boot for a few weeks or so. A family emergency came up so I had to put an axle in it to be safe on a trip that suddenly came up.

No more left pull! The parts I removed had zero effect on the alignment. it uses eccentrics on the lower control arm mounts. I didn't touch those,I took the knuckle off at the ball joints.

How could an axle cause a pull?
 
What if simply jacking it up did something to a bushing that tweaked your alignment for the better, like popping a shoulder back in?
 
Originally Posted by eljefino
What if simply jacking it up did something to a bushing that tweaked your alignment for the better, like popping a shoulder back in?


Possible, maybe, but if so means more repairs are needed. You'd think a mechanic like the OP would notice something that worn.
 
Originally Posted by eljefino
What if simply jacking it up did something to a bushing that tweaked your alignment for the better, like popping a shoulder back in?

Everything looks good. No weird clunks or rubber spitting out. I had the same parts off a few months ago when I put struts in it.

I'm thinking that the axle had some sort of binding.
 
Originally Posted by Chris142
Our Toyota has had a left pull ever since we bought it last year. I have rotated the tires,checked air pressure etc. No change. I was going to have the alignment checked soon.

It has had a leaking CV boot for a few weeks or so. A family emergency came up so I had to put an axle in it to be safe on a trip that suddenly came up.

No more left pull! The parts I removed had zero effect on the alignment. it uses eccentrics on the lower control arm mounts. I didn't touch those,I took the knuckle off at the ball joints.

How could an axle cause a pull?



Hmmm, wonder why this was not fixed shortly after vehicle was purchased?
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Last edited:
Originally Posted by 53' Stude
Originally Posted by Chris142
Our Toyota has had a left pull ever since we bought it last year. I have rotated the tires,checked air pressure etc. No change. I was going to have the alignment checked soon.

It has had a leaking CV boot for a few weeks or so. A family emergency came up so I had to put an axle in it to be safe on a trip that suddenly came up.

No more left pull! The parts I removed had zero effect on the alignment. it uses eccentrics on the lower control arm mounts. I didn't touch those,I took the knuckle off at the ball joints.

How could an axle cause a pull?



Hmmm, wonder why this was not fixed shortly after vehicle was purchased?
35.gif


Time,finances.life in general
 
Although it's only happened to me once, I had just the opposite happen when installing a axle. I got a pull on the same side as the installed axle.

It wasn't a bad pull(just noticeable) so I left it alone and had a new alignment done when I performed other repairs that actually required the alignment.
 
If it had a leak, I'd assume it was low on lube. If that's the case, binding or just slightly higher friction could be the case.

How that results in a pull is not entirely clear, but I guess it's possible..
 
One of the ball joints got seated properly when it was re-tightened . A pull that doesn't cause tire wear isn't much of a problem.Glad you fixed it, Chris
grin2.gif
 
I agree, any additional friction or inefficiency between the shafts would result in a steering pull. Maybe additional wear due to leaked lubricant caused more friction? Which way was the steering pull relative to the new shaft?
 
Our Toyota has had a left pull ever since we bought it last year. I have rotated the tires,checked air pressure etc. No change. I was going to have the alignment checked soon.

It has had a leaking CV boot for a few weeks or so. A family emergency came up so I had to put an axle in it to be safe on a trip that suddenly came up.

No more left pull! The parts I removed had zero effect on the alignment. it uses eccentrics on the lower control arm mounts. I didn't touch those,I took the knuckle off at the ball joints.

How could an axle cause a pull?
Chris142,
Resurrecting your old thread, I've had what sounds to be a similar steering pull with two cars, a CB7 Accord and an Alfa 147 (both cars exhibiting an identical steering pull symptom). I recently diagnosed the mysterious cause, and the problem has now been fixed (with the Alfa, I no longer have the Accord and didn't diagnose the problem while I had it, but I'd bet it was the same problem...).

I think you were probably on the right track when suspecting some CV issue. The outer CV joints were certainly the cause of my Alfas steering pull m with my Alfa, verified when the pull changed from left to right after the drive shafts were swapped side to side.

Rather than explain the saga and its' resolution here, I've already done so on this page:


Regards,
John.
 
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