Hello,

Can anyone please give me some suggestions on how I can fix this issue...? I have a 97 3/4 ton, reg cab, long box, 4x4, 5-spd, smoke blowing beast that I purched a few months ago. All stock but 4" exhaust turbo back. Truck has been babied its whole life, very clean and some ol' timer owned it. Im second owner and has a camper shell on it most of its life. The first owner did have a 5th wheel for a camper, but he said only pulled a few times. ( which I hope is true )

Here is my problem... The truck pulled to the right a bit, so I took it in to get alinged. Truck was just out of alingment, but that was not the problem. I was told that the rear axle is not straight/aligned, and that the driver side rear axle is forward .50 inches. I also thought this because when I drove a buddy of mine told me it was "dog tracking" quit a bit. I will be taking it in to check the frame first to make sure it is not bent or tweaked, but have no idea how to adjust the axle to alignment propoerly. I have also been told that the pin's in the leif springs could possibly be bent forward also making it do that.

Any tip's or advice would be great. If anyone has ever had this problem please let me know how you fixed it or what can be done.

Thanks,

Cummins Power

 

i highly doubt your center pins are bent, there is a ver small amount that sticks out into your spring perch. I would look into your spring bushings, shackles, mounts. look at everything and make sure nothing is bent or odd looking.

 

center pins could be broken. someone recently posted that problem where one of his center pins was cockeyed. you can put the body up on stands and loosen your u-bolts and let the axle down a couple of inches to check it out.

before doing anything, confirm the 1/2" difference in measurement of front to rear. so that you can then confirm that you've fixed it.

 

i had the same thing with my truck. I have a 1997 ram 1500 and i brought it in for an alignment. they said the rear thrust was off. they fixed it by just loosening the u bolts and taking a come-a-long and and straightening it back out. just a thought if you dont want to spend much money on it.

 

I have a 2012 Ram 1500 single cab. Took it in for tire rotation, balancing, and alignment check. I was told that the front end was ok, but the rear axil was out about .38". I was told that there was no adjustment for alignment on the rear end, as everyone knows, but there was a third party adjustment rod that mounts to the frame and axil to pull it into alignment. I was told that it was not power train warranty because it was an alignment problem. If there was necessary alignment, Dodge would have put the ability to adjust on the axil. Does Dodge have a problem with this area and are not telling?

 

No idea for your year of truck, maybe a mod will move this over to the right section for you to get better help.

 

if not, repost your question over in the 4th gen section.
welcome to DF.

 

There are plates made that have the hole drilled offset by different amounts that might fix this problem. Off-Roaders use then to move their axles forward or back so larger tires can clear body parts. You might try doing a search for them.

 

Hi. I have same problem with my ram. What did you end up doing? To fix rear alignment?

 

do you know if it was hit before you bought it??? my SST was hit back in September and one of the parts that required replacement was the left side leaf spring pack
after repair when they took it in for alignment they found that the left side was forward 1/2 " which also meant the right side was canted backwards.

come to find out the NOS leaf pack they received was the wrong part number BUT was in the correct part # bag , long story short the guy that installed it never verified the painted
# on the pack with the bag it came in..
assumed it was correct..