200 pulling to the left.

[AndycruiserguyLomas]

Just wondered if anyone can shed some light in this.

A pal of mine brought his 09 plate 200 series round yesterday to see if I could shed any light on a problem he has with it.
Basically it pulls to the left as it is being driven. It has had 4 new tyres fitted (dunlop grandtreks, OEM) He had the tracking checked at the same time and the pressures are correct. The tracking was set to "0" which I assume means parallel??
It pulls to the left more than the action of the road camber and if you take it to the RHS of the road it pulls back to the LHS if you let go of the steering wheel.
I have had it on the ramp and there is nothing obvious worn, bent or damaged (26K miles) and only driven on the road.
Does anyone have any ideas as to the setting the tracking should be from the factory or is there a "rule of thumb" with permanent 4WD's

Andy

 

[Shayne]

Mine did that when i lost a balance weight off the wheel .

 

[clivehorridge]

I was told it should be toe-out 0.5 degrees for the 80, but I've seen nothing in writing to support that.

Normally, tracking won't give a directional pull anyway, too heavy (excessive toe-out) or alternatively vague, light and twitchy (excessive toe-in).

Pulling to one side or the other is normally one front wheel behind the other, meaning the 4 wheels don't form a rectangle. That's usually something bent, tie bar or chassis, or a severely worn pivot or bushings.

Obviously this assumes that the LHS brake isn't binding or some other external influence. It's not a good sign anyway.

 

[AndycruiserguyLomas]

Good shout Clive, I will get it back on the ramp and give it a more detailed examination.
Thanks

Andy

 

[clivehorridge]

After the usual checks for play or worn bushes and the like, it might be an idea to do a quick measure. Front to back LHS & RHS (choose fixed points on the front/rear that would show a geometry difference side to side). Then do criss-cross diagonal measures, which obviously should be the same.

 

[AndycruiserguyLomas]

I will deffo be measuring Clive, going back to fundamentals

Andy.

 

[Shayne]

Wheels balanced is about as fundamental as it gets . I was convinced something had gone seriously wrong , i could actually feel the steering wheel trying to pull left i didn't need to let go and that was just driving around town . I was shocked when getting the wheels balanced completely removed the problem .

 

[clivehorridge]

I too am a fan of getting the wheels balanced, but I don't see how that would cause a sideways pull.

Im in no position to deny it Shayne but I don't understand it.

If that's what your symptoms and cure were, then there must be something in it.

 

[Shayne]

It still baffles me Clive and , unusual for me , i have no theory . I first noticed it on the Isle of Man , checked tyre pressures and found them all way out and nowhere near even so aired up assuming problem solved . 2 days later i drove from Liverpool to Cardiff and for the first time ever did not once exceed the speed limit after a 90mph scare early on while cornering on a down hill . The truck was all over the place . When i got home i was underneath trying to rattle and shake everything but could find no play anywhere . In the end i decided it must be a wheel bearing on its way out even though i could find no play there either . Getting the wheels balanced was just something i did on the spur of the moment because i was at the tyre place just checking pressures again .

Balancing fixed it what more can i say ?

 

[jonnyboy54321]

is it possible that you have one tyre which just hasn't "sat" right so to speak, and as they were balanced it was inadvertently put on the rear, "solving" the pull?
I've had som issues with tyres over the years, had one like that on my first Disco.

 

[AndycruiserguyLomas]

The first thing I will do is to swap front wheels and see if it makes a difference. Driving it though there wasn't a balance problem. That said, it was done at Toyota, we will see.

Andy

 

[Shayne]

Another odd thing about my experience is the steering shake you usually get when tyres need balanced or tracking needs done was , even at motorways speeds , minimal . Perhaps the oversize tyres damped it a bit though ?

 

[clivehorridge]

Another odd thing about my experience is the steering shake you usually get when tyres need balanced or tracking needs done was , even at motorways speeds , minimal . Perhaps the oversize tyres damped it a bit though ?

I had a similar thing Shayne, no steering wobble just a truck that didn't feel right. The whole thing shook too much, even for an old un, and anything over 90 kph (which isn't much in old money) was just plain uncomfortable.

The equivalent of 15 quid later, all wheels balanced and it was as smooth as a baby's smooth bits (not allowed to say bottom on this forum!). But still I can't say that there was any pulling to the side.

 

[AndycruiserguyLomas]

We are getting it back this week for a mega measure and micro examination.
Will report back when this has taken place, we may get a result!!

Andy

 

[AndycruiserguyLomas]

Bump..

We had the 200 series back the other day. Had it on the ramp and measured everything and examined everything. All straight and nothing damaged so what did we conclude??
When the owner had new tyres he fitted the original spare to the NSF and bought 3 new ones. We took the NSF off and the OSR off and weighed them. The original tyre weighed 1/2 kg more than the new one!! We swapped it to the OSR so 2 matching tyres were on the front and guess what?? it ran straight on the road.RESULT!!





3 generations


Anyway, I didn't get a cheap 200 series

Andy

 

[clivehorridge]

Half a kilo difference? Still I wouldn't have thought it would have caused such a pull.

Must admit, I hate switching tyres around, I like matching pairs at least!

Glad you found it though, I'd have missed that I think

 

[Chris]

Didn't know there was a breakers yard in Laughton. Is it near you Andy?

Runs and hides ...

 

[chadr]

Anyway, I didn't get a cheap 200 series
Andy

.........yet!

 

[AndycruiserguyLomas]

Andy

 

[frank rabbets]

I don't think it would have been the weight of the wheel but a difference in the rubber compound. One harder than the other. I've had wheels with bald tyres and new tyres which did not pull. I was going to suggest castor angle if that is adjustable.


Frank