Greetings fellow Third Gen owners.

I'm looking for any ideas on my problem.

My 89 IROC pulls slightly to the right.

I replaced an obviously loose Idler arm (taking great care to try to put the new one exactly where the old arm was located) and took it in for an alignment. The car aligned fine to factory specs, but the tech said it still pulled right slightly after taking for a test drive. He suspected that the unevely worn (7 year old) tires were likely to blame.
A week later I purchased new tires (Toyo Proxes 4 stock size on stock rims)
The car still had a slight pull to the right, though a little less severe.
I drove the car a few weeks later (yesterday) and rescheduled an alignment with the same shop (for today).
This time I got a different tech on a different machine. He confirmed that the alignment was still in specs from the previous alignment, and that all the front-end components still looked healthy. He drove it before the alignment so he knew it still pulled slight right. He adjusted (I think, but please don't quote me) the caster on the right wheel to still just within factory specs, but to a point that he thought would compensate, and if nothing else pull a little bit to the left. After a test drive he still noticed it pulled slightly left. The shop checked tire pressure and put it on a lift to confirm there was no unusual drag on any tires. They then dismounted and cross rotated the front tires. Car still pulled slightly to the right.
I left today with instructions to try it for a week and bring it back if it still pulled right. The only thing they can think to try next is to dismount and cross rotate the tires from front to rear.
Les Schwab is doing the alignment (and to their credit did not charge anything for todays work.)

I have searched the archived posts and come up with nothing helpful.

If anybody has a clue to what could be causing this problem, I would greatly, greatly appreciate your input.

Thank You for your time,

Corey

 

He adjusted (I think, but please don't quote me) the caster on the right wheel to still just within factory specs, but to a point that he thought would compensate, and if nothing else pull a little bit to the left. After a test drive he still noticed it pulled slightly left.

Sorry, I meant:

After a test drive he still noticed it pulled slightly RIGHT.

Corey

 

Are you guys sure you aren't driving on pavement that has a grade built into it?

Lots of city streets are built this way to promote run off.

One other thing to check would be your brake calipers. If one is sticking, it will drag making the car pull in that direction.

 

Hows the thrust angle in the rear?

Is the car pulling to that side when on throttle, or on coasting, or both? I'm thinking it has to do with the rearend out of wack.

 

They did make sure that your steering wheel was set correctly, right?

 

Start with the simple stuff first.

Don't go looking for esoteric "maybe it's this, maybe it's that" one-of-a-kind oddities.

Swap the 2 front tires and see what happens.

 

Thank You everybody for the responses!

nape - I don't notice much difference in the pull when I'm on straight and level or when I drive on the
The wheels spun freely when up on the hoist so it seems like the brake caliper isn't hanging. Could a brake caliper hang increase at higher speeds? Thanks

RTFC - I attached the thrust angle below, but I'm not quite sure what it means. The previous owner had the fuel tank replaced a year ago. The rear-end had to be lower to move the exhaust. I will jack up the rear end in a few minutes and look for anything loose or looking out of the whack. When I really hammer it, I don't notice as much pull, but can't tell if this is the rear end or less weight on the front. Any ideas for inspecting the rear? Thanks

I'm looking at the spec sheet from the alignment and here's what it's got....though most is a bit foreign to me. Sorry if this is too much info:

Front---------Left------------Right
Camber:------0.1-------------0.1
Caster:-------4.4-------------4.9 (he set the Right high to alleviate pull)
Toe: --------(-)0.01----------0.01

Cross Camber: 0.0
Cross Caster: (-)0.5
Total Toe: 0.0
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Rear------------Left-------------Right
Camber:------(-)0.4-----------(-)0.1
Toe:------------0.10------------(-)0.21

Cross Camber: (-)0.3
Cross Caster: (-)0.11
Total Toe: 0.15

sellmanb - The car veers slightly when you release the steering wheel. Is there an adjustment in the steering / steering wheel that could cause this? Thanks!

RB83L69 - I'm with you...I like things simple! Yesterday they dismounted the tires and swapped the rims (tires are directional), but they left the tires in the same place!! I pointed this out, but it was after closing time. They said drive it for a week and they would swap dismount/swap tires front to rear. I think I'll swap the front wheels tonight and drive them the wrong way...at least it will answer the question. Thanks!

Any more ideas are very welcome....
And again....Thank You all for your help so far!!
Corey

 

What machine did they use to align it? I do alignments at my job and I am curious. What is your SAI and Thrust Angle. Did you have them reset everything up to make sure. A slipped belt can cause a pull due to lack of rotation. Sometimes the wheel pulls with a thing mentioned earlier called road crown. Also did you replace the tie rods. You actually suppose to replace both sets if one is out due to a thing called memory steer. I know you replaced the idler arm. Did they check to make sure ball joints and centerlink doesn't have wear. Dry park won't always do the trick. I bet if you took that thing back in and had them resetup it is off. I would ask them to check all those things and also they should have no problem doing the thing free because they never fixed the problem.

 

Since we're on the topic of alignment. I see slots in the top plate for doing camber but how is caster adjusted on a third gen?

 

Same way.... there's slots in the plate that allows it to slide in the camber direction (side to side), and there's slots in the struts to allow the plate to slide in the caster direction (front to rear) as well.

 

Hey there
I have the exact same problem as you. Pulls slightly to the right. I have paid twice to have it alligned. The second time they told me every thing was to spec, I have replaced the calipers, repact and adjusted my wheel bearings,Moved the tires every which way and still the car wants to go slightly to the right. The steering while snaps to center after a left hand turn and likes to stay to the right slightly after a right hand turn. It will go straight if I am off camber to the left on the interstate (drainage that way). Ant more info would be greatly apriciated. Did you get you'r problem fixed.

 

I'm not an expert but cars do slightly pull to the right naturally. It is called toe in and toe out. It's a safety mechanism made so that if you fall asleep or lose control you have less chances of going into oncoming traffic.

If you are aligned and everything checks out fine then I don't think there is much you can do.

 

I have 2 of these cars now and have owned a of couple befor of the same and they don't do this paticular thing. But thanks for the post

 

double check your tire pressure. Also check tire wear.

Then check alignment components, and ball joints and such. If you've had your car aligned many times now and it still persists then something has failed on that side of the car and is now sagging, causing you a toe-out on that side.


Typically the simplest answer is the right one though, so start small.

 

I will recheck the tire presure. I put Moog ball joints in it last year.
I don't remember it having this problem before the joints.
Was wondering about the rear axel alignment issue. how would a person go about checking and then repairing a problem there.
I just put a 277 Posi in and the problem seems more pronounced
Thank you for the info

 

Did you look at the rear lower control arms? If someone jacks on the factory LCA it can bend and if it bent enough, it could throw your rear end out of alignment.

 

Well I don't know if the fellow who started this string figured his problem out or not.
But my problem turned out to be my stearing gearbox. The last person who owned it set the worm gear to tight. The car wanted to roll to the side. Aparently it was just close enough that it would set at or just short of the top dead center. Anyway thanks for the input JT

 

Did you check your brakes? A sticking caliper can do the problem you are describing, clean them and then use brake grease on the caliper pins. Twist your tie rods and see if they move a lot, there shouldnt be too much travel in them. Basically in all the steering components, not too much travel. Grab the wheels and shake them and see if the shake a lot. Have fun

 

Did you ever get it fixed?

my car is pulling hard to the right so that I'm driving with the wheel permantly turned. Pulls hard when I brake.
I just did my rotors and pads. thinking it would fix it.
the front right caliper was a little stuck. the car still pulls hard

How did you fix it in the end?

 

I figured my problem out. It was the steering gear.
It sounds to me though that your problem may be a brake line. After they get so old they start to colapse so that the preasure isn't relieved back to the MC. They have always been one of the first things I replace when I get an older Chevy. Good luck with your problem. JT

 

I have a thought. it could be possible that you'r rear springs are sagging so much that the panhard rod is pushing the rear end over by a 1/2 inch or so and the car maynot run in a true strait line because of this sagging springs.
im not sure if it is the problem, but I would get someone to follow me and really watch how the car rides down the road to see if it's true or not.

 

I fixed my problem.
I changed out the old crappy sticking calipers...and new hoses and now theres no problem at all.

in fact my brakes now feel like they work and stop the car with no steering problems at all.