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KHBama · 04-25-2018, 12:44 PM

Been out of commission for past couple of days. The frame is not bent and the camber is not as bad as I was originally told. Truck still pulls right(not a drift), I can be totally off the road in less than 3 seconds when steering wheel is straight(especially on 2 lane roads). I'm told the Alabama roads are to blame now...

khuffmanjr · 04-25-2018, 12:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KHBama

Been out of commission for past couple of days. The frame is not bent and the camber is not as bad as I was originally told. Truck still pulls right(not a drift), I can be totally off the road in less than 3 seconds when steering wheel is straight(especially on 2 lane roads). I'm told the Alabama roads are to blame now...

Hmm, I'm on southern Alabama roads all the time and have no trouble. Sounds like they don't know what else to tell you.

Just curious, what year is the truck and how long have you had it?

Ken

Old-Biscuit · 04-25-2018, 12:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KHBama

Been out of commission for past couple of days. The frame is not bent and the camber is not as bad as I was originally told. Truck still pulls right(not a drift), I can be totally off the road in less than 3 seconds when steering wheel is straight(especially on 2 lane roads). I'm told the Alabama roads are to blame now...

So frame shop says frame not bent

Now.....take it to an alignment shop and get front end aligned correctly

And NOT where you had it that stated it was WAY WAY OFF.

Have front end components checked
Have brake calipers checked
Tire pressure equal

wildcatter · 04-25-2018, 02:17 PM

it could be your tires as well, try putting the left on the right and vice versa, or the front on the back and vice versa, I had a car that did that once, rotated tires and everything was good.

Nlambert · 04-26-2018, 04:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KHBama

Been out of commission for past couple of days. The frame is not bent and the camber is not as bad as I was originally told. Truck still pulls right(not a drift), I can be totally off the road in less than 3 seconds when steering wheel is straight(especially on 2 lane roads). I'm told the Alabama roads are to blame now...

I've spent my entire life on Alabama roads (19 years in South Alabama and 17 years in North Alabama) and have never had an issue. It sounds like they are at a loss for what to do.

I second the notion to take it to a good alignment shop and let them fix you up. To be honest, the steering in the Ram is fairly subpar in my opinion. You could have an issue with any number of steering components. MY 2012 has 84k miles on it and by 60k I had already rebuilt and upgraded almost all of the front end.

It's as tight as a brand new vehicle now. It was a pain, but worth it.

KHBama · 04-26-2018, 06:59 AM

Thanks for the info guys. Its a 2017 with about 34,000 miles. I took it to Ram a few weeks ago and they said everything was good. After some discussion with some people on the Ram forums, apparently I'm not along with this issue. Truck rides and drives good outside of the pulling issue. I've had the tires check, truck is aligned, no frame damage. At this point, I'm at a loss

mjdenn · 04-26-2018, 04:00 PM

Mark Polk of RV101 has a video on a 2016 with this problem.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFBbirKc_YA

harleyjt · 04-26-2018, 04:20 PM

This is likely a tire problem. As stated previously, cross switch the front tires and see if that changes it. You need to get to a competent alignment shop.
jt

Cypressloser · 04-27-2018, 08:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KHBama

Thanks for the info guys. Its a 2017 with about 34,000 miles. I took it to Ram a few weeks ago and they said everything was good. After some discussion with some people on the Ram forums, apparently I'm not along with this issue. Truck rides and drives good outside of the pulling issue. I've had the tires check, truck is aligned, no frame damage. At this point, I'm at a loss

I bought into the bent frame theory until you posted the mileage and age of your truck.
I had a 2013 Ram 3500 DRW with the same problem that 2 Ram dealerships couldn't fix, they checked the front end alignment several times and had the truck on a frame machine, rotated the tires - nothing. Front end alignment check and adjustment was not covered under warranty after the 1st attempt. Btw., the drift to the right was always worse in warmer weather and tire wear on the front right was very noticeable.
Went to my tire shop to have the truck fitted with winter tires and asked them to re-check the front end alignment with the new tires installed, the printout showed perfect alignment and no adjustment was made. The truck drove straight as an arrow ever since, the cause were the garbage stock tires.

You may have a different problem, but I had not the greatest luck with stock tires on my 2013 Ram 3500, these are work trucks and the dealers sometimes order them with the cheapest tires they can get away with. My 2018 Ram 5500, even though it has a totally different front end, was factory ordered with upgraded tires and I have zero complaints.

wingnut60 · 04-27-2018, 09:03 PM

I have had pulling problems with a Ford that was entirely tire-related--switch front tires, pull went other direction. Alignment fine. New tires fixed it. Don't discount the tires as the cause when all else checks out.

RangeMaggotBob · 04-28-2018, 11:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Auggie56

I turned wrenches for the first sixteen years of my working life. One of my specialties was front ends. If we suspected a damaged frame, we wet the shop floor and drove the vehicle as straight as possible through the wet spot. That told us if there was a misalignment between the track of the front to the rear the rear wouldn't track in the print of the front wheels was or wasn't exactly the same. I never was involved in stratening a frame, but the above suggestion is a quick way to check for it. From there the labor time goes up. A shop floor that has been sealed shows the tracks up best.

We always used a chalk line. Not that it matters!

Same results.

ehames005 · 04-29-2018, 09:10 AM

Do you have the 20 in wheel package? If so the Firestone tires on it are JUNK!!!! I was only able to take it for 12k miles before I got tired of the vibration and bad driving and changed the tires. Now my truck ( 16 ram 2500 ) drives awesome.

mobilemike · 05-01-2018, 10:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ehames005

Do you have the 20 in wheel package? If so the Firestone tires on it are JUNK!!!! I was only able to take it for 12k miles before I got tired of the vibration and bad driving and changed the tires. Now my truck ( 16 ram 2500 ) drives awesome.

I have the 20 OE firestones and they bounce and shake terribly when going over expansion joints or overpass thresholds. I though it was the crappy OE shocks

KHBama · 05-02-2018, 07:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ehames005

Do you have the 20 in wheel package? If so the Firestone tires on it are JUNK!!!! I was only able to take it for 12k miles before I got tired of the vibration and bad driving and changed the tires. Now my truck ( 16 ram 2500 ) drives awesome.

I do have the 20s, do not like them at all. What tire did you go with?