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Why does my '74 pull rather strongly to the right all the time? This has been a deal I have lived with years but am finally at least putting it on the forum for possible answers. At the alignment shop it checks out fine at some really good shops. I used the compass on my phone laying it against the flat part of the wheel on either side and the compass reads the same degrees. Just visually, it looks great except the right front wheel is about 3/4 of inch farther out than the left. Like there was a spacer behind it but there is not.
I've driven on these tires thousands of miles and there is no problem with wear pattern at all. They are the usual BF Goodrich radial T/As 225 60R 15 on 1976 stock 8" mags.
I'm tempted to skew with the front wheel alignment a little to manually adjust for less pull but I don't know. I guess the problem started when I went with 60 wides all around where as previously I have 70 wide in front. A slight toe in front would wear sure but may cure the pull to one side?
Just because the tire wear pattern looks good means nothing. Swap the front tires and see if the situation changes. Power steering can cause a pull too. When starting the car if the steering wheel moves in the direction of the pull, disconnect the belt and try it. And lastly your alignment shop sucks.
If it has a zerk fitting it gets grease, including the P/S control valve. The problem is most people tend to over grease things. One pump in each zerk is all that's needed.
Thanks Paul unfortunately I don't think there is an easy answer with any those problems you mentioned. The power steering is in need of a new pump possibly because it is stiff and squeaks a bit. Would some problem with that cause a pull I'll need to check into it.
I've heard alignment crews today are not up on how to set these cars and also it may be difficult to keep them set correct. That's what a manager told me anyway. he also said you can check with a tape measure. I'll work on a few ideas....
Most of the decent alignment techs should know about the balancing the control valve. Yes many cars today have a rack and pinion versus the old recirculating ball systems but they are by no means obsolete. The car should not be pulling to one side or the other but Corvettes tend to intimidate some clowns who work at aligning cars using a machine that tells them everything.
A weak power steering pump would not make one side pull like you described. It would squeal when you turn the wheels when going slow and such. It wouldn't help you as much as it should but not be making one side pulling more than the other.
If you want to try something fun measure the front wheels when pointing straight with a straight edge along the side of the wheel. The measurements should be very close to the same front and back on the front tires. Then do the same thing to the rear wheels, it might be your rear trailing arm's wheel bearing is loose and that could cause the car to pull to the right as well. I only learned about trailing arms and bearings being "worn out" in a torrential downpour and all the sudden my Corvette started Crabbing down the road. It literally scared the heck out of me. I slowed down, got back to the hotel and then parked the car overnight and it was "fine" the next day when the roads were dry. Trailing arms with loose bearings can do some "strange things" to the Corvette's handling. This is even more likely as the car has been aligned and it still does it.
After that experience and getting home safely I immediately removed both trailing arms and had them both rebuilt by VAN STEEL down in Florida. What a difference that made. No more slop and the car felt tight and handled a lot better after the trailing arms were rebuilt with all new bearings. After re-installing the Trailing arms I found a really good alignment tech and he literally started over after pulling all the shims out of the car. He spent close to 4 hours doing the complete 4 wheel alignment and used both packages of new SS Alignment shims.
Just a thought regarding the trailing arms, I hope you can figure it out quickly as that should not be happening. The rear wheels CAN make your car steer or pull to the right.
Thanks Chris for the story on the trailing arms. I found out the hard way about trailing arms when towing with only a front wheels off the ground trailer. I was so lucky to not total out the car when one of wheels broke off after a bearing froze while towing. So long story short both T/As are replaced now and all bushings and bearings are in fine shape front and back. I did have a shop replace the control valve on the power steering at least 2000 miles back but the steering pull was before that was done. So that couldn't be it. A steering box would not cause something like this unless someone adjusted it without my knowing. I know the back wheel alignment is very important and I always get a 4 wheel alignment. They told me I had the best guy possible for the job and he just said: Sorry I can't find the problem but trust me the tires will be fine and he was right they are still wearing normally after 7 years.
No I don't have a printout anymore. From what I can tell, the front wheels are exactly parallel but the back wheels are 2 degrees out of sync with each other. Would that really be enough to cause it to veer to one side?
When I had my four wheel alignment done it was at a NTW (now NTB) and after talking to a few different shop alignment techs I chose the one I went to because the young man could explain the differences in doing the Corvette with the IRS. He told me that somebody had pushed the differential (Pumpkin) to one side a bit and he started by pulling all the shims out. Then he loosened the bolts in the rear and centered the pumpkin and then proceeded to shim it in so the trailing arms were in proper alignment. It turns out that after 35 years of usage the pumpkin was not exactly in the center and that was in need of being put back in the center. I had replaced the rear camber bolts with adjustable struts and all the bushings were replaced before the alignment. He spent more than 1/2 of the total time getting the rear set up exactly where he wanted it to be. In the end the wheels were both centered inside the wheel wells better (so he told me). I was surprised as I was still fairly new to Corvettes and really didn't understand all about the alignment. The most significant thing was this young man was very familiar with Corvettes and that is why I chose him to do the work. I don't think he would have left my rear out of wack even 2* as he was determined to help me get the C3 right again. He did like all the new parts on the rear of the Corvette. He said I had more new parts than many of the newer cars that he routinely worked on, he was also glad to see the Camber Bolts gone.
Whether 2 degrees off of being "out of sync" could cause that I would not know but that should get resolved just for the sake of the handling of the Corvette. I see that you are down in North Carolina (Beautiful area) but I don't know the Corvette resources that you have down there. Up here we are very lucky to have Tony's Corvettes up in Gaithersburg, Maryland. The people that work for Tony are just amazing and are truly experts in anything to do with Corvettes. They re-installed my 427 and made my shifter and engine compartment look like new before they did the work. I would seek out someone like that and have them assist you with your pulling issue as someone who knows Corvettes inside and out might have new insight. Tony's shop actually is approved to do warranty work on the new Corvettes as opposed to having to go to a dealership.
You are a very lucky person to have both you and your Corvette survive with your past experiences with wheel bearings and Trailing Arms! I have heard how they can cut into the steel shaft and separate the wheel from the car but never knew anyone that it happened to. I just remember when my trailing arms acted up it was the Summer of 1991 and Hurricane Andrew had finished destroying Miami and was moving through Pennsylvania on the first day of Corvettes@Carlisle. It started raining and raining very hard, every time I let my clutch out the cold rain would pour down into my crotch from the front seal of the convertible top leaking. Then on the highway as I started accelerating the car was fine until I hit ~35 mph on the PA Turnpike. At that moment the rear shifted to the left and I had to fight to hold the car in a straight line and that is when I almost had a cow. It was not something I ever want to experience again. The next day at Carlisle I was told by Van Steel what had happened and how they could fix it and give me a Million Mile Warranty on the Trailing arms.
You might try and call Tony's Corvette shop and ask for Tony Himself. The Phone Number for his shop is: 301.987.0565, Tony is an "expert" at anything Corvette related and his knowledge is worth paying for. If the 2* is causing the rear wheel to be turned in on the front of the right rear it would seem possible to cause it to steer a bit to the right as the car would be steering from the rear wheels just a hair. I will stop guessing and suggest that you speak to somebody with incredible experience in all things Corvette related.
I hope you find the solution without breaking the bank. I had my differential rebuilt and the shop that did it replaced my outer real spring bolts with a shorter bolt which pushed the rear end of my C3 up higher and started wearing out the U-joints pre-maturely. I went to several mechanics and spent a bundle to find the solution was longer bolts on the outer spring mounts. The owner of VB&P told me that and sold me a set of $50 bolts that made the rear of my Corvette normal again. He laughed when I told him the problems and told me that the solution was so simple that I would not believe it, he was right. I hope that your problem is as simple and easy to fix. I eventually bought a Steeroids Kit and installed a Power Rack and Pinion to replace the original steering gear on my C3. Now there are no dead spots and the steering is nice and tight like our C4 came with.
There are three things that are important to an alignment. Camber, caster, and toe-in. At each wheel.
You can check vertical (camber) easily with a degree app on your phone. I use one called "clinometer" on my android. You want it around 1/2 degree but up to 1 degree is ok. They just need to be almost the same left & right, or you can get a pull. Say with 1/4 degree.
No. two is the one that is most important to tire wear but would have less effect on pulling. Toe-in. You can not really measure it with the angle app, all you need is two 4 ft straightedges and two tape measures. You want from zero toe front, to 1/4" rear.
The third one is pretty hard to do at home. Caster. But if it is off left/right it will definately cause a consistent pull. You can only adjust it on the front. It is basically the rearward tilt of the spindle. You can get a quick idea if they are equal. Put 2-3 floor tiles under both front wheels. Put wax paper between them so the wheels can turn easy. Measure the vertical tilt/camber, turn the wheel say exactly one steering wheel revolution, and measure the camber again. (1/2 turn may be easier) Turn the left wheel to the left, and the right wheel to the right. The difference in those two readings at each wheel is your caster. Sort of. It will not be anywhere close to the same "number" you get at the shop, but the right /left side must have almost the same caster degrees. Many/most shops like to stagger an extra 1/2 to 3/4 degree caster on one side to compensate for road crown. I do not. I like mine perfectly even. Because the crown of the road is never the same. If there is too much stagger it will pull to that side. Some times this stagger may be ok by-the-books, but the car will still pull.
I raced for 27 years and always did my own alignments. At home. Even when I had a shop do mine, it wasn't as accurate as I wanted, and I would just re-do it. Finally I just stopped going to shops, alignment or other. I do not even take my families 5 daily drivers to a shop, ever. Having a $50,000 alignment rack is not what gets you a good alignment, it is the guy doing it.
Anyway check the PS control valve centering first. You said a new one was installed. That does not mean they centered it. Jack the front end up off the ground, start the car, and see if the wheels move right.
If those checks do not find your problem, you are going to have to dig much deeper. And check everything. Fender heights, Spindle/axle play, springs, ride height, frozen rear strut rods, worn ball joints, worn bushings, worn rear diff yokes, etc....etc... There has got to be a reason, if it matters to you enough, and you look hard enough, you can find it, even at home.
Why does my '74 pull rather strongly to the right all the time? This has been a deal I have lived with years but am finally at least putting it on the forum for possible answers. At the alignment shop it checks out fine at some really good shops. I used the compass on my phone laying it against the flat part of the wheel on either side and the compass reads the same degrees. Just visually, it looks great except the right front wheel is about 3/4 of inch farther out than the left. Like there was a spacer behind it but there is not.
I've driven on these tires thousands of miles and there is no problem with wear pattern at all. They are the usual BF Goodrich radial T/As 225 60R 15 on 1976 stock 8" mags.
I'm tempted to skew with the front wheel alignment a little to manually adjust for less pull but I don't know. I guess the problem started when I went with 60 wides all around where as previously I have 70 wide in front. A slight toe in front would wear sure but may cure the pull to one side?
two things,
what are the facts about the statement I have highlited?
Rebuilding the power ram and ball assembly is tricky.
Shaft seals, rubber mounting ram specs and a good ball.
I had the same issue, centering/adjusting the ball did nothing.
Only a full rebuild of the ram system fixed the issue.
I can't understand the "3/4" difference issue unless something is bent?
Lots of truth in that Melting Slicks on what you wrote. I'll need to copy it since I do want to get this fixed. I did set it myself once after having it towed. I had strapped the front wheels down a bit too firmly and caused them lose their alignment badly. I did the best I could to get them aligned good enough to drive to a shop but then it seemed to drive perfectly fine and cancelled the shop date.
I was told recently that I need a need a new leaf spring bolt and bushing on the left. Who knows...I need to start going through a check list of culprits.
Last edited by CiCiC3; May 30, 2022 at 11:23 AM.
Reason: Spell change
Calwldlife, yes it was in a front ender right side before I bought it. But I drove it for many years without any steering issues except for a little squeak coming from the spring not resting on the bottom of the A frame properly. The alignments I had in the nineties (when I drove it as a daily driver) were non-existent with problems. I had never noticed before I posted this that one wheel is further under the fender than the other. Most likely the result that accident of the previous owner.
Since the nineties though the car is just an occasional driver with low miles and has not seen a lot of wear and tear at all. It does get lubed up with grease every couple years though.
Alignment mystery
