Accelerating in 4x4 - pulls hard to right

Any suggestions on this would be appreciated.

I throw my ‘16 DC in 4wd every so often (per manual) to keep stuff lubed. I did this in Jan and found it was pulling hard to the right when accelerating. This is only in 4wd, mind you. In 2wd, it doesn’t pull at all. When coasting in 4wd, it’s straight as an arrow. As soon as I hit the accelerator, it starts pulling to the right. The more I accelerate, the harder it pulls to the right. At ~55mph, I have to have the steering wheel at 10 o’clock to go straight down the road. (Mind you I only put it in 4wd on straight roads when on pavement - no turning.)

Before I noticed this, I had it in for an alignment. (This may have nothing to do with the pull in 4wd at all, but may just be coincidental timing.) I didn’t notice the misalignment quick enough, but it was way off and really chewed up the inner tread on my 37’s. I had it at the dealer twice, and they still didn’t get the alignment quite right, so I took it to a truck shop yesterday, and they finished it up. The alignment seems great now. I rotated the chewed up fronts to the rear after first alignment, where they will stay for a long time. Tire pressure is good.

I asked the second shop to take a look at the pulling issue, too. They acknowledged the pull, but said they couldn’t find anything wrong with the truck. They said everything was tight, all bolts looked great, nothing looked off at all. Of course I could take it somewhere else, and someone could find the issue. Wanted to throw this out to everyone before I take it to a third place.

I called a third truck shop in my area, and they said it could be the upper or lower control arms. I have no idea how to check them to see if there’s anything wrong with them.

I’ve had the truck almost 2 1/2 years now. 7” BDS lift w/ 37s installed 2 years ago & zero problems until now.

Thoughts?

Thanks!

Edit: I do have 100,000 bumper-to-bumper warranty (currently have 36k+ on it). I’ll take it to Toyota next and have them take a look at the pull, but am expecting “sorry, the mods cause the issue, not covered.”

 

Now before I start, keep in mind, I don't have a 4x4 Tundra. I used to have a 4x4 Jeep pickup, so I base my analysis on that. Does the Tundra disconnect the right axle on the front when in 2wd? And then connect it when placed in 4wd? If so, then it sounds to me like the connector to the right front axle is not engaging when you put it in 4wd. So the power is only being applied to the left front wheel. That's my best guess.

 

OK, let me ask you this. Have you had the transfer case fluid changed ever?

 

Uhhhh....nay. Please splain to the ignorant...

 

Torque steer?

If your roads are crowned, find a desolate road, pull into the left lane and see if it still pulls to the right.

 

Have you tried rotating the tires since your alignment?

 

I see in the maintenance chart to check differential fluid at various mileage intervals, but nothing about changing it. Not that I don’t believe you, I do. Just trying to understand.

 

I’ve posted in a few threads about my experiences when I changed my differential and transfer case fluid. In the third gen tundras we’ve got a different transfer case than the true second gens. I swapped in

$39 75w-90 GL-5 Limited Slip, Ultra Long Drain 500k Miles, Manual Transmission, Gear/Differential Lubricant (1 Gallon)

75w-90 that’s in our differentials into my transfer case. This was as per a second GEN write up. I quickly found out that we don’t have the same transfer case when I noticed the fill and drain plugs are different. But I did it anyways figuring it was OK. Upon activation of 4 x 4 I had the same systems you are having. I switched it out to 75W Ravenol and it all went away. My truck would pull hard under acceleration but coast fine. It also wouldn’t disconnect until I made a turn after disengaging 4hi.

 

Yes roads are definitely crowned. I’ve tried it in all lanes. No matter what one I’m in, it pulls hard. It’s definitely not from a road’s arc.

 

Yessir - I swapped the front with rear right after first alignment.

 

Dang.

 

I just find it curious that the truck works perfectly in 2x and coasts fine and 4 x 4 but only pulls when you are on the gas. Same symptoms I had with the wrong fluid in the transfer case.

 

It sounds like torque steering to me, but that's just going by the information available.

 

Interesting. I’ll look for a write up on changing diff & transfer case fluid - never did it before and have absolutely no idea how. thanks for suggestion.
So

$39 75w-90 GL-5 Limited Slip, Ultra Long Drain 500k Miles, Manual Transmission, Gear/Differential Lubricant (1 Gallon)

75w-90 for differential, and 75w Ravenol for transfer case?

 

I just hope that doesn’t mean that someone was tinkering with those fluids when I had it in for service. I don’t take it in for service anymore, I do my own oil changes now after reading the horror stories on this site.

I do have a very bad story of something similar happening with an old Camry I used to have. Long story short, some knucklehead decided to top off my transmission fluid, never told me, and ended up putting in an extra half quart or so. Ended up really messing up the tranny.

 

I’ll read up in that - thanks!

 

That’s what I thought too. But mine didn’t do it before I changed to the wrong fluid. But I told myself it must have LOL. Then I changed back to the proper fluid and all of that went away. No more torque steer.

 

I’m not saying this is definitely your issue but it’s a pretty cheap start. Especially since it sounds exactly like the issues I had. The transfer case is really easy to change the fluid in. No gaskets or washers. Just pipe plugs. You’ll just need a 1/2” drive ratchet and some liquid Teflon or Teflon tape. Go get the transfer case warm by driving it around in 4 x 4 on some straight road or dirt road. Unbolt the skid plate on the transfer case. Remove the fill plug first and then the drain plug. Drain it all out then reinstall drain plug. Fill until fluid comes out of the top plug is just a drip.

 

Proper fluid is a must.

 

Worth a shot - I’ll get to it hopefully by next weekend.

 

If it were alignment it would happen in all modes. It's not that.
Not tires either.
It is something that only happens in 4wd, which means axle or Transfer case or... something loose or bent in your drivetrain or suspension.

The only difference between 2wd and 4wd is one wheel in front is pulling in 4wd. Good luck.

 

This, but also my suggestion.

 

Thanks. Just picked up transfer case & differential drain/fill washers from Toyota. Ordered xfer case/diff oil from Amazonian. Will start with that & go from there.

 

Make sure your Tundra is level when you do the fluid swaps.

 

It's been a while since I updated this...

I changed the transfer case fluid & front/rear differential fluid months ago - at some point over the summer. Glad I changed it (thanks @15whtrd ), but it didn't help - still pulling hard to right.

I just had it in shop #3 twice over the past two weeks. They aligned it on my first visit & said all the wheels were off. They also said my outer tie rod ends had a lot of play & needed to be replaced. They said that could be the culprit. I ordered new BDS outer ends & replaced them myself yesterday. They weren't wrong - the ones I took off were shot - I was easily moving them around with my pinkie. Kicking myself, because I forgot to check the inner tie rods when I had it apart.

I took it back to that same shop today and they adjusted the alignment again after I changed the outer tie rods. It pulls a little to the right now when in 2WD - I'll have to take it back to them for that. But...nothing changed with it pulling hard to the right while in 4WD - it still does it.

They said they looked it over & everything looks good - they can't find anything wrong with it. And it doesn't make sense to them why it was straight as an arrow for a year & half, and now isn't. They can't point to anything, but said it's torque steer. They also said that lifts and big heavy tires like I have (7" BDS & 37s) do tend to mess up trucks over time. That makes sense....but what's the answer?? lol I picked up my BDS parts from a local distributor & the guy there said that, in his experience, Tundras are notorious for chewing up tires & not keeping alignments & having things go wrong with big knobby tires.

I just want the truck to be straight as an arrow again. Maybe after the wear & tear of lift & big tires, that's not really realistic anymore?? I dunno. I mean I drive this thing like grandma. Haven't even had it offroad yet. I put on the lift/tires at 17k miles (2.5 years ago). Speedo is at ~44k now.

Any additional insight would be appreciated. If it's torque steer - what can be done about that? Is it a huge deal? No, but it does bother me. I don't use 4WD much, and even in 4WD they told me having to hold the steering wheel to keep it going straight won't chew up the tires because the alignment is now good & torque steer is what's causing it. K fine. But....open for input. Thanks guys.

 

To me, the lift and big tires aren't to blame, but a component of them is. What are your UCAs and LCAs? My truck runs 37s on Total Chaos long travel CAs. When I first bought the truck there was significant wear on inside tread due to excessive camber, and truck would wander in 4 wheel. Adjusted out the UCAs and it improved dramatically. Then, come to find out the uniball fitting was bad in one of the CAs, so I replaced both sides, got it aligned, and no more issue.

 

Interesting. My upper & lower CAs are OEM. The lift was made to work with OEM UCAs, though they now make their own BDS UCAs (I don’t think they did when I bought the lift).

I’m not against replacing them, but was going to wait until the uppers needed replacement - didn’t want to throw down ~800 bucks for something that wasn’t necessary. But......maybe it is necessary?

Funny you mention excessive wear on inner tread. That’s what started all this. I didn’t catch it soon enough & was disgusted when I saw how much inner wear I got. It trashed the tires. Moved them to the rear & will keep them there until I buy new ones.

Maybe I’ll put UCAs on my “to-get-for-myself” Christmas list.

 

Took it back for alignment adjustment a few days ago. Turns out the slight pulling when in 2WD is just road crown + my big 37s doing a good job grabbing the road (he explained a LOT to me, including that bigger tires are much more affected by road crown than smaller tires).

He said my UCAs & inner tie rods are fine. He thinks it’s torque steer & likely caused by something wrong with the front diff. Ugh.

Have it back to Toyota today. We’ll see what they say.

In my research, there’s several more things that can cause it than what has already been checked including: bad bearings (though I tried wiggling both front wheels when swapping out the outer tie rods & didn’t feel anything, and I never hear any kind of grinding or anything), axle, pitman arm, idler arm, bushings on UCA or LCA. I think if it were pitman/idler arm, this guy I just had it to would have said something. Same with UCA/LCA bushings. I haven’t had time to check pitman/idler arms myself.

We’ll see what Toyota says. I’m hoping I don’t get the runaround. If it’s anything with non-wearable parts (like differential) it’s covered under warranty unless they try to tell me it’s caused by my lift/tires....which I would fight tooth & nail for a differential problem.

 

May I suggest a 4 wheel alignment? Most places do just 2.

Edit check for when bearing car in neutral, push it reverse direction you'll hear or feel.

Also didn't see you're running 37s. Bud 35s grab the road pretty good.

 

Have you checked your bushings on the steering rack?