Escalade pulls to the left - Replaced almost everything!

[Jimxms]

Rear passenger wheel takes a lot more effort to turn that drivers side. Could this be causing it?

 

[OR VietVet]

IMO, too much caster lead on the right side. You want a small caster lead on the right for road crown but, again IMO, the 2 degrees more on the right side is too much.

Also, are you saying you replaced all the components to attempt to fix the pull and then had it aligned with this alignment outcome and still had a pull to left or you had it aligned, for whatever reason, and then when pulling left you replaced the components? Then had aligned again? There would be two alignment printouts.

Plus, if it is such a noticeable pull to left, why did the alignment tech not notice it when on an after alignment road test?

 

[mikez71]

Agree on the caster, the specs call for 1 degree difference in caster, but the allowable range is +/- 1 degree....?

Rear passenger wheel takes a lot more effort to turn that drivers side. Could this be causing it?

You would think it should be the opposite side..
Does it feel like the brakes are making it hard to turn? Or the diff?

 

[OR VietVet]

Agree on the caster, the specs call for 1 degree difference in caster, but the allowable range is +/- 1 degree....?


You would think it should be the opposite side..
Does it feel like the brakes are making it hard to turn? Or the diff?

Yea, allowable is for lazy alignment techs. That setting is at the far outer range of allowable and the tech should have road tested and felt the pull/drift and corrected.

 

[Pressureangle]

1. Yes, a rear wheel dragging can cause a pull, especially if the rotor heats up from a sticking caliper.
2. Camber creates a pull, as it turns the tire effectively into a cone, pulling towards the small end. Typically vehicles have camber set to pull left to account for road crown. Yours seems like a lot.
3. Caster has a little less effect on pull, a lot on straight-line stability. I never offset caster on my own vehicles. Yours seems like *a lot*. I haven't done alignments for 20 years, so not a lot of experience with independent suspensions, especially 4x4. Caster causes drive steer on front axles, not desirable. If I lived in 4x4 I might care, but I don't so I tend to have mine set at 2x4 specs for on-road drivability.

 

[Jimxms]

IMO, too much caster lead on the right side. You want a small caster lead on the right for road crown but, again IMO, the 2 degrees more on the right side is too much.

Also, are you saying you replaced all the components to attempt to fix the pull and then had it aligned with this alignment outcome and still had a pull to left or you had it aligned, for whatever reason, and then when pulling left you replaced the components? Then had aligned again? There would be two alignment printouts.

Plus, if it is such a noticeable pull to left, why did the alignment tech not notice it when on an after alignment road test?

I should probably mention that I'm in the UK so drive on the left and probably caster settings will need to be reversed?

So...full story... I purchased the car and from day 1 it pulled left. I assumed it was just alignment so I took it to get aligned. When they got it up on the ramps everything was rusted solid so they couldnt do anything. I took the car home and replaced everything listed in the original post myself. Then I took it back to get aligned with the new parts installed.

First alignment printout was obviously waaay off because i'd just eyeballed everything.
They dialled everything in to what their computer said and took it for a test drive (I watched this, but didnt get a printout).
It was pulling left, but as it was the end of the day I had to bring it back the next day.
Next day I got the car to them at 9:30 and by 11:30am they called to said it was fixed.
I got there and they then said: " we took it out for a drive, but while parking something went clunk in the suspension so it might not be aligned again."

So basically, yes I know the shop is sh*t and I need to take it somewhere else, but my main concern is that its always pulled left. No matter what suspension parts, tyres, wheels etc I put on it, it always wants to go left. Has me concerned that its something more than just a bit of alignment

 

[Jimxms]

1. Yes, a rear wheel dragging can cause a pull, especially if the rotor heats up from a sticking caliper.
2. Camber creates a pull, as it turns the tire effectively into a cone, pulling towards the small end. Typically vehicles have camber set to pull left to account for road crown. Yours seems like a lot.
3. Caster has a little less effect on pull, a lot on straight-line stability. I never offset caster on my own vehicles. Yours seems like *a lot*. I haven't done alignments for 20 years, so not a lot of experience with independent suspensions, especially 4x4. Caster causes drive steer on front axles, not desirable. If I lived in 4x4 I might care, but I don't so I tend to have mine set at 2x4 specs for on-road drivability.

What I'm not sure of is if a rear right wheel will cause a pull left? I would normally assume it would pull right, but then with 4wd diffs and the like I wouldnt know if it could somehow have a reverse effect.

What I'd like to do is remove the caliper from the wheel and take it for a test drive, but i'm unsure how to do this safely.

 

[Pressureangle]

What I'm not sure of is if a rear right wheel will cause a pull left? I would normally assume it would pull right, but then with 4wd diffs and the like I wouldnt know if it could somehow have a reverse effect.

What I'd like to do is remove the caliper from the wheel and take it for a test drive, but i'm unsure how to do this safely.

You can't do it safely. The closest you can get is to remove the wheels, pry the pads away from the rotor (both pads) and go around the block without applying the brakes... unless you're in the country, not likely.

 

[Pressureangle]

I should probably mention that I'm in the UK so drive on the left and probably caster settings will need to be reversed?

So...full story... I purchased the car and from day 1 it pulled left. I assumed it was just alignment so I took it to get aligned. When they got it up on the ramps everything was rusted solid so they couldnt do anything. I took the car home and replaced everything listed in the original post myself. Then I took it back to get aligned with the new parts installed.

First alignment printout was obviously waaay off because i'd just eyeballed everything.
They dialled everything in to what their computer said and took it for a test drive (I watched this, but didnt get a printout).
It was pulling left, but as it was the end of the day I had to bring it back the next day.
Next day I got the car to them at 9:30 and by 11:30am they called to said it was fixed.
I got there and they then said: " we took it out for a drive, but while parking something went clunk in the suspension so it might not be aligned again."

So basically, yes I know the shop is sh*t and I need to take it somewhere else, but my main concern is that its always pulled left. No matter what suspension parts, tyres, wheels etc I put on it, it always wants to go left. Has me concerned that its something more than just a bit of alignment

ok, that changes everything; if the vehicle was delivered in a right-drive country, the alignment specs make sense. Driving left, makes no sense. Which side is your steering wheel on? If on the 'American' side, the alignment looks like it would drag you into the ditch. Ask your alignment guy if there are L-R alignment specs, if not take the R drive specs and mirror them for L.

 

[Jimxms]

ok, that changes everything; if the vehicle was delivered in a right-drive country, the alignment specs make sense. Driving left, makes no sense. Which side is your steering wheel on? If on the 'American' side, the alignment looks like it would drag you into the ditch. Ask your alignment guy if there are L-R alignment specs, if not take the R drive specs and mirror them for L.

It was a US export so steering wheel is still on the left.

I didn’t trust the specs he was pulling up for the car so I gave him this:



Told him to swap the L/R caster settings and use the 4WD toe.