Wheel pulling left when in 4WD

Good morning,

I was merging on the interstate this morning in my new-to-me tundra and engaged 4WD at approx. 25mph and drove up to 45mph when I decided to cut it off. While engaged in 4WD, the wheel would pull to the left.

Any clue what may have caused this? I am at work right now and haven’t had a chance to look or check air pressure yet. This is my first time using the 4WD at any sort of speed, but my 4runner does not do this. I did install a front and rear sway bar this weekend but doubt that would have an effect.
Thanks.

 

was it dry? or did you need to because conditions were crap? could be that one side had more traction than than the other and you experienced torque steer.

 

Does it pull when accelerating only? Or both when accelerating and when coasting? If it happens when accelerating and when coasting, its likely an alignment issue. If it's only when accelerating, then it's torque steer or bad tire wear or something else.

I had this problem when accelerating only in 4x4 (it didn't pull when coasting). Here's my post on it:
https://www.tundras.com/threads/accelerating-in-4x4-pulls-hard-to-right.43668/

I went through a bunch of troubleshooting...several alignments, tie rod end replacement (they were bad anyway), had it at three different shops. Long story short - it was from bad tire wear caused by mis-alignment. When I swapped front driver <--> front passenger, the pull was gone (I still needed new tires though).

I would start by:
- Getting an alignment. Since it's new-to-you, do you know when it was last done?
- Doing a tire rotation.

If the alignment fixes it - you're golden. If it doesn't, but then a tire rotation fixes it (like me), then its uneven tread wear & you should consider getting new tires. If neither fixes it, then you might be looking at torque steer which...well, I have no idea. It can be caused by several things from what I have been told - take it to a shop that knows 4x4.

But no matter what anyone else tells you...torque steer is NOT normal when in 4x4. It's NOT supposed to pull - don't let anyone tell you otherwise. They don't come off the assembly line pulling in any direction when in 4x4. Just be sure when you're in 4x4, you're only going straight (no turns) unless you're on slippery surface (snow, dirt/grass).

 

What Jengel451 said - start with checking air pressure. That's your cheapest solution. If not that, then alignment/tire rotation.

 

Sorry guys, I should have given more details. Brand new tires and recent alignment. The road was wet from recent rain and I did not need to use it, only wanted to check it at speed. The owner did say the passenger side CV axle was replaced at one point. I was accelerating for most of it but I thought I was coasting when I switched and thought it was still pulling. I would have to take more notice on the way home here in a bit.

 

Pax front was 50psi and the rest were 45.

35” tires and they say max load 3195lbs at 65psi/ never exceed 40psi when seating beads. I was expecting them all to be 32-35 coming from a car and light truck world.

Not as off as I had hoped but that one tire could be the culprit. Will report back.

Thanks for the guidance.

 

Got to test it out on the way home. The air pressure didn’t seem to make a difference. It is straight when coasting and only pulls when giving it gas, even the slightest amount.

Could it be that I only have power to three wheels? Like the drivers front is not under power? Is that possible?

 

Anything is possible. you mentioned s CV was replaced? What about the other side? is it even there? as mentioned, check alignment too.

I have seen some shady shit in my past. One time someone was selling a rig that was missing the ring gear up front....don't ask why, it just was. "4WD doesn't work and I don't know why" was his story. people......don't trust em.

 

Yup, two axles up front. The replacement doesn’t appear to be factory as it has surface rust. When it dries outside, I’m going to poke around some more. Thanks

 

Did you ever figure it out? My 2014 trd is doing the same thing. I replaced the driver-side CV axel because it broke and was hoping that would fix the problem as well but it didn't.