Lean to the left?

[Possmguts]

Why is it I have a slight lean to the driver side on this thing? Keep in mind I have replace all springs, spindles, and shocks all the way around...

Anyone else have this issue? Will it settle down more gooder after a while?

[Grumpy old man]

Chevy twist . These trucks are famous for it .

[cdowns]

normal stuff take it into a frame repar shop

[CG]

Gangsta Lean ... =)

[Craftsmen]

After going through with the same updates that you did, I even switched springs from one side to the other. I have the same issue. No one but me seems to notice it. It drives down the road straight, let me know if you find a solution. My OCD makes me crazy about this lean🤔

[Grumpy old man]

The only correct solution is a frame machine with a frame mechanic who knows what he's doing on these old trucks .you'll need all the frame specs because many new frame machines are computer driven .

[NC_John]

I took mine to a frame shop to get the lean removed. They squared it right
back up to spec but it still hung low in a front corner. I ended up compensating by cutting the opposite front spring to level it.

When I rebuilt the front end I found one of my lower control arms was just slightly tweaked (wasn't visible when it was on the truck). I replaced it and it sits perfect now.

[Possmguts]

Yeah, Im not sure it bothers me enough to deal with frame shops, I hear bad things about most of those shops... Everything has been painted and its ready to go under the truck... I'll deal with it I guess. I was just wondering if others had the issue or not really.

[firedemon]

mine has the same problem my girl says if I lay off the cheeseburgers it will straiten out

[In The Ten Ring]

Tell the truck that if it doesn't straighten up you are "voting for Trump and that's just it." If the truck still leans left you can have it sent to Mexico and Mexico will pay for it.



Geeze I wonder if I'll have this same problem when I get mine back together.

[jeffahart]

I had a friend that bought a new Ford Ranger back in 1999. I remember the year because I remember the project I worked on at the time. Anyhow, the truck looked bent. You could tell because the bumper looked crooked. He complained constantly about it. He drug us out to the parking lot to see it, and enjoy his misery. The Ford dealer kept telling him it was fine. They finally fixed it by putting in some washers so the bumper sat to make it look straight. This infuriated him. He squawked and squealed; he called back east to Ford headquarters, he whined and moaned and put up a real fuss. Still no resolution. He finally took it to a frame shop. They said "yep, they cinched the tie downs too tight on rail head(train transport)" . The frame shop put it on the rack and straightened it for a few bucks..... He finally shut up!!! There was at last, peace on earth!

He sent a bill to Ford... he admits... "they probably threw it in the trash!"

[TA1968]

I used one of these. Watch what size height you order lifts it a bit higher than the size of the spacer summit explains it. Worked perfect for me.

[Thundarr]

My first vehicle back in High School was my mother's hand me down '77 4x4 Suburban. It had the same lean and bugged the crap out of me. I added a leaf to the front suspension to try and straighten but that only barely made a difference.

After hearing some of the frame shop suggestions in this thread, I'll bet the frame was bent. My mother was (is) a terrible driver with many fender benders growing up.

I guess it's the same old story. I never appreciated that old beast (aka "Meat Wagon") until long after it was gone.

[snipescastle2]

I used to watch those auto transport truckers tie those brand new cars and trucks down on their transports and the dealers were having many brand new cars and or trucks with bent frames right off the trucks....seems those tie down chains hooked into slots in the frame rails and the truck drivers would ratchet them down pretty tight, so much that it bent the frames! Look at the way they do it today, nylon straps around the outside of the tires, or through the spokes.
I'd think most any frame shop should be able to tweak that back into shape no problem....
Ben

[mooseboy84]

Originally Posted by TA1968

I used one of these. Watch what size height you order lifts it a bit higher than the size of the spacer summit explains it. Worked perfect for me.

Mine has a slight lean in the rear. What are these called?

[TA1968]

Originally Posted by mooseboy84

Mine has a slight lean in the rear. What are these called?

Spring spacers

[Possmguts]

Yeah.. when i did the tear down I quickly found that the passenger side fender had been replaced with one from a 68 and had the light filled in with 5 lbs of bondo lol.. and the core support was tweaked on that side... so she was crashed in the right front at some point... There was also a home made roll pan on it. It also had about 15 lbs of bondo... but with no bumper being there I guess it may have been hidden better maybe? Anyway, I did have to use a extra washer under the right side of the core support to get the door/fender gap right... so I believe it could be that the frame is slightly bent on that front side. I hate to try to worry about it later once its all back together and painted and find out I should have had it fixed before that point.... maybe I'll look around at our local frame shops and see what they say.

[snipescastle2]

with regards to a lean in the rear, might be a weak rear spring......
Ben

[Mike_The_Grad]

Originally Posted by Possmguts

Yeah.. when i did the tear down I quickly found that the passenger side fender had been replaced with one from a 68 and had the light filled in with 5 lbs of bondo lol.. and the core support was tweaked on that side... so she was crashed in the right front at some point... There was also a home made roll pan on it. It also had about 15 lbs of bondo... but with no bumper being there I guess it may have been hidden better maybe? Anyway, I did have to use a extra washer under the right side of the core support to get the door/fender gap right... so I believe it could be that the frame is slightly bent on that front side. I hate to try to worry about it later once its all back together and painted and find out I should have had it fixed before that point.... maybe I'll look around at our local frame shops and see what they say.

After reading your post I'm pretty sure that is the problem I have. I think the frame is tweaked a little. I suggest asking a frame and body shop to maybe save yourself the trouble of having to struggle with the front end reassembly like I did. Mine is back together and my body lines are "okay". One thing helps ease my mine as I look at it, "these trucks were not perfect from the factory." Im sure if I wanted to take the time to get it just right and mess with shims and what not, I could get it there,but for now I'm ok with it. I'm gonna have to take it apart anyways later on to paint the whole thing the same color. Maybe then I'll nitpick the small stuff.

[Mike_The_Grad]

Well my '72 custom/10 has been around the block a few times,400k I think it's coming up on, I've only put maybe 15k on it. It was originally ordered for 5th wheel cross country retirement life back in '71. Hence LWB factory heavy duty rear leaf suspension. After 300k it was put into retirement-retirement??? The next owners(the ones I bought it from) were on the heavy side. I wrecked it on the passenger side in '04. The lower control arm on that side is pushed back pretty well from the front bushing and i had to replace the factory riveted core support bracket on the passenger side, i did so with one from a '68 as it was free and given to me. From reading through the forums and factory assembly manual, 67-69 core support brackets had a smaller diameter for the rubber bushings than later years, and also sat at a different height than later years ( i think lower than if not almost level with the frame, and later years level with if not slightly higher than the frame.) Others claim it looks fine,but I can see it. I added about 3/4" worth of heavy duty plate washers on top of the passenger side bracket to try and compensate,I couldn't get the front clip back together otherwise. After I got everything back together and had the truck on the road for a while, I noticed it seemed higher on that side. I removed the washers and tightened everything back up hoping I had "leveled it out". Now it leans favoring the drivers side. With slightly more tension on the passenger side core support bushings versus driver side. All brand new hardware and bushings with O.E. chevy sheet metal. Bent frame? (Wreck was outside of frame rails)